Welcome to Smart Start

Smart Start is an exciting education program for children between the ages of 2 1/2 and 5 yrs. The program started in August 2004 and has about 60 children on its roll. We follow Maria Montessori's motto, "follow the child", and are always looking for opportunities to enrich each child and recognize their individuality. We are dedicated to creating a learning environment, which encourages the child's natural curiosity, independence, and intellectual development, so that they will develop their full potential and grow into capable and confident, well rounded children with high self-esteem.

Having fun while learning

We provide a stimulating environment, based on Montessori and Accelerated Learning principles, as well as putting an emphasis on music education. Whilst having fun and socialising, the activities provide an instant attraction. The children are allowed to choose activities they like from the shelves and can concentrate on their job without being interrupted. At the same time, if they don't know what to get on with next, there is always a teacher organising the next little group game to shown them something new and they can join in if they are interested. There are very few rules: the children are expected to be busy and to respect each other and the equipment.

Benefits of a mixed age group

The mixed agegroup provides a very stimulating environment because children always see someone else do something they have not yet done, thereby motivating them to gain the necessary skills to be able to do these tasks as well. It also means that no child ever feels that they are not as capable as someone else, because the mixed agegroup ensures that there are always other children at the same level for any particular task.

Classroom activities

The equipment and toys are very practical and hands-on. First, there are the practical life activities, which allow the child to practise basic skills, such as pouring, spooning, using tweezers, doing up buttons and buckles, etc. These activities improve their fine motor skills as well as their concentration and allow them to become more independent as they will be able to do things by themselves and thereby it also improves their self-esteem There are puzzles and matching activities of increasing difficulty, which introduce geography and biology concepts. There are also many different activities with shapes, which provide a good preparation for mathematics. Then there is also the Montessori educational equipment, which provides the children with the opportunity to finetune their senses, and to develop mathematical and reading skills. Children are shown how to do a task, then are encouraged to have a go by themselves. Every piece of equipment prepares the way for the next step in their learning, so that they can learn a big task by doing little steps. This always spells victory for them, so they learn quickly and easily and are excited about learning.
Afternoon sessions also introduce topics to do with science, biology and geography to extend the children's knowledge base. They then use their skills to do craft activities, related to the topic.
French is also introduced, taking advantage of the children’s incredible ability to learn languages at this age.
We also want to encourage each child to learn to play an instrument and give the children the opportunity to learn to play the violin as part of the daily sessions.
Each session concludes with music and movement. Brain gym activities are also incorporated in the movement activities. Educational equipment and art activities are introduced and then remain available for the children to repeat and perfect the particular skills, so that they develop self-confidence and concentration.

Learning social skills

Many of the activities which are displayed on the shelves, are for use by one child at a time. This way, children learn to take responsibility for their work, tidying it back up and putting it back on the shelf. It also gives them the freedom to experiment with it and know that someone else cannot just come and take it away. Even though they may be doing their own job, they are all constantly interacting with each other. They sit around the table and will be looking and commenting on what others are doing. The children are also encouraged to show each other how to do certain activities, so the classroom is a very cooperative little community. Some activities can be done by two or more children. There are also many little group activities that take place during each session. There are memory games, little groups that are learning letters, doing some number game, etc. Each activity attracts different children and this way, the children are constantly involved with different children in the group and get to know everyone. By doing group activities, they also learn to take turns and to consider the others in the group.

Time Table

Note: outside time changes to 9:15-9:45 during the warm season, term 1 and term 4.

• 9:00-9:15 Story, discussion of day, month, date, weather, good morning song
• 9:15-11:00 Individual work time with children working with Montessori equipment and small group activities, where 2-5 children can choose to participate in lessons on learning shapes, colours, letters, music theory, playing an instrument, memory games and other games to reinforce knowledge of letters, numbers, shapes, learning about the body, the continents, etc.
• 11:00-11:30 Group outside play time and gardening
• 11:30-11:45 music and movement, incorporating braingym activities
• 11:45-12:00 lunch for all day children
• 12:00-12:15 rest time for all day children
• 12:15-12:30 story time and discussions, related to topics, e.g. science, geography, environment.
• 12:30-2:15 Usually, one teacher organises activities related to the topic, thereby giving the children the opportunity to use and improve the skills they have learned during their individual lessons. Another teacher works with the children who have chosen to work on individual jobs. The third teacher does individual or small group lessons as during the morning period. Most days, we also set aside a short period of time during the afternoon where the children can learn French through a combination of songs, games and actions. We find that during the afternoon sessions, the children are generally calmer and enjoy working more in groups. They tend to get more involved in practising writing, using the more advanced mathematical equipment, sewing, etc.
• 2:15-2:45 Group outside play time and gardening
• 2:45-3:00 Music and movement, incorporating brain gym activities.

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Enrolment information

Please click on the Application Form to open the application form : Save this file to your hard drive, fill in the form and email it back to us A non-refundable admin fee of $30 is payable when you lodge your application.