Montessori Directress Nazly Raafat loves working with young children using the Montessori method because, she says, “It builds the foundation for future academic and personal success. It’s not just teaching information; it’s also building their character, social-emotional development, and physical development, following the natural sensitive periods when they are most open to particular kinds of growth.” Ms. Raafat discovered the Montessori Method when she engaged a Montessori trained Arabic tutor for her son after moving from her native Egypt to the United States. “There was something so well structured about how that tutor was teaching,” she remembers.

Ms. Raafat began working in Montessori classrooms in various capacities and eventually became Lead Teacher, having earned her Montessori credential at the Northern Virginia Montessori Institute. She has taken training in the Orton Gillingham reading method, and is currently enrolled in a Master’s degree program in Early Childhood Education at George Mason University. Ms. Nazly has also served as a Special Education Teacher in Fairfax County.

“I pursue all things that I find interesting,” says Ms. Raafat, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Cairo and Masters in Business Law from a branch of France’s Sorbonne University in Cairo. “I realized my calling was not law, but education,” she says, reflecting with satisfaction on her chosen life direction.

Ms. Raafat and her husband have two children and a joyful Havanese dog, Bundoq, whose name means “hazelnut” in Arabic.