What is Montessori?

Montessori is a philosophy with the fundamental tent that a child learns best within a social environment that supports each individual’s unique development. Maria Montessori is the founder and creator of the Montessori Method of Education. We use the “Whole Child” approach where the primary foal of a Montessori program is to help each child reach their potential in all areas of life. Activities that are used promote the development of social skills, emotional growth, physical coordination, and cognitive preparation. Each educator provides direction that allows the child to experience the joy of learning and to enjoy the process. “The Prepared Environment” of the classroom, materials, social climate, and the role of the teacher are put in place to be supportive of the learners. The Educators provide the necessary resources for successful learning and a safe and positive environment. Montessori Materials were designed for multi-sensory, sequential and self-correcting materials which facilitate the learning skills and lead to learning abstract ideas by the construction of knowledge. Our Montessori teachers direct the learning process and function as a designer of the environment, resource person, role model, demonstrator, record keeper and meticulous observer of each child’s behaviours and growth. 

What is Play Based Learning?

Play enables children to work out their ideas and theories and use what they already know to deepen their understanding and further their learning. It helps children explore, build on their curiosity, manipulate, build, create, wonder and ask questions naturally. Educators observe and document the children’s thinking, ideas and learning while interpret and analyze what they have noticed. They build on the children’s curiosity by planning open ended activities. Play acts as a vehicle for learning. It provides the opportunities for learning in a context in which children are at their most receptive. It is important that educators engage in play with the children in order to help build on their learning.
 
What sets us apart?
Children are to work at their own pace with materials they have been previously shown and choose, either alone or with others. The educators rely on his or her observations of the children to determine which new activities and materials may be introduced to an individual child or a group of children.  The educators create both child led experiences and adult initiated experiences in order to help introduce new material or help expand on previous material

Are we an Accredited Montessori?
We employ both Montessori accredited educators who have their MACTE and RECE to educate our students. We have chosen not to be a Canadian Montessori accredited school as we would have to pay an additional fee per student and base classroom fee which would in turn limit access to some families as we would have to raise our prices to ensure that these costs are met. Our philosophy is to be inclusive and ensure families in our community have access to high quality care and different methods of learning that suit the needs of all children.