Everything at Liberty Montessori is created to nurture children’s love of learning, confidence, self-respect and internal motivation. We embrace a child’s curiosity, wonder and creativity.
Laying a foundation for life, the first two years of our programme prepare your child for meaningful exploration within our learning areas of practical life, sensorial, language, music, mathematics, science and cultural topics. In the third and final year with us brings together the two years with their learning coming together and blossoming into a 'love of learning' which remains with them for life and at the heart of who they are.
The Montessori Materials for 3-6.
Beautifully made, the Montessori materials are specifically designed to facilitate hands on learning that speaks to the child, revealing an abstract concept. Each material is created with an inbuild control of error, which provides a child with the opportunity to problem solve in their own way, complete the activity, all without the help of an adult.
There are five curriculum areas within our Liberty Montessori 3-6 Environment. Sensorial, Practical Life, Language, Mathematics and Culture. All of them activities support independence and concentration, particularly Practical life which engages a child in activities such as food preparation, gardening, cleaning, polishing, flower arranging, setting up tables for food.
Our three-year programme at Liberty Montessori.
Children who attend Liberty Montessori from around 3 years of age and complete the full Montessori preschool programme when they stay until 6 years of age. Staying at Montessori beyond 5 is up to each family and it is not compulsory but there are many benefits for a child. Five-year-olds are important members of our Montessori community. They embed and extend their own learning by teaching the younger children. In this way they build their own confidence as they grow into a leadership role. As the younger children are supported by the older children, they learn to do things for themselves and evolve into leaders themselves.
We grow joyful learners.
As children experience the joy of learning, they grow up happy, confident and fulfilled. The time and space to wonder is the most precious gift we can give a child. We offer plenty of opportunity for Tamariki’s interactions within the environment come from their own motivation, passion and energy. We work hard to avoid hijacking their own agenda with the adult agenda through observing where their interests lie and preparing an environment that they can interact within independently. Our indoor/outdoor flow enables exploration and the sense of wonder to be nurtured.
We follow the child.
Our role is to guide your child, is to observe then prepare and create an environment that supports your child’s individual needs, when we have prepared the environment for our community of learners, it is our role to introduce your child to the Montessori materials that match their interests and stage of development.
Mixed age classrooms.
Our Montessori environment is a mixed age environment for children aged 3 to 6 years. The provides an environment that supports your child’s intellectual, emotional and social development over three years. Older children’s learning is strengthened by supporting the learning of the younger child, taking on leadership roles which enables them to gain confidence. Working alongside each other in a mixed age environment is a critical component of the Montessori learning community.
The Montessori Prepared Environment.
The prepared environment describes a space that is beautiful, purposeful, real and connected to the natural world. The homely environment flows into a garden and both spaces contain materials and experiences that inspires a child’s sense of wonder, creativity and independent thinking. The whole environment contains items that are carefully chosen with each material designed to teach a specific skill. This is because children learn by doing using their five senses, fine motor and gross motor skills with the concrete knowledge being gained transformed into abstraction as time goes on.
Montessori is methodical with each step in a process an important stepping stone to the next level of learning that is achieved through repeating and mastering. Interacting with materials within a prepared environment in this way, builds a child’s sense of competency in their own ability in the learning process.
We trust the child.
We trust this process that is worked out by the child. We believe learning is a natural process carried out by the child and takes place spontaneously in a prepared environment. In this way, each child knows we trust them as they interact with an activity of their choice.
“I love my work”.
Children love to do what they see adults do. Montessori said that 'play is the work of the child' so we offer the child a real environment that contains all the ‘work’ they see us doing- cooking, cleaning, baking, gardening so they can enjoy taking part in their own time in their own way.As the children participate in real life within the Montessori environment, they can take charge of their day, choosing what they do and for how long. This busyness is productive as they are creating who they are and who they want to be. This is satisfying for each and every child as they find what they want to do, settle down into their activity and a peaceful happy ‘home’ grows and evolves as children get in to the ‘flow’.
“I love being outside”.
