In keeping with the Montessori philosophy activities are positioned so they can be independently accessed by the child, providing the freedom to choice.  Each child is an individual and respecting this freedom allows them to be fully engaged in their activity and to work at their own pace  The Montessori materials are autodidactic, meaning self learn.  They are built in such a way that they contain a control of error and each isolates a specific skill allowing the child to explore them alongside a teacher, with their peers or independently.  Mastering a skill through independence gives the child confidence and pride, spurring them on to explore other areas of the classroom and working towards installing a love of learning.  The Montessori curriculum is divided into six key areas; Practical Life, Sensorial, Numeracy, Literacy, Creativity and Knowledge and Understanding of the World. Practical Life acts as a bridge between home and pre-school, with familiar utensils for the children to play with.  This area is aimed at helping your child settle in, helping to develop their social skills, concentration and fine motor skills. In our Sensorial area children will learn to refine their senses through a variety of fun, hands on and interactive activities.  These will help the children towards developing a concrete understanding of mathematical concepts such as comparing, grading and measuring.  It is through our senses that we create and with activities in this area highlighting particular senses the children's creative thinking is supported. In our Numeracy area the children will have access to more hands on, tactile activities that promote the learning of symbol recognition and understanding quantity.  Topics covered include addition, fractions and geometry to name but a few.  Activities are scaffolded so your child always starts from a level of familiarity combined with an aspect of challenge to help them progress in a happy and secure manner.  Learning will be made fun and feel like play. Your child will have been indirectly preparing for writing with the development of their confidence, concentration, hand-eye co-ordination and pincer grip in areas such as practical life and sensorial.  In Literacy the children will be introduced to activities such as the sand paper letters, where a variety of games will be played to help with the recognition of letter symbols and then writing. In Creativity we aim to nurture this path of learning by giving children access to a variety of materials and promoting open ended play,  This curriculum area comprises of music and movement, arts and crafts and role play with the objective of promoting innovation and invention.  We hold a weekly yoga and dance class and have a role play and arts and crafts area set up daily. Knowledge and Understanding of the World comprises of biology, geography, history and science.  First hand experiences in this area provide firm foundations for future learning.  Our aims are to expand the child's vocabulary, gain understanding of a given subject and to refine observational skills.  We hope that this will promote a positive outlook towards our planet; being able to look at the picture that we do not exist in isolation and have similarities that draw us together and differences that can be celebrated.