Inner Sydney Montessori School - help me do it myself

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why are there multi-age classrooms?
• Why is there a 5 day program for 3-4 year olds?
• Is ISMS opposed to competition?
• What is the ISMS approach to assessment?
• What is the ISMS approach to homework?
• How do ISMS graduates adjust to high school?
• What creative arts experiences are available?
• Does the ISMS curriculum include study of a second language?
• Do the children participate in any in-school sport?
• What about children with special needs?
• Does ISMS receive any external funding?

Why are there multi-age classrooms?

The Montessori program offered by ISMS at each of the Pre-primary and Primary stages is designed to address the developmental characteristics normal to children at that stage. All ISMS stages and classrooms within those stages have three year age groupings, Stage 1 for pre-primary children aged 3-6, Stage 2 for Primary aged children 6-9 and Stage 3, the final primary stage, for children 9-12.

Implicit in the Montessori approach is a broad view of what does or can constitute a peer group. The advantages of multi-age classrooms over single-age groupings are many.

At both the pre-primary and primary stages the mixture of ages provides opportunities for children’s broad social and intellectual development.

Younger children have the stimulation and example of older children who in turn benefit from being leaders and role models to younger children. Younger children observe older children at work and wish to emulate them even before they have had a formal lesson or presentation. Older children reinforce lessons learnt by assisting or teaching younger children. The presence of a wide range of ages and abilities builds in each child a tolerance and appreciation for people’s differences and provides a more-real world experience than a class of children of the same age.

Crucially, the multi-age classrooms are an important part of allowing each child to develop socially and academically at the child’s own pace. Each child can group with a peer or peers (whether they are younger, older, or the same age) with whom he or she is socially compatible or who may be working at the child’s current level. Small groupings within classrooms may change. A child’s social development may not be advanced as a child’s academic development, so that child may work with older children but mix socially with younger children in the classroom. A child may be advanced in some subjects and not others; the ISMS classroom allows that child to establish and work with different peers in the different subject areas.

Each ISMS classroom has a unique culture and heritage that is largely maintained by the stability that the multi-age grouping provides. Children generally stay in the same classroom for three years. With most children returning to the class each year, a real and deep feeling of community and friendship evolves and continues on between classmates of all ages and their teachers.

Top Why is there a 5 day program for 3-4 year olds?

It is vital that a child attend ISMS five mornings from the start to ensure the opportunity to develop to the child’s full social, emotional and academic potential. At the age of 3 children need order. The environment is key to the child’s learning – and any change can disrupt that moment of learning. When all the children are present each day and when the physical environment is consistently prepared and ordered, the child can work and develop without distraction. The starting time of the day is also important since any work cycle is not just relevant to the individual but also involves the whole group. Maria Montessori wrote extensively on the pattern of the 3 hour work cycle which includes both lows and peaks of concentration. When all the children arrive at the same time this sets up the pattern for the work cycle of that morning. When the child is able to be independent at a social, emotional and academic level they are invited to stay for the full school day. This is usually around the age of 5 years.

Top Is ISMS opposed to competition?

The Montessori approach encourages children to learn to collaborate rather than to compete against each other. Through Montessori education, children discover their own innate abilities and build independence, self-confidence and self-discipline. The environment allows for each child to learn at their own pace and compete against themselves while realising that making mistakes is part of a learning process without humiliation from or before other students.

Competitiveness is a human characteristic and children do naturally compete with each other both in the playground and in the classroom. Dr Montessori approved of competition in principle but did not promote artificial competition as a motivation for children to achieve. Accordingly at ISMS we allow competition to evolve naturally among the students with each child voluntarily making a choice to compete rather than having competition imposed by external means.

Top What is the ISMS approach to assessment?

ISMS has a comprehensive approach to assessment and evaluation of a child’s work and progress. Teachers evaluate each student's work in the following ways:

• Observing the child's contributions during a group or individual lesson
• Observing whether the child goes on to use the concept presented
• Observing the child using Montessori materials to ascertain if she or he has understood a presentation
• Work is checked regularly and students are required to complete tasks and produce sufficient evidence to show that they have achieved the specific outcome
• The teacher and child discuss the child's work during conferences held fortnightly

Given that each student has either small group or individual presentations and then the opportunity to practise and consolidate the concepts using specific materials it is very clear to both the teacher and student whether or not the concept has been gained. The most obvious indicators are when a child is either working in the abstract or able to externalise the knowledge in a verbal or written form.

Detailed records are kept of all lessons and concepts presented to each student, all materials practised, and all concepts understood by the child.

Teachers use the information gathered through this process of evaluation in several ways:

• To provide reports and information to parents on the child’s progress
• To enable appropriate planning for each child’s needs
• To assess the child’s interests, skills and strengths
• As a guide for other teachers when the child to move on to another class or school

It is sometimes wrongly assumed that a Montessori education means children can do anything they want and that as a result their education may be deficient in some areas. Children in ISMS classrooms are free to follow their interests but within the boundaries and requirements set by the teacher following discussion with the child.

