Our School

We are a small, caring Elementary and Pre-School serving Port Perry and the surrounding area.

Maria Montessori and the Montessori Method

Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was the first woman to receive a medical degree in Italy. She worked in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, and education. She developed her philosophy of education based on observation of children of all social classes and in many countries. She believed that each child is born with a unique potential to be revealed, rather than a “blank slate” waiting to be written upon. Montessori recognized the most important years for learning are those between birth and age six. She felt education should be an aid to life, a collaboration with nature.

Three Year Age Mix

If a classroom is to be challenging enough to provoke a learning response, it must be properly matched to the standard which an individual child has already developed in his past experience. This experience is so varied that the most satisfying choice can usually be made only by the child himself. The Montessori classroom offers him the opportunity to choose from a wide variety of graded materials. The child can grow as his interests lead him from one level of complexity to another. Having children ages three to six, six to nine and nine to twelve together permit the younger children a graded series of models for imitation, and the older ones an opportunity to reinforce their knowledge by helping the younger ones.