Why choose Montessori?
The Montessori philosophy is a holistic form of education whose aim is to educate the "whole child". The Montessori classroom is a unique and well thought out environment that is designed to engage the children and expose them to practical life skills, mathematics, literacy, sensorial, the world around us and creative concepts. The children do this using a range of carefully created materials and autodidactic resources, at their own pace, developing their concentration and refining their skills. This is in complete synchronisation with the Montessori ethos that all children have an innate human tendency for exploration and orientation.
The Montessori form of education allows children to create their own learning paths where the teachers build on students' interests. It is much more than a traditional step-by-step form of education, instead it is a practise that prioritises independence in a child, whilst fostering emotional intelligence, instilling the value of curiosity, and developing a passion for lifelong learning - all of which are indispensable attributes that our children carry away with them when they leave our setting.
The Montessori Method of education will provide your child with a foundation of skills, upon which others can build.
The Montessori Curriculum
Knowledge of the World
Children engage with materials in this area to explore and experiment. The children become aware of their own place in the universe, they study the sun and its importance, the solar system, animals, plants, and the continents. This area of the curriculum provides children with a knowledge of Biology, Geography, History and Science and culture.
Through topic work the children will also have an opportunity to explore foreign languages and unfamiliar cultures.
Activities of Everyday Living
These activities allow a child to develop independence, coordination and concentration as well as hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor control - all of which will then be extrapolated into their day to day lives when they dress themselves, do up their jackets, serve themselves, pour their drinks, wash their plates and cut fruit for snack time.
Our children are also encouraged to practise grace and courtesy and dining etiquette. They are empowered to care for themselves, and their environment having learned by doing.
Literacy
Children have already been introduced to elements of language through the Sensorial and Activities of Everyday Living areas. The Insets for design allow the child to refine their pencil control for later writing skills
Work with the Sandpaper Letters ensures that the child develops phonic awareness through tracing the letter, seeing the letter and hearing the sound.
The Large Moveable Alphabet encourages the child to experiment with their phonic knowledge when building simple words and reading them out loud. All other materials help to support and develop basic grammar, language and reading skills.
Mathematics
Montessori believed that children were born with a "mathematical mind", which she defined as a natural tendency for exactness, orientation and order. Children are introduced to objects to hold, count and manipulate where they learn concepts beginning with concrete activities and moving on to more abstract ones.
The Large Number Rods teaches children to count accurately up to 10 whilst the children use Sandpaper Numbers to build muscle memory of the written number as well as identify number symbols. More advanced materials will be used when the child is ready, to enable them to explore our “base 10” number system, simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Sensorial
These materials are at the heart of a Montessori education. They are autodidactic and designed to develop and refine every quality that can be perceived by the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, temperature, weight, texture, shape, size and smell.
By engaging with the sensorial material, children learn and get comfortable with the fact that errors are essential to the learning process. They provide the child with the basis of pre- mathematical and language skills as they compare, contrast, grade, and differentiate subtleties.
Creativity
Children have the ability to express themselves as individuals using a variety of resources. We provide them with an environment where they use their imagination and experiences to create, using a variety of resources like music, paint, glue, pencils, crayons, junk, construction objects, story blocks and role play areas.
Outdoors
Our outdoor space is an integral part of the nursery and is an extension of our space where learning continues to grow and thrive. The summer months see us enjoying long days outdoors, at springtime we look for new flowers and minibeasts, autumn sees us collecting coloured leaves, acorns and conkers and winter has us waiting for snow. Children engage in imaginative play, take in the natural world around them, exercise their big muscles using bikes and trikes, use chalk, sand and climbing resources, where they develop their gross and fine motor skills and more simply, explore.