Our Montessori approach.
The quality Montessori resources and environments are matched by an outstanding team of educators, who are all dedicated professionals with a clear understanding of how to implement the Early Years Learning Framework and teach using the Montessori method to ensure children’s development is supported, and their learning is maximised.
Montessori is an approach to supporting the full development of the human being. The Montessori approach offers a broad vision of education as an ‘aid to life’. As an educational system, it is used in over 22,000 schools worldwide, and has a longer track record of success than any other educational approach in the world.
The Montessori approach to education, inspires children towards a lifelong love of learning, by following their natural developmental trajectory. Children become confident, responsible, independent learners, who trust in their own abilities. The inclusivity and positive social development facilitated by the Montessori programme forms the basis for a persistent attachment to learning and knowledge.
Montessori classrooms provide a specially crafted learning environment where children are able to respond to their natural tendency to work. Children have an innate passion for learning, and the Montessori classroom encourages this by giving them opportunities to engage in spontaneous, purposeful activities with the guidance of a trained adult. Through their work, the children develop concentration and joyful self-discipline. Within a framework of order, the children progress at their own pace and rhythm, according to their individual capabilities.
Dr Maria Montessori, a physician, anthropologist and pedagogue, developed her unique method of educating children over a professional career that spanned over fifty years. The Montessori approach was developed through intense scientific observation of children from many ethnic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds from birth to maturity. It is based upon a deep understanding of child development.
Montessori National Curriculum
The MNC has been in use since 2009 when it was ratified by the Australian Federal Government. It aligns with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) even going above and beyond its scope.
Our environments are carefully prepared to allow children to practice skills to meet their milestones, support their physical and intellectual needs and encourage their potential.
Learning how to work and play with others together in a peaceful and caring community is perhaps the most critical life skill that is provided through the Montessori Approach. Respect is also a fundamental element of our environments and is modelled in everything we do.
Dr Montessori invented this term to describe self-help skills. From the Nursery to the Kindy room, our environments are planned to provide developmentally appropriate activities which facilitate:
- Independence
- Concentration
- Fine motor co-ordination
- Gross motor co-ordination
- Orderliness
- Intellect
- Social awareness
- Self-esteem
The child is encouraged to do whatever action they are capable of doing and supported to work towards success
Dr Montessori described the period of Birth to 6 years as the “first plane of development” when children gain their first impressions of the world through their senses. As much as possible, our environments provide the children with scientifically designed Montessori materials as well as other didactic materials, which aim to refine the senses, through distinguishing and classifying abstract concepts, e.g., dimensions, forms, colour, texture, weight, temperature, taste, sounds.
The formation of a logical mathematical mind begins as early as the chanting of the first nursery rhymes when concepts of patter, counting, repetition and rhythm are practiced. The language of maths is everywhere, from estimating and measuring in the sandpit or the kitchen, to observing the geometry of nature and manmade environments, to understanding our decimal system with the numerals 1-9 and the concept of zero as its base. Our environments provide experiences and Montessori materials to facilitate this learning according to individual needs and potential.
Our outdoor environment is a combination of natural materials and play equipment which provide the children with a variety of free play experiences. They are encouraged to test their gross motor abilities, interact with their peers through role play or just enjoy the sensory rich environment. Seasonally, the children are involved in tending the garden and caring for our resident Guinea Pigs.
The acquisition of language in humans begins before birth and this innate tendency to communicate with others drives infants to engage with the language used around them. In our environments, adults strive to provide an enriched environment through experiences in listening and speaking showing patience as the child strives to express themselves. Literature is valued and integrated into the program wherever possible. Our Montessori materials provide the opportunity for children who are ready to acquire skills in phonemic awareness and the emerging understanding of reading and writing.
We respect the many languages which are a part of our community and encourage an awareness of them through activities which celebrate diversity and culture.
Children have an innate interest to explore the world around them. They observe the natural world and absorb the culture of the society into which they are born. They are fascinated by the way the world works, by the life of plants and animals, by the features of the places they find themselves in and the customs and stories of the people around them. This program includes experiences across many areas:
- Observing and interacting with domestic animals
- Gardening and the study of plants
- Cultures of the world
- Geography
- Music
- Movement and Dance
- Visual Arts
- Crafts
Of course, all of these areas are prepared in a developmentally appropriate manner, according to the age group.
