Learn More About Orchard Montessori

“The human being is a united whole, but this unity has to be built up and formed by active experiences in the real world, to which it is led by the laws of nature.” Maria Montessori

What is Montessori?

The environment comprises of mixed age groups, from 0-2, 2-3 and 3-5 years, with low student-teacher ratios. We employ Montessori trained teachers and staff who have expressed they will further their training in the teachings of Maria Montessori. These educators take a personal interest in ensuring that each child`s learning is supported and nurtured from having access to prepared classrooms that are designed for all children to use and enjoy.

Each child is offered a supervised prepared environment full of an array of activities and the freedom to move and chose activities based on their interests, so long as these activities do not disrupt the wellbeing of their peers. The children have freedom of choice to work on their own or in small groups. Materials are presented to the children individually or in small groups of children who are at the same level of development.

A safe environment

Materials are presented to the children individually or in small groups of children who are at the same level of development.

Materials are organised into sections on shelves that children can access, this develops independency and allows the child to follow their interests, what we call in Montessori their sensitive period. Having a prepared environment, the child knows where activities will be whenever they what to use it, this fosters a sense of responsibility and self-discipline to look after the activities and then to pack away. Being given the opportunity to do it by themselves builds self-confidence.

These materials consist of:

  • Tangible sensory objects, which reinforces memory and understanding. Practical life activities – life skills. Math equipment – problem solving.
  • Language activities – acquiring language, mark making.
  • Culture activities – to form connecting, understanding and respect of different cultures.
  • Themed activities – expand their knowledge and their interests.
  • Social activities – turn taking, social graces.
  • Imaginative/roleplay activities – social and imagination.
  • The environment supports children’s rights to:
  • Access water and food.
  • Areas and equipment that supports their rest and relaxation needs.
  • Equipment that is child size and fit for prepose.
  • Activities that will support all their development needs.
  • An inclusive environment no matter what their diversity.

“Play is the work of the child. Do not tell them how to do it. Show them how to do it and do not say a word. If you tell them, they will watch your lips move.” Maria Montessori

Orchard Montessori’s service is dedicated to following the principles that underpin the national law act, the National Regulations, and the implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework

Working together with families, children and communities allows the educators to enhance the children’s learning and development in conjunction with the EYLF. This is achieved through identifying the child’s strengths and interests, enabling them to participate at their own pace throughout the environment. The educators follow the EYLF cycle: Observe, Assess, Plan, Implement and Evaluate. In following this cycle the child is a participant in their own learning, which is child led, then scaffolded on with intentional teaching from the educator (adult led), which in turn extends the child’s learning. The educators deliver a flexible learning curriculum which caters for all levels of development. The children are encouraged to take appropriate risks, investigate and explore in their daily learning.

The importance of play in education is highly valued at Orchard Montessori, through play-based learning the child can express themselves with many practices:  problem solving, communicating, role play and social interactions. Play is an important aspect for the child’s learning, play supports the child to make decisions for themselves which in turn nourishes their confidence to investigate their learning development.

Our programme ensures that the integration of the 5 learning outcomes named below is achieved with each individual child:

  • To have a strong sense of identity.
  • Children are connected with and contribute to their environment.
  • Children have a strong sense of wellbeing.
  • Children are confident and involved learner`s.
  • Children are effective communicators.

These outcomes are in conjunction with the following 8 principles, this allows the children to achieve their learning capabilities:

  • Build secure, respectful, and reciprocal relationships.
  • Develop partnerships.
  • Are respectful of diversity.
  • Embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives.
  • Commit to equity, inclusion, and high expectations.
  • Consider sustainability in all its forms.
  • Engage in critical reflection and professional learning.
  • Exercise collaborative leadership and work as a team.

The following practices are supported by the above 8 principles, the educators at Orchard Montessori follow these practices to develop and engage the children in their learning journey:

  • Adopt holistic approaches.
  • By being responsive to children.
  • Planning and implementing play-based learning with intentional teaching.
  • Creating physical, temporal, intellectual, social, and emotional environments.
  • Valuing the cultural and social contexts of children and families.
  • Providing for continuity in experiences and enabling effective transitions.
  • Analysing, assessing, monitoring, and evaluating children’s learning, development, and wellbeing in ways to understand, acknowledge and document children’s progress and their achievement learning Outcomes.

“To recognize this great work of the child does not mean to diminish the parents’ authority. Once they can persuade themselves not to be the builders, but merely to act as collaborators in the building process, they become much better able to carry out their real duties; and then, in the light of a wider vision, their help becomes truly valuable.”

Maria Montessor

Partnerships are established when families and communities share information, creating a welcome establishment where families feel their culture and ideas regarding their child’s learning are respected and supported is paramount. Forming these Relationships enables educators to identify the child’s strengths and interests, this enables them to develop suitable teaching strategies and activities. This ongoing communication helps children meet their development milestones. Families at Orchard Montessori are encouraged to have a continuous input in their child’s learning opportunities either hands on or ideas. Whether it be reading, baking, cultural involvement or a demonstration about their work, it is all welcome within Orchard Montessori. Family participation emphasises everyone’s identity, culture, and heritage backgrounds from a true perspective, giving educators a greater understanding in how they too can implement these attributes within our environment supporting the connection of belonging, being and becoming.

