Welcome to Young Montessori

Young Montessori is a preschool specialising in the teachings of Maria Montessori. We cater for children from the age of two through to the age of six.

Our school is located approximately 200 metres from the Panmure roundabout in a residential area. The building has a large open plan design providing a very generous amount of space for the number of children. Outside the children can climb, dig, kick balls as well as tender to our vegetable and flower gardens. The children feed the vegetables to our two guinea pigs as part of learning to care for others and the environment.

The Montessori method of teaching is very well known overseas and is hugely popular. In New Zealand however a lot less is known and understood about Montessori schools. Those in New Zealand that have not been exposed to Montessori, often perceive it as “alternative” which could not be further from the truth. Montessori emphasises independence, learning about the environment and stimulating the brain by way of using educational equipment and has many specialised common threads with the Te Whariki curriculum. The Montessori approach is holistic which encourages the development of a well rounded child.

We are a preschool, not a before and afterschool service so we only operate for school hours. The lesser hours (compared to a daycare) mean that both the children and teachers remain fresher and get greater benefit from their time together. We have weekly staff meetings and teacher only days before each term, ensuring the emphasis is always on providing high standards of teaching.

Those parents who chose to send their child to a Montessori primary school will often leave their child with us until the completion of our curriculum at age six. Many of our children that move on to a public or private school who stay with us until age 5 ½ find that they spend a shorter time in the new entrance class. Those children that stay with us until aged six, often move straight into year one, skipping the new entrance class. As the children will work with topics that interest them at the time they are deepening their knowledge. In our experience our children enter primary school with more independence and awareness of the word than other children.

The early years of a child are very important, where the pathway connections within the brain are joined. If the child does not have a stimulating and interesting environment to be in, many of those pathways will not connect. The Montessori philosophy is designed to support the child to develop to their fullest potential by providing activities that fit in with the sensitive period of the different areas of their brain.

You may call for an appointment to meet our Head Teacher Asa and the team – I am sure you will not be disappointed!