Some children love to be outside, and we offer free and unrestricted access to our garden throughout the day. Outside, children can enjoy doing activities outside, taking care of the gardens where we grow fruit, vegetables and flowers and exploring the natural environment, bird and insect life, climbing and balancing on the climbing equipment and just enjoying time wondering. Both Liberty environments are available for each age group to explore with the support of Kaiako. Free access to outdoors for older children who stay beyond five is a benefit not offered in a traditional primary school classroom.
We go with the ‘flow’.
Montessori is often seen as a highly structured controlled programme. In fact, the only aspect of Montessori that is controlled by the Directresses is the child’s physical environment. The prepared environment and materials in it, are chosen by the Directress, connecting directly with what has been observed as relevant and meaningful to the individual child. We call this our Montessori work cycle, when children have open uninterrupted time to choose what to work with. During this time, they often become so completely engrossed they lose track of time and place! They are fully engaged in what their hand and mind is working with, and when they have finished, return relaxed happy and refreshed. Psychologists call this kind of concentration ‘flow’ and is what we are working to achieve for your child. Going with the flow is critical to nurturing your child natural love of learning for life.
We Live Graciously Together.
Children often choose to work alone but are naturally drawn to work with others too. The children know that they are free to work in a group or by themselves, and our Grace and Courtesy games guide them on how to work respectfully and look after each other and how to work things out when they don’t go smoothly. Grace and Courtesy Games, role modelled by each Directress, guide the children on how to live life peacefully and respectfully.
We do this by using calm voices when we speak to one another or share a lesson. We carry objects with care and control our movement, moving slowly and mindfully. This shows children how to share the space we live in together, take care of one another and learn happy, safe ways of living in a practical way.
The freedom to move, interact and choose what to do in our community is an essential part of our life together. Our grace and courtesy games give structure to the freedom each child enjoys as they learn how to make responsible choices that have a positive effect on self, others and the world around them. Learning how to move safely and respectfully, return activities for others are just two of examples of external order we emphasise to support peaceful living as well as the internal order growing within each child.
We are a Team of Observers and Researchers.
We have a collective vision for exceptional Montessori Education shared by our Montessori team of Directress. Our team of Directresses are skilled in observing children, internalising this knowledge to build their understanding of each child in order to appropriately respond to them. Each team member is committed to creating and maintaining the prepared environment to ensure it inspires each and every child. We love to share the details of your child with you and invite you to talk to us to become involved in your child’s Montessori journey. We want to ensure that you and your child feel welcome and at home.
Our 3–6-Year-Old Leaders.
With the Montessori programme being a 3-year cycle for children aged 3-6 years, children are guided by the older children who know how to ‘live’ together in community and know different areas of the curriculum, showing our younger friends how our environment works.
With the guidance of older children and the team of Directresses, they grow through interacting with the curriculum, learning to concentrate, making choices for themselves that benefit them, emerging into the five years olds who as they support younger children, build not just their academic ability but also their sense of self, resilience and self-esteem. They continue to flourish and can move into the next phase confident and self-assured.
Within the 3 years cycle the children would have learnt how to seek out what they need from the environment, work with it and gain information. Montessori works by providing concrete materials so the child can visualise concepts which allows them to grow a mental picture over time that leads the way to abstract work. As they teach the younger child such concepts, they are embedding their know knowledge and build on their own knowledge through the more complex materials for older children. Academic knowledge is the icing on the cake for these children who have a natural love for learning and feel good about the way they learn and work with others.
Montessori children, with all those amazing social benefits, normally easily adapt to all sorts of new situations. At 6, they will be excited and ready to join a new school environment and their mind will be at the stage where imagination, aided by their well-developed confidence and independence, will make them a delight for any future school to have.
Some children may go onto one of the Montessori Primary Units at Bellevue or Arataki Primary schools. Children in New Zealand have the benefit of not having to be enrolled at a primary school until they are six and your child’s next learning environment and when is led by what’s right for your child and family, but the benefit of staying in Montessori until six is lifelong.
Our Locations
Liberty is split between two locations - giving children the opportunity to grow in independence and confidence.