School Values
Partnership with parents…
We value a partnership with our parents that extends beyond mere participation to intimate engagement. We respect that parents are the first and fundamental teachers of children. Our goal is to help children develop a love of learning that will result in academic achievement, self-discipline, self-motivation, and respect for themselves, others, and their environment. To achieve these goals we must work in partnership with our families to create a learning community. We commit to providing a learning environment for our students, our teachers, and our parents, so that together we can build a predictable and supportive network between home and school. Developing these skills is a life-long process that must be continuously reinforced.
Independence…
“Help me to do it myself” – means that we have prepared an environment for the children designed to meet their needs. Our desired outcome for students is that they are self-directed. Dr. Montessori believed that children are qualitatively different from adults, so we must provide the developmentally essential elements to assist children in the work of constructing themselves. This means that we are creating a child-centered environment designed to help children achieve independence.
Community…
Contribution to our community; Montessori believed that the only way to advance our species to higher levels of being and understanding is through our offspring. She lived her own life as a citizen of the world and believed we should rear our children to understand the interconnectedness of their own existence with others. Hers was a call to action to give back to humanity and our communities through our diligence and commitment to children. By allowing children to participate in the creation of their own classrooms and providing a multi-age environment, children experience how to work collaboratively and become productive members of their community. The older children become leaders through role modeling and assisting the younger children. The younger children learn how to accept help and guidance from others.
Individual nature of students…
Our purpose as a school extends further than the cornerstone principles that are expressed in our Mission Statement. American Montessori Society recognized that Montessori education would experience some transformation by crossing cultures and believes that a major goal of Montessori education is to help children understand the environment in which they live. In this context we value keeping abreast of current research and educational advances within and outside of Montessori circles so that we can help the individual student reach his or her own highest level of achievement. As a school we highly value professional development and personal growth of our teachers and staff because we believe that professional development has a strong positive relation to high student achievement.
Moral Integrity…
The development of moral integrity is a life-long process that occurs by providing consistent exposure to environments and adults who role-model respect, consistency in thought and action, and humility. Children must learn to balance their lives so that there is time for self-reflection and thought. Mary Pipher eloquently describes what children need to do to become persons of integrity. “Raising healthy children is a labor intensive operation. Contrary to the news from the broader culture, most of what children need, money cannot buy. Children need time and space, attention, affection, guidance and conversation. They need sheltered places where they can be safe as they learn what they need to know to survive.”
High academic standards…
The foundation that is built through the actions described above prepares children to be academically successful. Critical thinking is developed through discovery and experiential learning. Our goal is to prepare the whole child for a successful life. This means that attention is paid to developing a balance of the emotional, social, and practical elements of academic life. By attending to all of these needs children have the elements necessary to attend to the higher order thinking that we call “critical thinking skills.” The foundation for these skills starts at infancy and builds upon itself through the successive developmental stages of life. The prepared Montessori environment meets the developmental needs of children so they are well-prepared for academic excellence and personal integrity.