Y2 Montessori School
Adolescent Community
(for age 12-18)

The Y2 Foundation for Future Education, dedicated to promoting Montessori education, not only collaborates with the National Chengchi University-Taiwan Montessori Education Center on the "Accessible Montessori Education Program," but also has a goal of establishing a Montessori school for children aged 0-18. It explores the integration of Western Montessori education into the cultural context of Taiwan, which is also an important part of Y2's promotion blueprint.

In September 2022, with the dream of establishing a new type of school in Taiwan, Y2MAC was born. While our vision is to ultimately serve children from birth to 18, we chose to begin with the adolescent stage (age 12-18), as we feel the need for educational reform in this area is the most urgent.

There is so much potential in the adolescent and their needs have been either downplayed or ignored for too long. We are excited to be co-creating this new experience with our students and watching them flourish in an environment designed specifically to allow them to be and develop into their best selves.

Y2MAC aims to redefine the learning environment

The Y2MAC community includes dormitories, living and learning spaces, activity areas, and more. Adolescents learn independence through meeting their own needs and interdependence and the value of community through learning how to meet the needs of their peers. They can experience a community that is integrated with society and where teachers and students share together in a safe and open real-life environment.

Principal Jan Gaffney, a New Zealand national with extensive experience in Montessori middle school and international school education, has been specially recruited as the Principal. In 2021, she was granted an Employment Gold Card by the National Development Council (NDC) as a specific professional talent to come to Taiwan.

As principal and guide of Y2 School, I am excited to bring my more than 30 years of training, teaching, leading and building Montessori schools and organizations to this endeavor around the world. Establishing schools to cater to the adolescent is a fascinating process and immensely rewarding. This is such a remarkable stage of life, and working with 12–18 year olds is inspiring, challenging, and incrediblly satisfying.

Many schools are still preparing children to work in a factory. School teaches them to do what they are told when they are told, stopping and starting in response to stimuli a bell, keeping their heads down, and asking no questions. Parents here in Taiwan recognise that that kind of education is not going to benefit either their children or the future of humanity. You are looking for new ways of helping your children grow into independent, community-minded, good humans, and this is exactly what our school fosters.

— Jan Gaffney, Principal/Guide

About Y2MAC

  • Location: Zhudong Township, Hsinchu County

  • Education Level: Middle School Stage (12-15/15-18), four academic terms

  • Approach: Montessori adolescent education philosophy, English medium instruction, fully residential

  • Admission: Regular & Scholarship-based

Admission Information
School Team
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Location

Our site for our adolescent programme is in the small gated community of Fang Weng on the outskirts of Hsinchu, 20 minutes from the HSR. Our classroom spaces are in the local community center. Our residence currently consists of two houses. The boys sleep in one house and the girls in the other, each with house parents. They come together for meals and community downtime and separate to sleep.

Breakfast is had in each residence. Each group of residents is responsible for keeping their own bedroom and bathroom clean and tidy, and each student also has a chore that assists in keeping the whole house clean. Our students are rotated through a chore chart weekly. They are also responsible for cooking our meals, planning the menu and keeping within the budget.

The community has tennis & basketball courts, cafe, opportunities for service for the community and setup businesses as well as locals who are experts in a number of areas, willing to share their skills and mentor our adolescents. We have a plot of land close to the residence that the students are putting to rights and farming to grow food both for their meals and to sell.

Our farmland is often part of a Work Project, allowing us to integrate much of their academic learning into meaningful work that has a purpose. Work on the land has opportunities for learning about science, math, history, technology and more.

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