January hails the start of the spring term and what promises to be a calm start to the year especially following the busy and exciting autumn term. September bought with it a record number of new children and a full Children’s House. The settled in remarkably quickly and were soon busy enjoying the wide range of activities on offer. A typical morning session for one child may consist of making a clay pot, preparing snack, polishing the shelves, pouring sand, looking at letter sounds, exploring solid shapes, raking leaves and singing about combine harvesters. Every day is different for each individual because ‘the adult follows the child’, the only thing we can not alter is the time parents pick up and drop off, everything else is flexible! Parents came in for an information session in October on synthetic phonics and how children learn language with us, this proved very popular and we will hold another session for all those interested in January on another aspect of Montessori education.

Due to popular demand, in January we are extending our hours. As well as offering all day sessions on Tuesday and Thursdays we will also be open all day Mondays. We offer French sessions on Tuesday afternoons and sport sessions on Thursday afternoons and Mondays will consist of a light mix of cooking and music.

In December Marianne and Sharon were invited up to London to be presented with an accreditation plaque at an awards ceremony. After all the work everyone had put into achieving our second accreditation it was lovely to be able to celebrate our achievement. Steventon Children’s House is already accredited with Montessori Education UK and is the only Montessori school in north Hampshire to have received this award demonstrating that we are of the highest possible standard. Our second accreditation is with the Montessori Evaluation and Accreditation Board (MEAB). This demonstrates that we fulfill all the criteria to call ourselves a Montessori school as well as ensuring that all children within our care are covering all aspects of the Early Years Foundation stage. If a school is not accredited or working towards accreditation with MEAB and/or MEUK it is not a recognised Montessori setting and should not call itself a Montessori school. We are proud to be the first Montessori setting in the country to have been awarded both accreditations. This could not have been achieved without a lot of work from our team of dedicated and skilled staff.

In November we started to run a Montessori assistants course from our school. This is a recognized level 2 qualification, run through the Montessori Partnership, and is perfect for parents interested in Montessori, those considering working in a Montessori setting, and staff wishing to gain an initial qualification. It takes around a year to achieve and consists of school based assignments, teaching hours and taught hours. If you would like more details please do contact Marianne.

In 2010 Steventon Children’s House hopes to be expanding further, if you are Montessori qualified and may be interested in joining our friendly team, please do contact Marianne.