Maria was the first educator to produce child-sized tables and chairs and to think about the fact that children need to have cupboards and shelves at their own height.
The magic of the learning space
The Montessori magic is brewed in our thoughtfully arranged classroom. Known as the 'Prepared Environment', the space is a defining feature of your child's successful development. Everything is thoughtfully laid out to encourage independent exploration.
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There are six clearly defined areas in the classroom, each boasting Montessori original design and activities prepared to help each little person develop skills and learn concepts.
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When your child steps inside, they will be thrilled to see that everything is perfectly proportioned to them: from the child-sized chairs and tables to the little activity trays containing fun for mini hands.
The six areas of the classroom
The Practical Life Area
This area is a favourite with our children, who enjoy performing the most basic everyday activities of the real world such as pouring from a jug, polishing a shoe or sewing on a button.
The child-size materials develop their gross and fine motor skills and promote logical thinking. They also learn about caring for others, for example by serving a friend something to eat. You’re much more likely to find them really washing and cutting vegetables here, than pretending to do so.
The Sensorial Area
Each material in this sensorial area helps our little ones organise, compare, order and classify the world around them based on how they look, feel, smell, sound and taste.
Our children work independently, using their own reasoning and critical faculties for finding answers and solutions for themselves. Many of the exercises are also indirect preparation for later mathematics and language work as they work with length, width, temperature, mass and colour.
The Language Area
Many of the Montessori activities around the classroom (particularly from Practical Life and Sensorial) are designed to help form the fine motor skills for subsequent writing.
When your child is ready, The Language Area introduces the ‘Moveable Alphabet’ to teach the phonetic sounds of the letters, before moving on to word building and recognition. Your child can also choose Putonghua activities with the support of a Montessori-trained Mandarin teacher.
The Mathematics Area
We see how much children love order and logic. Their mathematical minds are drawn to the wonderful set of visual and tactile Montessori materials in this area that first present numeracy in a concrete form.
Your little one will use a variety of objects such as beads and symbol cards to introduce the concept of quantity. They use their own practical experiences with these to learn about addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
The Cultural Area
Our children are curious souls, delighting us as they explore the complex world around them. Our materials introduce them to astronomy, botony, zoology, history and geography, allowing the children to reach an astonishing depth of understanding.
Hungry for knowledge, the children use activities to help them explore and experiment with concepts such as life cycles, land formation and the planets. The detailed work they bring home will amaze you!
The Art Area
Our classrooms are full of opportunities for the children to experiment with different and exciting materials that allow them to express themselves.
Exercises such as cutting with scissors or moulding clay help them to build the fine motor skills that they can then use in painting, singing dancing or playing instruments.
Through art, these young people are learning to express their feelings and emotions.
Learn more about our classes and curriculum here
Our Forest School
Our toddlers learn in our new 'Forest School', named by our pre-schoolers who helped us design it. It's a Montessori-themed space where children can choose their own learning activities. As well as a miniature working kitchen for those daily tasks, adventure equipment gets them moving around to burn off all that energy!
