Louise Tidd

Kia Ora and my name is Louise Tidd nee Howarth. 

I was born in Te Kopuru the youngest of 9 children. I have 3 amazing adult children all married and have 8 wonderful grandchildren.

Prior to Montessori my family attended Leamington Playcentre from 1985 to 1995. I think I got hooked on pre-school education here as I became the Special Needs Convenor for Waikato Playcentre Association. I worked for Group Special Education as an Education Support Worker and then as a P.A.F.T. educator, (Parents As First Educators).

I joined the Cambridge Montessori team in 2006 as the part time outside teacher, I became hooked on the Montessori Philosophy and completed my Early Childhood Diploma in 2007 and then the Montessori Diploma in 2009. 14 years later and I still believe in Dr Maria Montessori “follow the child”. I am passionate about children learning to be independent, capable, confident learners and Montessori is a great place in which to gain the skills needed for life.

I love swimming and in the past as a member of Cambridge Masters I did lots of long- distance swimming including, 1 km, 2 km, and 6 km of lake Rotoma. This lake is just out of Rotorua and 5.5km up the Waikato River, no eels were seen or harmed during my swim. My great niece is Nikita Howarth, who is a Para Olympian in both swimming and biking. I also love gardening and have lots of practice on our piece of land, both veggies and flowers, shrubs, trees and fruit trees. The weeds get away on me, so we are in the process of putting down mulch to stop them coming through. I live in Te Awamutu and have done so for the last 4 years before that I lived in Cambridge.