Teaching Team

Dimitra Pantazis - Montessori Director, Lead Teacher

Dimitra is a Wellingtonian, born and raised, with a family heritage that is Greek. She started teaching in the New Zealand state school system after graduating from Victoria University of Wellington with a teaching diploma and a degree in English Language. She also holds a 6-12 diploma in Montessori teaching from The Institute for Montessori Education, Christchurch, NZ, an AMI 6-12 Diploma from the Montessori Training Centre in New England, Hartford, US, and an AMI 12-18 Adolescent Orientation from Train Montessori, Denver, Colorado, US.

Dimitra is a Team Leader at Berhampore School and teaches in the 6-12 class. Although she has also taught in conventional classrooms, she is happiest in Montessori settings. Her curiosity about Montessori education was sparked by chance while she was still a young parent and thinking about schooling for her own two sons. Now she loves being a Montessori educator, creating learning environments, and making the classroom a special place for the children.

Gill Billingsley - Teacher

Gill has been working as a part-time teacher in the Montessori Unit since 2017. She is originally from England, where she first trained as a teacher. She moved to Aotearoa, NZ, after meeting her kiwi husband.

Gill works across both the 6-9 class and the 9-12 class and over time she has developed a warm rapport with the children and has become an integral member of the team.

Gill’s strengths are broad-based; she is well versed in the expectations of the NZ Curriculum, she understands the Montessori classroom environment and upskills in Montessori methods by attending professional development workshops with the rest of the teaching team. Her artistic talent and creative bent is often put to use in the classroom – the children know that this is her passion and love her for it!

Lois McConnell - Montessori Assistant

Lois has a remarkable history within the Montessori teaching community. A respected consultant and advocate of Montessori education, she was a founding member of MANZ, and established Kapiti Children’s Workshop (later renamed as Paraparaumu Montessori) in 1980 after working at Kapiti Montessori in Reikorangi. Lois was a Montessori teacher at Kapiti Montessori Preschool - one of the earliest established Montessori schools in Wellington, a teacher trainer at Aperfield Montessori Trust, and Principal at Capital Montessori School in Wellington.

Berhampore Montessori treasures the wisdom and care Lois brings to her guiding role within the classroom.

Helena Tihanyi - Montessori Assistant

Helena has a long history at Berhampore School, first starting as a whanau helper at the school’s Māori unit Te Rito Harakeke which led to a role supporting children with special needs.

Helena came across the Montessori method while researching autism to support a child she was looking after, and she made a beeline to the school’s Montessori unit to find out more about it. Her curiosity awakened, she began attending parent education evenings, did more research, and found the method of teaching resonated with her.

She jumped at the chance to help support a Montessori child with autism who was transition from preschool, and after supporting that child through his Montessori primary schooling at Berhampore, she undertook Montessori assistant training in 2017 with the help of PPMET and is now a teacher assistant at the unit.