Our Montessori Philosophy
We offer a Montessori learning environment
Environment
The prepared environment itself supports a child’s autonomy in many ways. The materials have a built-in control of error, which allows the child to focus not on the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ of their work, but rather on the process, as they receive feedback from the material and are able to continuously explore and experiment guided only by their own will and developing understanding of the concrete concept (rather than receiving outside feedback from an adult).
Independence
The Practical Life area of the Montessori curriculum lends itself particularly well to the support of autonomy. Practical life activities allow children to take care of their own needs, and this means they rely significantly less on adults in their environment. Just as learning to walk and talk brought the child a great deal more independence, also learning to meet their basic physical needs (dressing themselves, preparing food, toileting, etc.) means they are free to strive to greater levels of independence in their ability to carry out complex tasks.
Academic Skills
Children explore their environment to learn, and while there is much for children to learn from time spent in nature and from their daily environments, we can enhance and support the development of the child’s observation skills by providing an environment of precise materials for the child to explore. The Montessori classroom environment is full of tools that help the child, through manipulation with the hands, to develop a mental representation of the world that provides the keys to practice observation skills.