Signs of spring are visible at The Gower School Nursery in Islington, north London. Tables are decorated with yellow-print cloths, and recycled glass jars containing daffodils are placed in the centre. Two-year-old Ariel takes a tray containing yellow petals to a table and uses tongs to carefully transfer them, one-by-one, into a bowl. Millie works on another tray-based activity, using a small brush and a bowl of yellow coloured water to practise cleaning a boot.
‘Encouraging children to be independent and self-reliant is at the heart of the Montessori ethos,’ says deputy head of nursery Sofia Pedrana.
MODERN APPROACH
At the 130-place nursery, children are introduced to elements of Montessori methodology from the age of three months. ‘It starts with sensory-based exploration, moves into practical life activities and, by the age of three, children are using Montessori-specific apparatus to help prepare them for modern-day life,’ Pedrana explains.
The modern, ‘Montessori-aligned’ curriculum has been accredited by Collaborative Montessori for its ‘high quality, bespoke practice’. It combines traditional Montessori provision, materials and ethos with ‘curated’ resources and activities, such as treasure baskets, imaginative play, heuristic play and expanded practical life activities.
‘Pure Montessori environments do not allow home corners or imaginative play,’ Pedrana says, citing those that follow the American Montessori International approach. ‘We think creatively around the philosophy, while keeping to the core principles. We need to be realistic about how to prepare children for primary school and introduce them to divergent, creative thinking.
‘If you think of the rich conversations that take place in the home corner, for example, or the value of incorporating contemporary life skills, it’s such a loss to not include these elements.’
SENSORY PLAY
Children are split into eight multi-age classrooms across two sites – a converted building and a purpose-built nursery complete with a library area, staff room and a hall used for specialist music, dance and ballet lessons.
Each classroom is connected to a free-flowing outdoor space, ranging from a private garden to enclosed decking areas, and both have been designed to maximise natural light. Furniture and flooring are made from natural, eco-friendly wood, and each classroom has materials laid out on low-level, accessible shelving.
In the baby room, Les Nounours (or ‘Teddy Bears’), sensory activities take place on the floor. Babies are reaching into treasure baskets filled with scarves, metal spatulas, wooden curtain reels and spoons, shakers, hair rollers and sparkly kitchen scourers. They are developing connections in the brain as they lick, bang, pick up and drop items.
Heuristic play is being explored by toddlers aged 11 months to two years in the Les Petits Lapins (‘Little Rabbits’) room. A bun tray is filled with interesting sensory objects: dried herbs in a voile tote bag; a chunky metal chain; pine cones and wooden egg cups. A two-year-old hooks curtain rings and bracelets onto a mug tree. ‘He’s exploring sound as he places the items onto metal or wooden hooks,’ explains Pedrana. ‘He’s also developing his hand-eye co-ordination.’
PRACTICAL LIFE
Montessori activities start to become more integrated in the toddler rooms. Shelves are filled with practical life activities laid out on small trays or containers. There is a dry pouring activity using pasta and china milk jugs; a scooping activity using oriental rice spoons; and pasta and a spooning activity with a teaspoon and lentils.
There is also liquid transferring, where the children transfer water from one container to another with a sponge, and a tray of mini jam jars for building the muscles in the wrists. ‘This is vital for building the manipulation and strengthening skills needed to write,’ Pedrana says.
Russian dolls help teach children about size discrimination, grading and matching.
SENSORIAL ACTIVITIES
In Les Papillons (‘Butterflies’), the pre-school children are in the middle of a three-hour morning ‘work cycle’ that takes place daily from 9am to 12pm. With five Montessori-qualified teachers and two assistants, this room is classed as ‘pure Montessori’ because it is equipped with Montessori sensorial equipment, such as the iconic Pink Tower and the Long Red Rods.
‘Our curriculum complements the EYFS,’ explains head of nursery Jacqui Chitoi. ‘Teachers observe the children using the materials on the shelf and present new activities that are planned for, or in response to, their interests in maths, literacy, writing and practical life.’
Examples include colour-matching, threading, sorting, transferring, sticking and mark-making. The atmosphere is quiet, controlled, informal and happy. Children work alone or in groups, uninterrupted and at their own pace.
One four-year-old girl is working with the Spindle Box, a numeracy activity with loose quantities and fixed numerals. ‘There are 43 spindles in the box and you have to recognise the number and put the number of spindles in the corresponding box,’ says Pedrana.
The Knobbless Cylinders, which teach children to visually grade by size, are being explored by a little girl who lays them out on the floor vertically on their side.
A group of boys are combining the Pink Tower with Broad Stairs to build a fort. ‘Pure Montessori schools do not allow materials to be combined, but we believe we need to teach them to be creative because, as the saying goes, “we are educating 80 per cent of children for a job that doesn’t exist right now”.’
The practical life activities are laid out on individual trays on a shelf. There is a miniature clothesline, pegs and offcuts of material; a grater with soap to practise grating cheese; a block of wood with holes in it and a screwdriver; tongs and petals to transport from one bowl to another; along with pipettes, water and glass ramekins for transporting water.
A three-year-old boy is sat on the floor, learning place value by placing thousands, hundreds, tens and units in order. ‘It requires a lot of focused attention do an activity like this, because a child could be working for half an hour. The teacher is supporting and not intruding,’ Pedrana explains.
Afternoons are spent at nearby Caledonian Park, where children take part in Forest School sessions, nature walks and sports lessons. They also engage in free play with wheeled vehicles, small-world play and messy play with ‘gloop’, modelling clay and coloured sand.
CASE STUDY: ‘Gifted and Talented’
Harry joined the baby room aged one. As he progressed through the multi-aged rooms, teachers identified that he possessed a natural instinct towards numeracy and counting.
‘By the time he entered our pre-school classroom, he independently worked through the maths materials such as Beaded bars, Golden Beads, Number Rods and Shape Insets, engaging with mathematical concepts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, place values and geometry,’ explains Chitoi.
‘Our Montessori teachers were able to identify, assess and suitably present materials to him, which he completed with focus and minimal support. Through his rapid progression through the concepts, he was then identified as Gifted and Talented, with a particular interest in maths and the solar system. He was also supported in the transition to our Montessori Primary school, where he continued to be challenged in areas where he excelled with more advanced Montessori maths activities.’
Further information
The Gower School Nursery’s best buys:
- Best Montessori learning resources:Absorbent Minds Montessori materials, https://bit.ly/4afCuqL
- Best modern Montessori resources:Montessori Design by Nuccia, https://bit.ly/4ayaDSi
- Best resources for connecting with nature: Mud & Bloom Kits, www.mudandbloom.com
- Explore practical life with: Short Handle Wooden Spoons, £27.99 from Cosy Direct, https://bit.ly/3vFqFee; Tidlo Chunky Wooden Cutting Sets – Fruits, £24.59, https://bit.ly/3TRlktM; Rainbow Architect Arches, £21.99 from TickiT, https://bit.ly/3TVA0bs; TTS Wooden House with Locks and Latches, £112.99, https://bit.ly/4atOfJQ
