TUCKED away next to a garage on the busy Wembdon Road in Bridgwater is a school with a difference.

Little Montessori House is a private school with just 16 children on its books that does not adhere to traditional teaching methods.

Co-owner Petra Townsend describes the school's philosophy by saying "Montessori opens doors and allows the children to walk through."

The school was set up by Ms Townsend and Siobhan Orr and caters for children aged from 18 months up to aged seven from Bridgwater and surrounding villages including Enmore, Puriton and Weston-super-Mare.

Petra initially trained in Versailles near Paris and then in London, while Siobhan's grandmother was a Little Montessori teacher in America, and inspired Siobhan to train in Bournemouth.

They had been working together at a nursery in Clevedon before deciding they would like to set up their own school, which opened two-and-a-half years ago.

"The Montessori way views the child as one who is naturally eager to learn, and so rather than directly teaching them as such, you are guiding them and helping them to learn," Petra explains.

"The children learn at their own pace by playing in a safe boundary, and we try to give them new experiences and promote independence.

"We do lots of outdoor activities and we treat the outdoors as an extended classroom, and with small numbers we can organise trips at the drop of a hat whether that is to Fyne Court, to the woods, the beach, or along the canal."

Siobhan and Petra say Montessori inspires creativity and a number of famous alumni are entrepreneurs including the founders of Google Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Now the Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge are sending their children to Montessori schools.

Petra and Siobhan charge £5.25 an hour for children to attend their school.

"The moment that sold if for me was when I was in Paris, working two jobs - one teaching at Montessori and a second teaching English to students from a state school," Ms Townsend says.

"I could leave the Montessori class of 26 children to do my work while keeping an eye on them, and they would be occupied and content - while the English class of nine students were acting up the minute I turned my back.

"I think the students at Montessori are better able to concentrate and learn more deeply."

Each year the school likes to do something for charity - last year the children, teachers and pupils walked up Brent Knoll to raise money for the air ambulance, and this year they headed on a sponsored walk up Glastonbury Tor, with four children as young as two making it to the top.

So far they have raised £417 for Oak Lodge at Musgrove Park Hospital.

To donate to the group's latest fundraising effort, use PayPal with the email address littlemontessorihouse11@gmail.com.

For more information, call 07596 536 780 or visit the Facebook page 'Little Montessori House with Siobhan and Petra'.