During our Ofsted inspection's we are assessed to see if our curriculum covers the six main areas of learning for all our babies and children. We structure the children's learning experiences to suit their individual learning needs. Babies will have as many opportunities as our 4yr olds! Below we have given just a small example of how we cover these.

Personal, Social & Emotional Development

Role play, dressing up, meal times, celebrating birthdays and religious festivals, multicultural activities, sharing, manners game, instruction games, care for the environment, problem solving, circle time, guessing my feelings games and group participation. Montessori philosophy, parts of the Montessori environment studies and practical life.

Communication, Language & Literacy

Independent exploration of books, story time, singing/action rhymes, poems, news time, miming games, drama, lots of vocabulary rich conversation, talk about cards, V Tec computers, describing game, memory game and all of the Montessori Language Section.

Mathematical Development

Construction, jigsaws, number rhymes, games that use a dice and counters, dominos, board games such as 'snakes and letters' odd & even games, recording findings, worksheets, guessing/telling the time, all of the Montessori mathematics and part of Sensorial.

Physical Development

Outside play with bikes, trikes, bats, balls and hoops. We also encourage the children to explore and use their imagination with such items as cardboard boxes, old tyres, tent making equipment etc. We also take part in music and movement, exploring different ways to move, drama, action songs, dance, balancing, obstacle course, imitating games, skittles and throwing and catching bean bags/balls.

Creative Development

Painting, exploration of colour/shades/mixing/texture, pencil control activities, cutting activities, junk and clay model making, play dough, sticking and collage, gloop and other messy mediums, baking, sewing, listening and playing instruments, movement to music, tessellations and looking at patterns in nature.

Please note
Your child will get messy with us! Please do not dress them in their best clothes. We suggest you dress them in their oldest ones and always leave a spare set in their bags!

Dr Maria Montessori

'Montessori' is taken from Dr Maria Montessori's name. She was born in 1870, became the first female Doctor in Italy and studied education, philosophy, psychology and anthropology.

At 28, she worked with defective children, designing materials and techniques which allowed the children to work in areas considered beyond their capabilities. These 'defectives' then passed the state exams. Montessori concluded that if her children reached the same academic levels as 'normal' children, something must be wrong with mainstream education.

At 37, she founded her first school with poor children from the slums in Italy . Her unique approach led to surprising results. She observed that previously unruly children, when provided with experiences which corresponded closely to their stage of development, easily became absorbed in purposeful activities.

Challenging Minds

Challenging materials proved a greater interest than toys. Montessori discovered their remarkable ability to absorb knowledge from their surroundings and the desire to teach themselves. Then, with her son, Dr Mario Montessori, she designed an extensive range of teaching materials to aid this process using all five senses. Each piece of equipment teaches a certain skill but can be often used in different ways. To this day the Montessori equipment is built from high quality prime materials and to precise specifications.

Montessori observed that children up to their sixth year have an absorbent mind and learn without effort, absorbing information like a sponge. They do not reason consciously, so one cannot always use reason or language to convey concepts to a child at this age. They learn through observation and exploration.

The child has certain 'sensitive' periods and an inner developmental drive which lead to many skills such as language, refinement of senses and social behaviour. During a sensitive period, the child will acquire or refine a skill without effort. If it is missed, the child then has to learn it later but with more effort.

The Montessori Classroom

In the carefully designed Montessori classroom a teacher would recognise and respond to the needs of a child during these periods to provide maximum opportunity for their development. When the children master a skill, they will also deepen their independence, self confidence and concentration, and so motivate themselves to learn more about that experience.

The Montessori Teacher

The Montessori teacher is known as a directress because they direct the child rather than teach them. The role of a directress in the classroom is vital. They do not teach in the traditional sense, but guide each child's progress helping them to help themselves. They are trained to observe and respond to the needs of the individual child and yet to direct all in the group. They are concerned with the whole development of the child physically, socially, emotionally and intellectually.

She/he will recognise a child's readiness to move on and in this way act as link between the prepared environment and the child's needs, providing the child with the right kind of activities at the right stages of the child's development. She/he encourages friendships and creates opportunity for the children to learn from each other. They are responsible for the content and the order of the environment. Her/his authority is exercised mainly by example. She/he shows the child respect and courtesy. She/he shows a loving and caring attitude towards nature and all living things, encouraging the child to respect others and treat them as they would wish to be treated themselves.