About
Welcome to Key Largo Montessori Nursery in Catford!
Our ethos is to give children maximum exposure within the Montessori philosophy. Below are some of the steps we take to ensure the children of Key Largo lead with confidence, passion, and the desire to always grow.
Our Ethos
Vertical Grouping
As a small setting it is effortless to have all age groups mixed, we find in this environment the older children have the opportunity to teach the younger ones, reinforcing their learning as the ‘teacher’ and allowing them to gain some understanding of how all children learn differently. The younger children aspire to be like the older children which gives them determination to want to learn, consequently most will develop a little quicker in some areas
Mats
Before children work with an activity, they will lay a mat onto the floor or a table to establish their ‘workspace’. Within this workspace they will have their materials. This will instil ownership of the space and the choice to accept or decline others within this space.
Inclusion
We are a small diverse setting with people of varied ethnicities and religious beliefs, we pride ourselves in learning and celebrating our differences and respecting each other. Diversity is a big part of our society and community, the children and staff are always open to embracing differing traditions and cultures.
Real Life Experiences
We strongly believe in real life experiences where possible. This enables each child to benefit thoroughly from the subject they are exploring. The children will go on regular outings to care homes, library’s, farms, museums etc to gain factual knowledge and information, subsequently giving them a real sense of achievement.
Etiquette
We incorporate this in all that the children do; from the way they handle items, to table manners to vocabulary. All the time ensuring each child has an understanding why we take these measures whilst we integrate it naturally into day-to-day life.
Languages
We love languages at Key Largo Montessori, we are surrounded by language during nearly every waking moment of our lives. We use language to communicate our thoughts and feelings, to connect with others and identify with our culture, and to understand the world around us.
We have an array of languages spoken within our setting and we teach Turkish as an extra language. It is proven that the cognitive benefits of knowing another language are immense. A child’s brain functions more efficiently when utilising another language, and this makes them linguistically logical therefore, they are able to multitask and learn with passion and ease.
