Frequently asked questions

Can we come and see your place?

Please email us to book up a visit. We invite parents to come and visit during lunch time or after school, so that we can show you around and answer your questions without interrupting our work time.

What are the benefits of starting at two and a half?

The benefit of starting children before the age of 3 is that at this stage, they are totally focused on learning new skills and the activities in the classroom provide them with the tools to function better in every day life, e.g. pegging up their work, spooning and pouring without making a mess, cutting progressively more intricate shapes, sewing, learning the names of colours, shapes, letters and numbers. When they turn 3, they are very well prepared, and make quick progress in all the learning activities.

What are the social benefits of starting pre-school early?

Socially, they also learn to share, to wait for their turn and to continue working on an activity without the constant attention of an adult. These are skills that especially the oldest child in the family struggles with, and the earlier they learn to be part of a group, the easier it is for them to get used to accommodating the needs of other children.

What are the benefits of staying on for the kindy year?

The final year at Smart Start is the year when many children also attend their local Kindy but an increasing number of children choose to come just to Smart Start, seeing that the majority of children will attend the Rosalie,Nedlands, Subiaco, Claremont and Wembley primary schools and will have made a group of friends who will go to their local primary school anyway. This year provides the icing on the cake and consolidates the learning they have done in the previous years. At this stage, the children focus on learning to work with the more advanced Montessori materials for reading, writing, mathematics and geography. Again, the work is always very hands on and helps the children to gain a concrete understanding. For geography, there are puzzle maps of each continent, as seen in the picture. This way, the children learn the position of different countries in each continent in a playful way. They also love colouring in flags of the different countries, thereby learning the names of these countries as well as improving their pencil control. We also have a topic approach in the afternoons, especially to extend the kindy children and give them the opportunity to apply their skills to each topic. Maria Montessori believed that it was very important to introduce the children to the natural environment and also provide opportunities for them to learn about other cultures, so that by understanding them, they would strive for peace in the world. These are the guiding principles for our topics, as more than ever, it seems necessary for our children to appreciate the wonders of nature and the necessity to live peaceably on our planet.

What are the benefits of coming for the full day?

The morning and afternoon programs complement each other. During the mornings,most children tend to be very busy with individual activities and being able to extend the morning work time builds the children's concentration span, which is why Maria Montessori advocated a 3-hour uninterrupted work cycle time. During the afternoons, the children are then calmer and we focus on doing group activities. Whereas brain gym and talking about date and weather, tends to happen in the morning, during the afternoons we have a topic approach, which often involves learning about science or geography. The topics are introduced with a story, after which children are invited to do some craft activity, according to their level of development. Most days, we also have some French: a combination of doing actions, songs and games, which the children love and which helps them build up a basic vocabulary in an active way. Other games include action words in English, where the older children read words and then do the actions. This fun activity motivates the younger children to learn to read as there's so much fun to be had when you can read. The outside play time and gardening activities are also during the afternoon as well as music and movement. The children have access to a small outdoor area throughout the day where they can practise balancing and other physical developmental activities.

What about discipline?

We tend to have very little need for imposing discipline. As long as children are engaged in activities they love, they don't tend to upset other children. So, our emphasis is on keeping them all busy. If someone does get hurt, we remind the children that everyone comes to school to have fun, and if someone is rough, then it makes the other person unhappy, which is very sad. We ask them to say sorry and and to remember that we want everyone to be happy. This is most of the time effective, most children really don't want to upset anyone. If they repeat the behaviour, we tell them that this is their second warning and if they get a third warning, they will have to sit on the thinking chair so that they will be able to observe how other children look after each other.

Will my child be pushed into learning?

Our main focus is that children are happy. The mixed age environment provides a learning environment, similar to a family with many children. Just like in a family, where the youngest child will often be more advanced than the older child was at the same age, because they’ve been watching the older sister or brother and have had the opportunity to copy them, in the Montessori classroom also, children pick up new skills simply by being able to watch how other children do it. We provide a place which is full of interesting activities and the children provide the motivation for each other to try new things. Once in a while, we encounter a child who is very reluctant to try new things and will go to the same activity week after week, e.g. playdough, and we can see they are avoiding extending themselves. At that point, we do step in and tell them that we expect all children to try something from each shelf and that we also expect them to do a new job with one of the teachers each time. These children have built up some fear of failure, and by showing them activities which will allow them to have success and will build up their self-confidence, we usually overcome their resistance and they soon start to become involved in all that’s happening around them. So, in short, no pushing unless we see that a child is limiting themselves, in which case we encourage them to be adventurous and try new things.

Is there enough to do for an advanced child?

The Montessori sensorial equipment is incredibly versatile and is used at many different levels, and the children's problem solving skills are challenged by finding new ways to of doing something by combining pieces of equipment, etc. Puzzles and practical life activities are changed on a regular basis, to encourage the children to have new experiences and keep their interest going. I'm always on the lookout for new challenging and interesting pieces of equipment. The mathematical equipment provides hands on material to learn to add, multiply and develop an understanding of working with increasingly large numbers. And when they reach the stage that they can do more abstract work, we can give them worksheet and they can keep perfecting their skills with hands on as well as more abstract work. As long as the child has the concentration, the sky is the limit! And the same goes for reading, the children start by learning the letters with the felt letters, but then move on to 3 letter words, 4 letter words, writing their own stories, etc.
Then we also have the puzzle maps of the continents, where they get practice at fitting in each country into the right space and that certainly requires a lot of practise to be able to do this by themselves. We also have flags they can colour in for each country and some children are so intrigued by the flags they are able to name the country for each flag. When we see that a child has a particular interest in something, we try to find activities that will extend them in that area. When you see the happy faces at the end of each session, you know that they have had a fulfilling experience.