The Montessori program is one that allows children to learn at their own pace, according to their individual needs. It is a whole child approach, focusing on the child’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical needs. With an environment that is nurturing and calm, and prepared with a wealth of appealing learning activities, the Montessori classroom provides an educational experience designed to bring out the child’s natural sense of wonder. Each classroom is carefully prepared and maintained by a Montessori teacher. It is well equipped with a unique set of learning apparatus, which are used to provide hands-on educational experiences for the children. Through these hands-on experiences, the children develop a concrete understanding of basic principles about the world (including principles of math, language, science, and social studies). These principles will be used as building blocks for more complex ideas as the children advance through their studies and will provide a solid foundation for learning. Montessori credentialed teachers go through extensive training in the use of these materials. Montessori students are able to increase their knowledge through both independent and teacher-initiated activities. Students may make choices about the work they will complete in a given day or week. The Montessori Educators serves as a guide in this process and ensures that the child is making appropriate choices and progressing in their learning. Students are given opportunities to make discoveries and to engage in extended explorations. Through these experiences, they are encouraged to become self-directed and, as a result, develop a high level of responsibility. As caretakers of their own learning, students feel empowered, and are motivated to excel. Integrated throughout the Montessori curriculum is an emphasis on the development of mutually respectful relationships, compassion, and other humanistic qualities. Children are encouraged to become independent critical thinkers, ask provocative questions, develop a multicultural awareness, and adapt to new situations. These ideals are deemed necessary in developing a caring attitude toward all living things, all cultures, and the world around us.

Our Kindergarten classroom is set up to promote a child’s ‘academic’ interest and development (‘academic’ refers to early reading, writing and mathematical skills).
• Classroom provides a high level of exposure to various forms of literature (e.g. books, alphabet posters, stories) and play materials that develop mathematical and other cognitive skills (e.g. beads, blocks, jigsaws).
• Pre-writing skills will be developed through daily opportunities to draw/paint/paste/manipulate…
• When assessing the appropriate level of lesson planning for each child, the Educator will consider firstly the child’s developmental readiness.
• As a child shows interest in letter recognition/writing and basic mathematical operations (e.g. sorting, sequencing, counting…), our Educator will respond with experiences/games that focus on these skills.
• We teach literacy in our Kindergarten group as we know our responsibility is to make the child prepare to the next stage of schooling.

Children’s behaviour is a reaction to their environment. Therefore, the first stage of behaviour management is to provide an environment and routine that is safe, secure, and well planned to meet individual needs and maintain children’s interests. We actively seek opportunities to acknowledge and reinforce each child’s ‘positive’ actions, as we believe that this is the most effective way to promote such behaviour. Staff will maintain clear and consistent expectations of, and consequences for, children’s behaviour.

A child’s Social/Emotional development is what MGPS considers to be the most important field of a child’s development. It relates to a child’s personal awareness, self-esteem and sense of autonomy. We consider these to be the most influential factors in a child’s ‘success’ in further schooling and adult life. We actively promote development in this field by:
• Maintaining high staff/child ratios;
• Encouraging child effort and participation through two way communication;
• Encouraging ‘self-help’ skills (e.g. Dressing self, cleaning up, helping out etc…)
• Providing experiences that encourage social interactions and require social skills (eg. Play dough => sharing; dress ups => co-operative play…)
• Modeling respect for others and other positive interpersonal skills

Cognitive development relates to the varied mental operations that children are capable of. Our curriculum promotes each child’s cognitive development by:
• providing varied play materials specially designed to promote thinking
• asking the child many questions
• encouraging exploratory/experimental play
• problem solving

This field of development refers to any form of creative expression/communication used by the child. It includes artistic, physical, verbal and dramatic creativity, which we promote by:
• providing ‘multi-purpose’ toys (e.g. blocks)
• daily opportunities for ‘creative art’ experiences (eg drawing/painting/play dough…)
• providing materials that encourage imaginative/dramatic play (e.g. ‘dress up clothes’)
• opportunities for free movement/ gesture expressions and poems/rhymes and reactions to character building stories
• exposure to stories/books
• aesthetic surrounding

Linguistic development includes receptive (e.g. listening, reading) and expressive (e.g. verbal, written) language skills. It can be observed in almost everything that a child does and is most actively promoted at MGPS with:
• a program focus on allowing children the time to talk/communicate with each other
• an environment containing a high level of printed material
• daily opportunities to ‘read’ books/other forms of literature
• daily exposure to stories/rhymes/songs
• daily opportunities for painting/drawing…(pre-writing skills)

A child’s physical development includes Gross Motor (Large Muscle) and Fine Motor (Small Muscle) development. It also includes awareness of maintaining personal health. We advance each child’s overall physical development by providing:
• A large garden and an indoor play area consisting of a variety of play equipments designed to promote physical skills
• A large sand pit to allow children to explore and make shapes
• Opportunities to run/climb/jump/hop…..
• Materials and experiences that encourage fine motor manipulation (e.g. Play dough, construction toys, paintbrushes/pencils/crayons…)
• Information relating to personal care relevant to the child’s understanding