Our Montessori Curriculum:
Supports the development of the whole child – socially, emotionally, personally and academically
Is a holistic approach that instils self-discipline, self-correcting, intrinsic rewards and self-confidence
Is developmentally appropriate, dynamic, purposeful, engaging and lays the foundations to support further learning, social development, speech development, Literacy and Numeracy, and critical thinking
Encourages the development of independence, self-direction, active learning and discovery
Allows your child to grow and develop at their own pace without consistently being compared to children their own age
Progressively moves from sensorial and concrete experiences to more abstract thinking
Is presented through Cosmic Education - an interconnected, interrelated and open-ended curriculum
Includes the Montessori National Curriculum and Australian Curriculum, with a strong emphasis on individualised learning based on children’s strengths and interests
Includes the following learning areas:
Language
Mathematics
Science
History and Cultural Studies
Creative Arts
HPE
Practical Life
Sensorial
Grace and Courtesy
Forest School
Consist of multi-aged groupings that align with the child’s development, providing an opportunity for children to be leaders and learn from their peers
Consist of work periods that allow for uninterrupted, purposeful, developmentally appropriate, engaging, self-chosen work
Supports development and encourages self-responsibility and awareness of how actions may influence others and the environment
Consists of developmentally appropriate learning materials, resources and activities
Provide indoor and outdoor learning spaces and opportunities
Connects children to nature, for example through animal husbandry, implementation of permaculture principles and Forest School activities
Actively work towards embedding Montessori Pedagogy across the curriculum to support high quality, focused and relevant teaching and learning practices
Utilise observation as a foundational tool to guide each child’s learning.
Serve as role models, modelling appropriate behaviour, grace and courtesy, respect and thoughtfulness
Serve as facilitators for the child’s natural development, learning and discovery
The curriculum offered in the Montessori environment prepared for the primary years is called Cosmic Education. This curriculum presents children with a full range of educational disciplines, including mathematics and language, as well as the arts, sciences and social sciences. The educational disciplines, however, are not presented to children as discrete areas in defined blocks of time, but in the form of an interconnected, interrelated and open-ended curriculum. The children are shown how each topic is related to other topics in the same subject area and to other subject areas. The interconnections between the disciplines happen at different points of time and in different ways for different children. In this way, the curriculum is experienced as a coherent whole, individualised to each child’s interests and learning style, rather than as an assortment of unrelated pieces of information. This approach can be adjusted to match the learning styles of both global and linear thinkers and helps individual children to relate their predominant style of thinking to the thinking styles of others.
The range of the Cosmic Education curriculum is very broad and stem from vital lessons known as the great lessons, fable-like stories that provide children with an expansive and imaginative overview of a whole area of the curriculum. Instead of giving children tiny, disconnected details, these stories give children the broad vision their expanding intellectual power demands. They become the framework for all subsequent lessons and activities, ensuring the coherence of the curriculum. In response to the children’s interests sparked by the great lessons the teacher prepares lessons to harness those interests.