We provide quality care for children from birth to the age of 8 years, as well as offering a holiday club for school holidays and inset days at a set fee of £40 a day for children up to 8 years.
What is Montessori?
Montessori is an approach to early education that focuses on the immense capacity of children to absorb information when given the freedom and independence to learn at their own pace. What makes the Montessori approach different, and what makes it work so well, is that it is based on a deep understanding of the way children learn through choosing, trying and doing themselves. Specially developed materials in an environment prepared for the children, with close observation and guidance by Montessori teachers, leads to a powerful, confidence-building approach to learning.
The ultimate aim of Montessori principals of practical life is to lead the child to physical and intellectual independence; this is specifically where we give the child what he or she needs to prepare himself/herself for life. There are 5 areas:
- Preliminary Exercises– Preliminary exercises isolate individual tasks that will later be combined into a larger task. For example, before a child can be expected to wear an apron while painting, they are first taught how to put on, take-off, and store the apron.
- Care of the Self-These activities prepare the child to meet the requirements of tending to his own bodily needs each day. They are critical for the development of self-confidence (which develops as a natural consequence of the child seeing himself/herself succeed repeatedly at the tasks before him/her).
- Care of the Environment– These activities connect the child with his/her surroundings and allow him/her to assume responsibility for her environment. Care of environment activities create a sense of joy, pride, and delight in not only cleanliness but the artistic and wholesome elements (e.g., plants, pets) of our human spaces.
- Control of Movement- It is through movement that the child is able to organize and build his intelligence. Movement cannot be set apart from higher cognitive skills—they are intrinsically related (as are the mind and body). These include activities that isolate the quality of bodily movement for its own purpose.
- Grace and Courtesy- The grace and courtesy exercises allow children to adapt in a beautiful fashion to the culture around them. These exercises help the children acquire self-confidence and independence because they prepare them to behave well in all likely social situations.