We are an international English-speaking Montessori kindergarten and crèche for 1 to 6 year-olds in Vienna, Austria.
Katharine founded The Children’s House in 1992 with the help of her husband Herbert and together they have been successfully running this kindergarten for many years. It started off with only 9 children and has since grown so much that it can now accept up to 140 children. Katharine herself has worked as a teacher since The Children’s House opened its doors 30 years ago as her biggest passion is working with the children themselves. At the same time, she has led the team of teachers and held the role of pedagogical head and has always considered the parents to be a vital part of The Children’s House and kept communication open and honest throughout. This has meant that she was able to connect deeply with many families over the years and has managed to stay in contact with countless Children’s House graduates and their parents since it first opened.
Herbert left his job as Marketing manager of a large company in 2000 and worked at The Children’s House in full-time until 2019 as administrative head. He was also responsible for creating the Montessori project kindergarten that The Children’s House is officially recognized as by the City of Vienna and has always put a great emphasis on keeping a close connection with the Montessori community in Vienna and Austria. He was on the board of the Austrian Montessori Society for many years. He now supports the office team with his expertise where and when needed.
Their son Daniel joined the team in 2006, he has worked in the office since then and also supported the teams both in the kindergarten groups as well as the crèche as a teacher for several years. Since 2012 he has been working in the office full-time and took over the role as administrative head from Herbert in 2019.
In 2011 when their daughter Anna moved back to Vienna after 12 years abroad, she took on a supportive role in the office and also joined the Nut Tree Seedlings team. She has been heading the crèche since 2016 and shared the role of pedagogical head with Katharine from 2019 until 2022. She has now taken over as pedagogical head from her mother, but Katharine continues to consistently and reliably offer her support and expertise.
Rebecca, their youngest daughter, supports The Children’s House in many administrative tasks and her passion for Montessori shines through each of her responsibilities.
All of Katharine & Herbert’s grandchildren (now aged 15, 13, 12, 7, 6 and 4) have been – or still are – at The Children’s House and were lucky enough to enjoy learning and growing in this international Montessori environment.
The Children’s House community is a wonderful community of people who are connected both through the Montessori approach as well as principles of respect for all people. We are an open-minded, tolerant, and accepting community where everyone can find his/her/their place and are proud of the family-like atmosphere amongst our entire team and aim to provide an environment for the children and their parents that they can consider their home away from home.