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A Young Explorer When the child comes into the prepared environment of the Montessori School they find themselves in a place from which fascinating paths for exploration lead out in all directions. Doctor Maria Montessori, born in Italy 1870, created a natural environment for the child (that is one suited to his or her nature) because she realised that neither the ordinary Nursery School nor yet the environment of the home had been made to suit the needs of the child. |
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Montessori focuses on every child realising his or her own potential, mastering their own environment and learning that education is a pleasurable and rewarding process of life, one that can be experienced independently or shared with others. Montessori takes into consideration the child's whole being on physical and psychological levels.
In a nutshell therefore the master principle of the Montessori method can be summed up as Education by self-activity in a structured environment.
This is tackled in the main by three basic ingredients:
- The specially prepared environment.
- Liberty of the child to interact with the environment.
- A skilled and trained adult (known as a Directress) who acts as a link between the child and the environment.
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Environment Anyone who has not seen a properly equipped Montessori classroom can form any adequate conception of the amount of loving care, intellectual labour and inventive genius which has been put into the construction of the specially prepared environment. Everything in that environment has been so constructed as to correspond with the stature, physical, mental and social wellbeing of the child, not an adult. |
The classroom is built on a Lilliputian scale. There are small tables and chairs to match and cabinets, the shelves of which are laden with a wide variety of specially constructed didactic materials. Each of those has its own place on the shelves and its own purpose. All the materials are (under certain conditions) at the disposal of all the children. In fact nothing is allowed to enter this prepared environment, which is not going to be of use at some stage in the child’s mental and social development.
Child Interaction (learning by discovery)
Every child is a born explorer. From the first moment he or she opens their eyes they are wide with wonder. Any child two or three years of age is incessantly engaged in - exploring, experimenting, discovering, touching, handling, moving, re-arranging, dissecting, opening, collecting and comparing. These little scientists are constantly prying into everything. To them every passage is a secret passage, every walk a voyage of discovery - every day. The Montessori child is therefore continually striving for independence and their self-confidence grows as their range of skills increase.
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The Directress The aim of the teacher in an ordinary school is to teach the child as much as she can, but the aim of the Montessori Directress is to assist and help the child to do things for themselves and to intervene only when it is essential. Her aim is in fact to give the child what Montessori calls the ‘minimum dose’ of teaching. It does not follow that because the Directress aims at giving the child a minimum of direct instruction she wishes the child to be in ignorance. Her attitude is based on the maxim that it is always better if the children can teach themselves - that is by their own active experiences. |
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In this way they genuinely comprehend or grasp knowledge on active assimilation instead of passive receiving. This is what the child’s long, continued and spontaneous concentration of the Montessori materials enables them to achieve. A child cannot teach his or her self by means of materials unless he or she has already been instructed in their proper use. To this extent therefore it is essential that the Directress should instruct the child directly and is there to help the child and therefore initiate him or her into the proper use of the materials for development.
These three basic ingredients blended into the setting of the Winkfield Montessori School in its country position encourages, excites and endorses the principles of the environment which complement the required conditions for Montessori teaching for the 21/2 to 5 year old pupil (The Young Explorer).
Prior to or even after enrolment you will be invited to visit the school when you can assess and indeed ‘explore’ the inside and outside environment which will be available to your child during their early yet important years.
I am sure that you will not be disappointed!
W. Wilkie
Principal