At our school you will see a creative environment designed to meet the needs of your child, and will be continuously challenged by specific learning goals. This is a per-requisite for developing his/her mind. The program we pursue is geared towards helping the child develop habits of observation, questioning, and listening. It gives them an awareness of their feelings, and their right to express these feelings by sometimes channeling them in to other means of expression.
Children learn that they are free to make choices, and that as long as they stay within the limits of consideration for people and things, they do not always have to conform. An open ended program like ours prepares the child to utilize his/her intellectual and creative abilities in future learning tasks, within a happy, secure and stimulating environment.
Montessori Philosophy
The Montessori philosophy of teaching aims to achieve the fullest possible development of the whole child while ultimately preparing them for life’s many rich experiences. This provides a pleasant environment with carefully devised materials that meet the child’s natural needs and of course, nurture his or her absorbent mind. This method of teaching is a sensible balance between freedom and structure specifically designed for a young child in a nursery or school environment.
Montessori is used in many nursery schools around the world and provides a unique and stimulating educational experience for young learners. It enables the child to develop self-confidence, security, a sense of order and social relationships, creative intelligence and imagination. It also sharpens the ability to discriminate, make judgments and build up a child’s concentration span.
This philosophy recognizes and takes advantage of these highly perceptive stages through the introduction of materials and activities, which are specially designed to stimulate the intellect and feed the child with the necessary information needed for further development.
Multiple Intelligences
Through his pioneering research into human intelligence, Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University, has clearly shown that there is no such thing as a single unitary mental capability that can be called intelligence, but that there are instead multiple intelligences (MI). He argues very convincingly that IQ tests and schooling in general usually assess just two of the human intelligences, the linguistic and the logical- mathematical. Gardner, however, proposes eight different intelligences, accounting for a much broader spectrum of human capabilities that our thinking skills draw on:
- Intra-personal: self-smarts
- Inter-personal: people-smart
- Logical-mathematical maths-smart
- Linguistic: language-smart
- Musical-rhythmic: music-smart
- Visual-spatial: picture-smart
- Kinaesthetic-bodily: body-smart
- Naturalistic: nature-smart
Through environments that offer a variety of motivating, hands-on materials that children individually select, and by creating learning centres that provide natural opportunities to move, be active, and fully occupied in either solo or small group experiences, we better serve and meet the needs of more children.
English immersion
Children must have fun learning a language to develop a love for it. Speech, music, art, sports, drama and play, are a fun way of learning. A spacious set-up for role play in various real-life scenarios will build your child’s confidence in using the English language.
Language is a skill, and like any other skill, it will only improve with constant exposure and sufficient practice. Create a solid foundation and interest in English from a young age will give your child the advantage of being truly bilingual.
The early years foundation stage
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a comprehensive framework that sets the standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children are ready for school and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.
The areas of learning are:
- Communication and language development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
- Physical development involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
- Personal, social and emotional development involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.
- Literacy development involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
- Mathematics involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures.
- Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
- Expressive arts and design involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.