Montessori

We recognise the parent as the primary educator of a child, and we pride ourselves on working closely in partnership. Respect is shown to family traditions and childcare practices. Every effort is made to comply with parent wishes for their children where appropriate to the ethos of our school.

Each child who joins our nursery is allocated a Key Person (teacher) to work with them on an individual basis. This key person observes the child closely and makes a special learning plan to ensure that (s)he receives the right kind of learning experiences to help them grow and develop to their fullest potential.

We provide the children with carefully planned sequences of activities in a specially prepared environment. We aim to make a child aware of others and be both considerate and polite to each other while forging good friendships. We aim to build up their self-esteem, independence, and confidence.

We introduce children to practical life skills by using a wide range of materials especially designed to develop children dexterity and muscle control. This prepares children not only for writing at a later stage, but also encourages independence and confidence.

Gross and fine motor skills via the Montessori sensorial apparatus, which helps heighten their concentration. By following a child’s own development stages, carefully monitoring progress through observation and one to one interaction which is recorded ensures they are continually stimulated.

We aim to provide a safe and stimulating environment in which a child can experiment with, and learn through, a variety of arts and crafts materials, The experience of manipulative play with clay, play dough and messy play, stimulates many areas of development, especially the imagination.

The children participate in small and large group discussions and to be able to express themselves clearly using a wide and ambitious vocabulary. We introduce the children initially to numbers and letters indirectly through everyday activities such as song, stories, rhymes, music etc. This builds their confidence and develops their social skills as well.

The letters of the alphabet are taught phonetically using a wide range of specially designed Montessori materials, as are numbers and early mathematics as and when the child is ready.

We follow the guidelines laid down in the government’s Early Years Foundation Stage document for the children, enabling us to use a combined curriculum and pedagogy of both the EYFS and Montessori.

We provide a range of multi-cultural activities to enhance the child’s perception of the world and all who live in it. We use pictures of people, places, homes, resources.  Children then go on to create their own interpretations of African villages, or Artic landscapes.

By providing these types of creative activities it enables children to gain an awareness of the cultures and beliefs of others.

We introduce geography by providing globes, puzzle maps of the world and each continent; pictures showing real life and water forms such as “an island” and “a lake”.  We introduce activities relating to soil, air & water.  biology is introduced by providing a range of materials such as puzzles containing different parts of animals, plants, trees & flowers, birds, water wildlife, dinosaurs, mini beasts, fruit & vegetable cards.

Throughout the year we show the children real life experiences in this area such as having a butterfly house growing caterpillars into butterflies and then releasing them; tadpoles growing quickly into froglets and eventually into frogs, again being released into our local pond. The children learn botany by planting and caring for seeds and observing them transform into flowers or herbs.  Animals, their lifecycles, and their habitats are also introduced along with the different stages of human development. Here we explore decay and how decaying vegetables help the Earth.

Science experiments are conducted such as, volcanic lava and objects which float and sink. The Earth, its different layers, continents, oceans, and countries are also explored.  We introduce the solar system initially via a song, this leads to projects where the children make paper- mache planets.

We also arrange outings which are risk assessed, such as the local library. And other places of interest within the local area.  The children benefit greatly from these extra excursions and parents/carers are always welcome to attend.  The Park is a fantastic resource, children learn about nature, the planet and amongst other things, develop their stamina, fine and gross motor skills, and general walking awareness and etiquette.

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