What we offer

Nido means ‘nest’ in Italian; we ensure that this period in the young child’s life is a warm secure base from which to explore. There is great emphasis on preparing the environment for movement and exploration. Young children are given opportunities to follow their natural curiosity to explore with their senses.

We encourage the children to be functionally independent at a very young age by involving them in caring for themselves and their environment.

Practical activities include learning how to use a cup and a spoon during mealtimes, wiping up spills, pouring water and learning how to get dressed in very small steps, such as first learning how to find one’s own slippers in the corridor.

Healthy eating choices are supported by encouraging the children to peel bananas and oranges for snack. These sorts of practical activities encourage the development of a positive self-image and autonomy as the young children learn to care for themselves and their environment.

We emphasise the development of early language and listening skills by providing children with a loving environment rich in communication through songs, reading books, making conversations with them, responding to them and by being attentive to their individual needs. Regular visits to the parks and other areas of interest within the community help the children to experience the natural world; they collect fallen leaves or feed the ducks and experience life in their community. These experiences offer great opportunities for children to increase their vocabulary.

The children have their own specially designed self-contained unit with a sleeping area with low beds, a changing area, a kitchen, an open area for exploration with direct access to an outdoor space which serves as an extension to their classroom therefore offering opportunities for exploration and movement.

“To assist a child we must provide him with an environment which will enable him to develop freely.”
– Maria Montessori

Toddlers are curious and everything in their large spacious environment offers an opportunity to learn skills to support their growing sense of self and determination. We give the children the responsibility of small jobs which contribute to the care of their environment.

They take part in practical activities such as dusting, cleaning, watering plants, wiping spilled water, sweeping, mopping, table washing, folding towels and flower arranging. The children relish the opportunity to help, which gives them a sense of community and an appreciation for caring for others.   The children are involved in all aspects of food preparation such as cutting fruits and vegetables, and they are given the opportunity to serve themselves during mealtimes, learning how to make their own preferences and to choose their own portions. They also pour their own water to drink. In a caring and supportive atmosphere, the children build a healthy attitude towards mealtimes and nutrition, happily trying a wide range of food because they have been involved in the preparation.

They learn the importance of safety in using tools, rather than forbidding their use. They use manipulate materials requiring special finger and handgrips to refine motor skills in preparation for writing later on. Being purposeful supports the development of a sense of order, concentration, coordination of movement which leads to the integration of the child’s personality and development of self-worth. Regular trips to the park and playing outdoor gives the children the opportunity to use their large motor skills by sliding, swinging, and running in a large space as well as looking at the plants and animals around them and learning about their different features.

Children are encouraged to use language to express their needs and to begin to understand the needs of others. Through lessons of grace and courtesy, they learn appropriate and respectful actions and words which foster the development of independence, self-discipline, respect for the environment and for others. Through a range of play experiences both indoors and out, children learn how to negotiate, take turns with each other and develop positive interpersonal skills.

“These very children reveal to us the most vital need of their development, saying ‘Help me to do it myself!’”
– Maria Montessori

The children have their own large spacious classroom with direct access to the garden. This free flowing learning environment provides the children with a wonderful sense of community, leading to the development of social and intellectual competence.

Children move freely according to their individual interest and needs. By helping and caring for each other, they develop the key social qualities of empathy and understanding of the needs of others. Children are free to decide if they want to work in a small group, with a friend or alone while they explore activities of their own choosing.

Children learn the important skill of waiting for someone else to complete an activity before it is available for them. They learn time management by finding something else to do if their choice of activity cannot be immediately met.

Personal, social and emotional skills are encouraged by giving the children opportunities to work together to complete the various puzzles and science experiments which are laid out on the shelves. Once they complete an activity, they understand that they must make sure it is tidy and laid out neatly on the shelf for the next child to use. By learning how to pay attention to these small details, the children develop the understanding of how to function in a group and in the community at large, as well as learning how to sequence and plan their actions.

The three-part cycle which consists of first making a choice of an activity, then becoming engaged and then finally putting the activity away for the next child is what Montessori teachers call the “work cycle”. Maria Montessori called children’s activity “work” because she understood how very important it was for children to be given chances to try new activities and to take risks.

This freedom is essential in order for children to develop lifelong skills to complete tasks in an organized manner. We have found that this cycle of work and play, where the children choose following their own interests demonstrates the characteristics of effective learning, as described in the Development Matters of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

The Children in the Children’s House are constantly practicing their communication skills, either by negotiating with one another while in the midst of an activity, giving instructions to one another or even explaining the ground rules to a new comer. Polite language is role modelled by the teachers and appropriate behaviour is acted out in small groups so that children know what to do, and what to say, in different situations. These role-play groups are called “grace and courtesy lessons” and they can cover any subject from “how to clean your face” to “how to ask a friend if they will play”. Children respond well to clear guidelines, particularly when reminded what they can do.

The children in the Children’s House are given the responsibility of small tasks; washing dishes after snack, watering plants and helping to set up for lunch, all of which help them to develop a sense of larger responsibility for the group. They are shown how to safely cut their own fruit, which they can then share with a friend when they are hungry; gradually learning how to be become aware of their own needs in regards to eating and drinking and to develop a positive attitude towards healthy eating. Mealtimes are a very social time as well, with the children serving themselves and making conversations with one another.

Easy access to the outdoors gives many opportunities to develop and practice large motor skills such as throwing and catching balls, riding bikes and using garden tools. There are also plenty of opportunities for exploration of the natural world, such as looking at seasonal changes and exploring insect life, all of which lead to the children developing an understanding of their world.

The “indirect approach” to literacy skills builds on the strong foundation which has been laid in the Infant Community and in the Nido where children are given a strong base in listening and speaking skills, songs, rhymes and spoken language by participating in small groups. This language rich environment helps children to follow a rhyming scheme and gain an understanding that words are made up of individual sounds. The children are introduced to the phonic sounds and their symbol in a more direct manner through a variety of different Montessori activities so that children are quickly able to build words using their phonic knowledge and they learn how to decode the symbols they see and begin to read. As the child’s hand movements become more controlled, they are also given specific writing activities such as insets to trace around and colour in and chalk boards to write on. Using their phonic knowledge, children are quickly able to build words using “the moveable alphabet” and their mark making becomes more deliberate, as they begin to put their thoughts and ideas down on paper, first by writing letters, then words and then eventually sentences.

Children also build a strong foundation in concepts such as sequencing and organising objects by shape and size , making arrangements of tens, along with enjoying number rhymes and songs to prepare for mathematics. They are also given activities which help them to develop the understanding that quantities are represented by symbols and they learn to match numbers to quantities. Children are given opportunities to practice counting and to explore different mathematical concepts such as “odd and even” numbers; addition; subtraction; multiplication and division.

“Freedom is given within limits in order for the child to become organized and learn respect for others.”
– Maria Montessori