Montessori is an education for life!
"The Montessori Method" provides education for life and each child is considered as
an individual. Our aim is to encourage the child's natural development as well as
introducing social behavior and good manners. Our approach is child-centered and
the child is respected within the pre school's special environment. Children are
encouraged to develop and broaden their educational experiences in a caring and
gentle atmosphere. This enables the child's first steps in education to be enjoyable
and inspiring. The key components of the Montessori Method are the child-centered
special qualities of the Environment and the Practitioner.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
- To develop a positive attitude towards school and learning
- To develop high self-esteem and self-respect
- To develop and foster an abiding curiosity through exploration
- To develop habits of persistence and initiative
- To foster self-discipline and a sense of order
- To develop socially acceptable behaviour
- To acquire basic skills necessary for a lifetime of learning
- To help develop each child’s innate potential.
- To encourage active, creative thinkers, within an atmosphere free of fear, ridicule and discrimination.
- To provide a positive, nurturing framework in which self-disciplined individuals emerge.
Our Commitment to Inclusive Education
Our admissions policy states we “adhere to and practice the principle of non-discrimination, including discrimination based on race, sex, disability, religion, cultural or social origin, thereby striving towards a multicultural and multiracial society.” We are one of the few independent schools in the Eastern Cape who will accommodate learners with challenges and difficulties. Although we limit these numbers, our inclusion ratios are the highest in the region. Our overriding responsibility for all children, with or without special needs, is to ensure we do what is in their best interests. We strongly believe, that in any light and at any time, every child is extraordinary. Everyone within our school community benefits from our Inclusive Education Policy. What makes Montessori different? Comparison of some aspects…| TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS | MONTESSORI SCHOOLS |
| One age classes | Vertical Grouping – three year age span within one class |
| Teacher motivated and centred | Child centred through self motivation |
| Teacher corrects work | Child uses self-correcting equipment |
| Teacher provides discipline | Environment encourages the development of self discipline |
| Focus on group learning set at pace of the class | Individual learning with pace set by the individual |
| Use of reward and punishment as motivation | Environment and equipment provides opportunities for self motivation |
| All children treated alike | Differences and similarities in developmental stages as well as learning styles acknowledged and accommodated |
The Montessori Method
After years of expression mainly in pre-schools, Montessori philosophy is finally being used as originally intended, as a method of seeing children as they really are and of creating environments which foster the fulfillment of their highest potential - spiritual, emotional, physical, and intellectual - as members of a family, the world community and the Cosmos...
