Educating the Whole Child

For forty-five years, The Montessori School has built a tradition of serving children using the educational philosophy of Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and pioneer in child development who observed that children have a natural, progressive aptitude for acquiring knowledge about their world.

Our role is to nurture and preserve your child’s natural curiosity and to develop an openness to the unlimited possibilities of life.

Building on this natural progression, Dr. Montessori developed a philosophy which embraces the whole child. She found that by placing children in a specially prepared environment to meet their physical, cognitive and social needs and to satisfy their intrinsic interests, children not only learn but thrive.

At The Montessori School, this philosophy is expressed in classrooms where children, ranging in age over a three-year span, work individually or in small groups at developmentally appropriate tasks.

The Montessori School is ungraded, with an open-ended curriculum that allows students to progress at their own pace. The curriculum follows the child rather than the child fitting into a set curriculum where all children are doing the same work at the same time. Our open curriculum offers children freedom of choice in a dynamic, energized, free-flowing classroom where learning is tangible.

We believe that…

• Children have within them a natural urge to explore and discover the world around them and find joy in learning when they are actively engaged in the learning process.
• Children learn best in an environment of mutual respect and one that provides opportunities for cognitive, social, emotional, moral and physical growth.
• Heterogeneous and multi-aged grouping provides opportunities for peer teaching, sharing and natural social development.
• Children internalize concepts and skills at their own pace.
• Children learn best when competencies are fostered through repetitive, successful experiences and failures are de-emphasized.
• A multi-sensory approach maximizes learning because it provides for individual learning styles.
• Children need opportunities to make choices, thereby fostering independence, self-esteem and self-discipline.
• Developmental needs of children are universal and transcend cultural differences.