Connecting Cultures, Building Community – Montessori Europe Congress Riga

President and co-founder of GAMES and former board member of Montessori Europe, Roelant Wijngaards, spent the past days in Riga, Latvia for the annual Montessori Europe Congress.

A beautiful start with a school visit at Pārdaugavas Montessori School, warmly welcomed by students and educators. Inspiring to experience their environment, strong sense of community, and genuine care.

The congress itself was filled with engaging speakers and workshops, but as always, the real highlight was reconnecting with colleagues and friends, and meeting new ones. Great to see adolescents again from Edinburgh Montessori Arts School and Montessori Schulen Wittenberge during the Adolescent Forum.

Beyond the sessions, meaningful conversations continued over dinner, not just about planning the upcoming Global Montessori Games, but about the shared passion, openness, and dedication of the people behind these schools. It was inspiring to connect with the wonderful team of Graines des Pensées Bilingual Montessori School. Their energy, vision, and warmth truly reflect the spirit of what we aim to create in France. The same goes for the amazing educators from Bischöfliche Maria-Montessori Gesamtschule. Committed, thoughtful, and deeply engaged in building meaningful experiences for their students. These are the people who make it all come alive.

It was inspiring to share the GAMES story and see how former participants act as true ambassadors, spreading the spirit of what we do. Hopefully, this leads to new schools joining, and maybe even future events in new places like Onda Solidária in Brazil.

At the heart of it all: bringing people and cultures together. That is what we love to do.

PEACE,

Global Association of Montessori Education and Sport