Frequently asked questions
Are you strictly Montessori?
We are Montessori. We use, and respect, the method and philosophy of Montessori and we have a wealth of Montessori equipment. "Strictly" is not a word we like; we are open to new ideas and will adapt anything that we feel complements the way we are already teaching
How many children are there in a class?
The children are not split up into classes. They each have a group teacher who will liaise with you, as parents, about your child's progress. Although children may look to their group teacher for guidance, they are not restricted to her and may ask any teacher for help. The ratio of teachers to children in the morning session is 1:6 and in the afternoon session 1:5
Were the children told to go there?
When parents are shown around the school, they often ask whether children are in particular places, or carrying out particular activities, on instructions from a teacher. In the Montessori system, the children are introduced to activities and equipment as and when they express an interest or when teachers consider them to be ready. They are then free to choose any activity and may do it as often, or for as long, as they want. They are encouraged to put the equipment away tidily when they have finished and may then move on to another exercise of their choice. The primary role of the teacher is to act as a guide, introducing the child to the equipment within the environment and encouraging him or her to use it
What age are these children?
The children in the school are aged between two and a half and five years
When do you teach them letters and numbers?
The simple answer is "When they are ready, and not before". For example, teaching a child how to write if he doesn't yet know how to hold a pencil is doomed to failure. Most of what goes on in a child's development at this age is to do with motor skills, concentration, confidence, socialising and becoming aware that learning is great fun. Only when those are firmly in place, and providing the child is beginning to show an interest in numbers and letters, do we introduce him to the relevant equipment. At that stage progress is likely to be rapid. Putting pressure on a child before he is ready (whether at home or at school) usually leads to the loss of any enthusiasm for the subject
How does the waiting list work?
We operate the school on a full occupancy basis. Consequently, all children go on to the waiting list. We look at each term as it comes along, see how many places we have free, and then offer those places to children on the list in strict order of registration. Children must be two and a half, or older, to qualify for entry. The full occupancy system that we run leads to some anomalies in that a child may be, say, 10th on the waiting list for the autumn term, fail to get in, and then find herself 40th on the list for the spring term because 30 children who registered before her are now old enough to qualify for entry.
You've offered me an afternoon place, but my child sleeps then.
Many parents ask this and you can be reassured that the children very quickly drop their sleep. The afternoon session is designed for the younger children. It is half an hour shorter than the morning and has a higher ratio of teachers to children. Until they have settled in, we suggest that children are kept quiet during the morning and not overloaded with activities. Children are normally too busy exploring the environment to be concerned with sleeping
How can we get involved?
Each term the school does one or more projects. These may involve places around the world, cultural festivals, scientific or biological activities and so on. Parents who would like to contribute to these projects with ideas or equipment or artefacts are very welcome to do so. Occasionally we may ask a few parents to accompany us when the children are taken on an outing.
Why can't I have my deposit back?
In line with most other private nursery schools we operate a strict policy of not refunding deposits if the terms of the contract between the school and the parents are broken - for example, if less than a term's notice is given for the removal of a child or a child commits to join the school but then doesn't. We need to plan several months in advance in order to run the school efficiently and the deposit helps to persuade parents to make only those commitments that they expect to be able to keep. For a short time in the early 1990s we experimented by returning deposits to parents whose children's places were subsequently filled from the waiting list. The number of broken commitments rose rapidly, causing us considerable difficulties, and we very quickly had to re-impose our original policy. Forfeited deposits are distributed amongst various orphan charities
Why aren't you registered for the Nursery Education Grant?
There is an administrative overhead (individual declaration forms, Early Years Census forms, record keeping, Early Year Grant Officer inspections, training implications and so on) associated with providing this grant; we would also have to alter our invoicing procedure and wait longer for full payment of each term's fees. In addition there are compliance difficulties in that our spring and summer terms are not normally long enough to qualify. A further difficulty is that 2½ hour sessions (ie our afternoon session) have to be provided free by registered schools. Private nursery schools circumvent this restriction either by having longer sessions and charging the difference between the grant and their normal fees for the extra time or by declaring that a 2½ hour session requires an additional 10 minute "clearing up" period and charging for that period similarly. Whether this is within the spirit of the grant is unclear. We have to make a judgement as to whether redirecting resources, and altering procedures that suit us, in order to provide and administer the grant will provide a benefit to the children who attend to the school. At the moment our judgement is that not only will the children not benefit, it is likely that existing resources will have to be diverted from them in order to comply with the grant's requirements