Our Montessori Education
Educational vision
Our educational vision is based on the ideas of Maria Montessori (1870-1952). She worked as a doctor and educationalist with children from various social classes all over the world. In her work she discovered that all children are naturally curious and have a natural urge to develop themselves. This is reflected in a spontaneous interest of children in specific areas of development. Children’s interests and needs change over time. This means that children are receptive to certain areas of learning for shorter or longer periods of time. When the child is in such a “sensitive period”, he is able to develop very intensively. In Montessori education, a child learns as much as possible at his own pace, using his own abilities and with the help of specially designed Montessori materials that support this development.
We prepare very rich learning environments for the children (the prepared environment) that contain a wide variety of Montessori materials. The environment is specially designed for children of a certain age. In this way we ensure that the offering in the room is precisely tailored to the developmental needs of children of a specific age. Through extensive observation we know what the children are interested in at any given time. We can adjust the offer based on what we see in the children. The offer in the groups is therefore not static but constantly changing in accordance with the interests of the children.
Within Montessori education, children have different freedoms. For example, the children are free to choose work from the area, free to work at it for as long as they want, free to choose a place where they want to work. By offering children autonomy, we see that children have an increased intrinsic motivation to learn. With this freedom also comes responsibility. A child’s freedom ends where another person’s freedom begins.
Treehouse Montessori has one integrated approach to optimally support the broad development of children. Our offering therefore exceeds the goals of education and childcare. We use Montessori materials and curriculum that has been carefully designed and scientifically researched.
At Treehouse Montessori we work and learn with and from each other in a safe and respectful environment that encourages development. We do this in heterogeneous groups with children of mixed ages.
We aim for classes of 24 to 30 students per group, divided over the Lower School (3-6 years*), Middle School (6-9) and Upper School (9-12).
Our students can progress between buildings at three fixed times during the year. In this way we ensure the right environment at all times in emotional, social, cognitive and physical areas.
*Until we have permission from the municipality to admit 3 year olds, between 4 and 6 years
In addition to the core objectives for primary education, we offer a broad curriculum of extra activities. We like to connect specialists in the fields of dance, music, art, nature, science, nutrition and inner balance to our school. We also offer space for the children in the Upper School to work on projects outside Treehouse Montessori, start a business, or fulfill a social role.