Our Curriculum

Our School delivers a Montessori curriculum to pre-primary aged children which is aligned to the Early Years Learning Framework.  For primary aged children we deliver the full NSW NESA accredited program as a minimum but regularly surpass the learning outcomes delivered at traditional schools.  All curriculum is delivered using Montessori principles, methodology and materials. Our timing in the presentation of some topics can be slightly different to that in traditional schools allowing children to progress at their own pace.  This allows for acceleration, deeper learning and a consolidation of skills in an individualised manner. In the early primary years there is a much greater emphasis on process rather than product.

Pre-Primary Curriculum (3-6 years)

In the Montessori pre-school, there are five distinct areas in the child’s prepared environment.

• Practical Life which enhances the development of gross and fine motor control and helps the child develop independence by care of self, care of the environment and development of positive social interaction.
• Sensorial which enables the child to order and classify sensorial impressions received by working with scientifically designed materials.
• Mathematical materials enable the child to internalise concepts of number, symbol and sequence.
• Language is mostly phonic based and various presentations are made that link sounds and letter symbols. Oral language development is ongoing and taught through the use of all the classroom materials.
• Cultural materials expose the child to geography, history, earth sciences, music and art.

Primary Curriculum (6-12 years)

The primary program continues the pre-school experience using similar materials in more advanced and more abstract ways. The child is now interested in how and why certain phenomena occur.

Knowledge is presented as part of a larger narrative that reveals the origins of the earth, life, human communities and history. Formal scientific language and zoology, botany, anthropology, geography, geology is introduced in context, respecting the child’s interests and intelligence.

Using connective narratives, the student is introduced to subjects in a clear concrete way which are normally not introduced until high school in conventional schools.

Advanced mathematical concepts, algebra and geometry are introduced using the specially designed materials.

Using Montessori materials, the student becomes a proficient reader who understands grammar and studies the origin of our language. Work with different genre and interpretive reading of literature also takes place and the student progresses towards conventional spelling and use of punctuation.

Research skills are also emphasized so that students can undertake student-generated research using books and technological sources.

Primary students also use ‘going out’, an excursion chosen by the child, as a way of developing knowledge and skills that align real-life experiences with school based learning.  They may also invite experts to visit the school. The children are directly involved in excursion or incursion planning.