Our Guest Speakers
Salam Aref
co-founder and Head of School of Aya Montessori
Salam is an architect-turned-Montessori educator and school leader who seeks to bridge beauty, spirituality, and community through education. She is the co-founder and Head of School of Aya Montessori, the first AMI-recognized school in the United States to integrate Islamic spiritual education and Arabic Language into its Montessori model. Aya Montessori serves 190 families between ages 2-12. Salam earned her AMI Primary Diploma at the Washington Montessori Institute (WMI) and later completed her AMI Adolescent Diploma with Train Montessori. She also holds an M.Ed. in Montessori Education and a B.S. in Architecture with a minor in Islamic Art History. A Syrian American of Circassian heritage, Salam lives in the Washington, D.C. area with her husband and two boys, ages 11 and 8, whose birth sparked her Montessori journey and the founding of Aya Montessori. She is currently working on opening the first AMI Islamic Adolescence Farm School in the world in September 2026.
AMI 3-6 Refresher
Aya Montessori School
Hadeer Safwat
Founder of Revere Montessori
Hadeer Safwat is the Founder of Revere Montessori Preschool in Dubai. Educated in traditional schooling, she excelled academically yet always felt there must be another way to approach education, one that truly understood the human being. She later studied International Relations at King’s College London, where her exposure to critical and deconstructive thinking deepened her questioning of existing educational systems. Around this time, she discovered Montessori education and was struck by its profound understanding of human development and its respect for the different stages of life, each supported by a carefully prepared environment.
Reflecting on her own journey, Hadeer realized that while she was internally evolving through each stage of growth, her educational environment often failed to recognize or support these changes. Discovering Montessori and its respect for each individual’s self-construction felt deeply aligned with what she had always sensed education should be. After completing her AMI Montessori training, Hadeer felt compelled to share this approach with families and communities. This led to the founding of Revere Montessori Preschool in Dubai, a school committed not only to delivering authentic AMI Montessori education, but also to creating a space where adults reconnect with childhood and rediscover what Maria Montessori called “the secret of childhood.”
Hadeer believes that true societal transformation begins with the child and that meaningful change happens from the bottom up when we first transform ourselves.