At the Honey Bears Montessori we offer children, from ages 2 to 5 years, an excellent educational curriculum focusing on the Montessori methods.  We run our service from a church hall based between two thriving areas Pinner and Eastcote.  We offer a warm and friendly environment which is key to building the foundation for a child’s natural development.  The Montessori Curriculum that we follow aims to allow children to develop a meaningful degree of independence and self discipline.  It sets them up with a lifetime of good work habits and a sense of responsibility.  Children are taught to take pride in doing tasks for themselves carefully and well.  We will ensure they enjoy their first experiences of school and will go into the world equipped with the necessary skills and natural eagerness to learn

We are ofsted regulated and have been inspected.  Copy of the report can be found on www.ofsted.gov.uk.

THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The classroom materials have been fitted with everything proportional to the child’s needs, allowing them to be totally independent of adults. This enables them to develop their own natural love of learning, through games, songs. music and movement, drama, nature studies, science, reading, crafts, math’s, and Practical Life Skills. 

PERSONAL, SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
These are the first exercises a child will be introduced to which will enable a child to develop their concentration, coordination, independence and care of self.  Activities include polishing, pouring, spooning, threading, sweeping, setting a table.  All of these activities enable a child to use their motor and gross skills independantly.  Grace and Courtesy exercises are used to teach children to have good manners from an early age.

LANGUAGE & LITERACY
Early language experience is gained through talking, listening, books, poems, songs and through the computer.  When a child is ready they will be taught the sound and shapes of letters, a few at a time.  Then they will be introduced to reading and writing three letter words phonetically using various Montessori activities. Basic French is also taught as part of the curriculum.  Years of studies have proved that teaching a child an additional language has many benefits; improvement in listening skills, performance, writing and much more. Music, story telling, audio and play are the different techniques used to teach French.

MATHAMATICAL AND SCIENCE DEVELOPMENT
Through a variety of educational aids, the children will learn to sort, match, classify, order and count. They will learn about comparisons, weight, shapes and their dimensions, and through simple scientific experiments, knowledge of how things work and reasoning.  At work time the children will each have their own activity books, and folders for completed worksheets.  The number mats which are made by the school are very good for practicing number recognition.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Each day the children will have the opportunity to have a playtime, which will normally take place outdoors (weather permitting.) They will be encouraged to use a variety of small apparatus for throwing, catching, rolling, pushing, pulling etc, to encourage gross motor skills. They will also take part in Music and Movement, and Drama, which will consist of acting out favorite stories such as "Goldilocks and the three bears" etc. Also with mime, using props with music, dancing and ring games. From Sept 07 Yoga will form part of the curriculum.  Yoga for children brings many physical benefits, it can help children become calmer, more focused and confident, improve sleep pattterns and help develop creativity and self-esteem.

KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD
There is a storytelling time at every session and also a book corner where the children can sit quietly and peruse the books at their leisure. At project time, different topics are discussed, knowledge and understanding of the world, science and nature, with the help of objects, books and photos. Also we encourage the children to talk about themselves and their experiences.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT (ARTS, CRAFTS & MUSIC)
Each term the teachers will set a Theme, which the Arts and Crafts activities will be based upon. The teachers will prepare a variety of crafts such as; junk modeling, clay modeling, collage, pallet painting, finger painting, drawing etc using many different types of media and materials. Dough is put out at the same time as the craft every day, and may be alternated with cooking activities from time to time.

The Montessori Method was founded by Maria Montessori in 1907 in Italy. Maria discovered a method of teaching that allowed the children to develop and learn to achieve their own potential. To do this she created an atmosphere that was warm, happy and loving and that is what we aim to recreate at the Honey Bears Montessori.
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