Pacific Rim Montessori Academy: School Hours

Pear Tree Education Centre Dept: The six-year-old is a full-time student at Pacific Rim Montessori Academy on Vancouver's west side during regular school hours five days a week, and a part-time learner at the new Pear Tree education centre on Broad-way Avenue. He attends after-school classes twice a week and, according to his mother, is always enthusiastic, according to Vancouver Sun. Pear Tree, which opened in March, advertises its program as a solution to the "crisis" in the education system. "Current educational methods do not meet the needs of either the economy or the children they serve," its web-site states. "Children leave school and university lacking the skills they need to be successful and contribute to the growth of Canada's economy and when instruction ends for the day at his first school, Nicholas Waterhouse-Currie can hardly wait for it to begin at his second. "He loves it," Maryanne Waterhouse-Currie said as she delivered her son for a class in late May. "He gets hands-on learning - he gets to do stuff rather than just watch," she added as Nicholas raced into the classroom where students were donning gloves before dissecting a squid. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.