A routine is followed and mirrored throughout the centre, this allows for stability and consistency for the child as they grow and move rooms. Having this familiarity within Orchard Montessori helps children transition between rooms as they feel safe, secure, and respected. Developing a strong relationship between the families and educators helps us to maintain the high standards of communication, teamwork, and quality of care that we value within our centre. 

All our educators are committed to equity within the centre, they recognise that the child has a right to be involved in their learning, irrespective of their strengths, gender, capabilities, or circumstances. Orchard Montessori has supports in place for children with additional needs such as outside agencies and support plans templates.  Connections and communication with parents and community are important to ensure the child feels a sense of belonging within their educational journey. The class routine offers opportunities for small group teaching or 1-1 experiences.  This encourages positive outcomes for children in all their diversities.

Parents will be informed of their child’s day, themes of the month, what’s going on in the community and any updates or changes within the centre via emails, notice boards, daily sheets and meetings. The centres policies will be displayed for the parents to view at the front foyer and sent via email.

We have a small team at Orchard Montessori who work in conjunction with each other through, shared responsibilities, professional dialogue, and open communication so that each member feels included, supported, and validated in creating the environment and planned activities for our curriculum. All educators have different ways of thinking, combining these differences helps the educators to critically reflect on their decisions and the quality of their planning for the individual child. They have the knowledge that management will support their ongoing development with onsite training and financial support for professional courses. This creates a positive atmosphere in the centre and minimizes stress on educators ‘and their mental health. When discussing our philosophy, educators evaluated their understanding and beliefs.

As educators we believe that communication is at the forefront of building trusting relationships with families. Having positive relationships with all stakeholders improves interactions, develops children’s self-confidence, independence, and experiences in their educational learning journey. That Maria Montessori`s ideas of allowing children to do things by themselves is of great benefit for a child.  That learning through play and intentional teaching go hand in hand to optimise children’s learning and development.

That child led is the foundation of learning, with adult led being the scaffolding of these interests. That a pedagogy approach encompasses a spirit of enquiry. We must respect the diversity of the children within our care, incorporating their culture within the decision making and the environment.

Children should have a voice too in everything that happens with in the centre.

That asking questions in any situation does not show a weakness but a strength.

That we as educators feel valued and respected.

As educators we have a passion for reducing our carbon footprint and we take our role seriously in teaching children about sustainability. This includes practices to reduce, reuse, recycle, and lessening water and energy consumption. This is a daily ongoing process which we feel we have embedded within the centre. Within our indoor and outdoor environment, we visibly promote sustainability by:

  • Utilizing jobs within the rooms about sustainability, and the byproducts of jobs are reused with in the centre.
  • When a new job is created the children are informed that they are re-purposed objects that someone didn’t need any more or sourced from op shops.
  • The importance of op shops for reducing, reusing, and recycling and an understanding of where the money they make goes to.
  • Discussions with the children about, what is a resource and how can we stop wasting them and how we do this at the centre.
  • Discussions on what happens to things after we dispose of them such as recycled bottles, rubbish, and old clothes.
  • The staff use recycled or upcycled products when planning arts and craft projects to teach and show the children how we reuse and recycle.
  • The outdoor environment enables the children to use the food scraps to feed the worms, use the rainwater and grey recycled water for the plants, crushed eggshell for fertilizing the soil and deterring snails, in keeping with Maria Montessori`s philosophy we learn more by participating.
  • The importance of sustainable practices to the here, the now and the future of the community.
  • Children learn more about the impact of sustainability if they can see how it affects them.
  • We are still learning about other ways that we lesson our carbon footprint and are committed to updating our practises regarding sustainability on a regular basic.

Orchard Montessori teaches respect for the cultures and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Incorporating their perspectives into the curriculum ensures to close the gap with the first nation’s history, cultures, and language.

Educators share diversity and discuss with the children about cultures, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s history, respect for their land and language. This will enhance and develops further knowledge for all children. Supporting opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families to see their identities are valued is important within our centre. We are in the process of producing a RAP Plan and committing to our RAP actions.

Our team at Orchard Montessori is committed to continually improving our service. What does this look like, it’s different for everyone as we all have different strengths. This improvement can only be achieved through critical reflection, a practise that is not to blame and belittle but to understand what went wrong and why, what we have learnt and what we will do different next time. With every stakeholder having this understanding and working together this can only produce a good outcome and this true connection will be measured by the children’s development and wellbeing.

 “it is well to cultivate a friendly feeling towards error, to treat it as a companion inseparable from our lives, as something having a purpose, which it truly has” Maria Montessori.

Things that we feel will create continuous improvements:

  • Informing parents about what is happing at the centre and asking for Feedback regarding the centre’s practises and events.
  • Reflection on feedback through a positive lens
  • Continuous professional development.
  • Good time management
  • Working as a unit
  • Reaching out to parents to help with resourcing information regarding interests of children and themes, this will share the workload and give a different perspective.
  • Using parents’ strengths.

Why choose Orchard Montessori

Community

Orchard Montessori is part of the community, we embrace community spirit, equality and diversity.

Nuturing

Orchard Montessori is a place of nurturing, the values of Montessori is in everything we do and teach with our children.

Learning

Promoting life skill learning is a key part of Montessori, our educators support our children to learn new skills.

Play

Orchard Montessori uses play as a learning tool, utilising different, objects, textures and even sounds in play.