Our Montessori Nursery Schools
The basis of our approach follows the world renowned methods developed by Dr Maria Montessori, the first woman in Italy to graduate in medicine. As a trained paediatrician she dedicated her life to finding techniques for guiding a child’s motivation & development which are highly respected world-wide.
By offering your child the benefit of specially designed apparatus & materials within a purpose built, child centred environment we enjoy a well proven track record of children attaining their full potential in a well balanced & natural way.
We also firmly believe in adding the best of all current techniques & resources to the best of the traditional to ensure a whole spectrum of opportunities are presented for fun & learning. During the all important “formative” years from 2 to 5 children have a natural desire for, and a deep love of learning. Montessori materials are specifically aimed at captivating these opportunities when a child is most receptive to benefit fully from a given activity.
Recent studies have shown that Montessori methods can elevate all the children in a class despite any disadvantages. These are not just important outcomes for each child – but for the class as a whole… Montessori Outcomes for Disadvantaged Children
More recently, research has shown how an early Montessori education can help close the income achievement gap for children… Montessori News April 2018
Practical Life
Everyday practical skills such as learning to get dressed, using fasteners such as buttons bows or laces. Polishing shoes, spooning, pouring from jugs or chopping fruit and vegetables all serve to captivate a child’s desire to imitate adults.
Through these activities the child gains:
Improved social and personal skills; improved levels of concentration; heightened self awareness and self esteem; independence and logical thought; a development of fine motor skills and hand/eye co-ordination; a sense of order and tidiness.
Sensorial
Learning via the five senses is at its optimum in the young child and our sensorial equipment provides ideal mediums for confirming and developing the impressions given by the senses. Concepts of colour, taste, sound, touch and smell are all explored in ways to stimulate children’s natural curiosity and enhance their senses.
Mathematics
Early skills in numbers and arithmetic are most effectively nurtured by a tactile approach in a positive concrete way. Children relish working with the beautifully crafted materials and in doing so gain a real concept of and enthusiasm for the world of numbers.
Language
The early drive and mental dexterity a child needs to learn to talk remains evident right through the formative years. It is during these years that the best opportunities exist for natural advancement by captivating the child’s fascination and aptitude for words and letters. Montessori materials such as sandpaper letters, moveable alphabet, word boxes etc together with phonetics and encouragement for the love of books all serve to facilitate reading and writing skills appropriate to each individual child’s level of readiness.
Cultural
Many activities are designed to impart an understanding of the world around us and encompass science, geography, history and differing cultures, festivals and traditions.
General
In addition we incorporate a wealth of creative arts and crafts activities, singing, music and movement, stories and rhymes, nature study, simple French, physical development and free play indoors and outside. Our extensive range of resources including Brio, Duplo, puzzles, sand and water trays etc encourages a wide range of play and learning activities together with regularly changing projects.
Previous Montessori alumni include:
Anne Frank
Beyonce
Bill Gates
Dakota Fanning
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Jeff Bezos
Larry Page & Sergey Brin
Mark Zuckerberg.
Prince George
Princes William & Harry
- Prince William, Prince Harry and Prince George.
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin – founders of Google, both attended Montessori preschool and both highlight that it was Montessori education that contributed to their independent
thinking and success. - Mark Zuckerberg – Co-founder of Facebook
- Jeff Bezos – founder of Amazon.com who proudly cites his Montessori roots
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Nobel Prize winner for Literature – attended a Montessori school for 5 years as a child and credited his time there with making him fall in love with
language. “I do not believe there is a method better than Montessori for making children sensitive to the beauties of the world and awakening their curiosity regarding the secrets
of life.” - Anne Frank – author, diarist from World War II. Anne showed aptitude for reading and writing at a very early age, a talent that was nurtured in her Montessori school.
- Beyonce Knowles – Beyoncé’s talents first emerged in a Montessori school that valued both art and academics. Today Beyoncé is one of pop music’s most highly-regarded figures and has
been nominated for more Grammys than anyone else in history. - Dakota Fanning – renowned as the youngest-ever actor to be nominated for Screen Actors Award, Dakota has said that she learned to read at the age of two while enrolled in a
Montessori school. The educational environment allowed her the freedom to pursue her interests from a young age, such as a love for reading, and fostered the kind of focus that is
useful in pursuing an acting career. - Bill Gates – American business magnate, investor, author, philanthropist, humanitarian, and principal founder of Microsoft. “I believe that the Montessori Method – implemented in so many countries, homes, and schools around the world – is producing children who will be innovative risk-takers.”