Montessori teachers are not passive; they are directors skilled in observing, monitoring and assessing each child individually and in ensuring by direction that the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic and all necessary curriculum areas are more than adequately covered over each three year cycle.

Although formal examinations are not used as an in-school assessment tool, ISMS fully prepares our children for external testing including the Government’s National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy, NAPLAN, and for selective high school and entrance exams.

The students in the equivalents of a mainstream school’s Year 3 and Year 5 take the NAPLAN. When ISMS is notified of the results of these tests, a letter is distributed to the relevant parents and individual meetings are held with the parents to assist them in interpreting the report on the results. At the appropriate time, primary students work through a diverse range of assessment papers gaining tools to assist them in skills such as time management and test techniques.

Importantly, these experiences are used as positive feedback for each student. The students are encouraged to use these tests to further their own learning rather than as a comparison tool with other students. Examination technique is approached and mastered as just another activity and life skill in the Montessori classroom.

Top What is the ISMS approach to homework?

The distinction between classroom work and homework is an artificial one. Children learn in all environments and a child left alone will have learning experiences at home as well as school.

The emphasis on homework in mainstream primary schools is to suit the needs of the school and not the students; homework is given to gauge whether a child has understood a particular lesson and to ensure all material is covered. This may be necessary when a teacher teaches large group lessons in classrooms of twenty or thirty students at a time.

At ISMS our teachers work with children individually or in groups of three or four students. The children remain with the same teacher for three years; there is an intense classroom work-cycle and the children are self-motivated. The Montessori materials are designed to be self-correcting. These factors combined ensure that the teacher is in touch with the child's individual comprehension of work and on-going requirements and that the giving of formal homework is superfluous. The student in the Montessori classroom receives presentations or lessons that not only cover all aspects of the curriculum as required by the Board of Studies but also give the student the opportunity to extend their knowledge in areas of their particular interest. It follows that when a student in a Montessori environment has voluntarily chosen a specific piece of work, the engagement tends to be passionate and intense and the skills and knowledge gained are far greater than when work is chosen by teachers.

However, as all Montessori education is an aid to what is to come, homework is given at the senior end of Stage 3.

Top How do ISMS graduates adjust to high school?

Our children move on to a variety of high schools; state high schools both selective and comprehensive; religious independent schools; and a range of other private high schools. The confidence, self-esteem and discipline of ISMS graduates and their comprehensive academic grounding serves the children well in making successful adjustments to the larger more traditional high school environment. The consistent emphasis of ISMS on the development of the whole child from 3 years until the completion of Stage 3 means that our graduates are well-rounded socially adept young people ready to face, adapt to and successfully meet the social and academic challenges of high school.

Top What creative arts experiences are available?

The Montessori curriculum contains extensive presentations of or involving music, art and drama. Class directors are responsible for implementing a full and varied arts and music program in their classrooms. The music program is very diverse and includes music history and literature, instruments of the orchestra, vocals and rhythm. The program also provides for all the students to participate in concerts and short plays.

The older children write and produce their own concert at the end of Term 4 to which parents are invited. ISMS has recently begun a school band and children in the primary years are invited to join. Band sessions are held during lunch hours.

Artists are on occasions invited into the classrooms to demonstrate specific skills and then to work in the room giving the students the opportunity to observe such people at work. School visits from a diverse range of performers also supplement the program giving the students the opportunity to see a wider section of the community than just the school community. The ‘going out’ program also allows each child to pursue an area of interest in arts the wider community.

Top Does the ISMS curriculum include study of a second language?

Spanish is the chosen second language and all the children are exposed to both language and cultural aspects of Spanish communities. The ISMS teacher of Spanish is a native speaker of the language and weekly lessons are conducted. To supplement these lessons materials (books, tapes, games and language activities) are used in the classroom. Spanish was chosen due to its phonetic nature and popularity throughout the world.

Top Do the children participate in any in-school sport?

The focus of the ISMS sports program is children’s gross motor development. Initially the students are taught developmentally appropriate skills including activities involving movement and hand eye co-ordination. In the primary stages there is specific time allocated each week for sport. Again the main aim is on the acquisition of skills, however, there is also emphasis on being a member of a team. The non-competitive element of all sports is emphasised during the lessons. The choice of sport is aligned to the NSW government curriculum and includes soccer, cross circuit training, swimming, and dance and for Stage 3 children, gymnastics and more advanced skills.

Top What about children with special needs?

The Montessori environment works well for any child with special needs since the emphasis is on the individual with skills and concepts being presented during individual lessons within a social environment. The multi-age groupings within classrooms present a vast array of skills and behaviours that allow each child to be accepted and respected. Our teachers are familiar with working and liaising with external specialists either during or after school hours. Visiting specialists also work with the children during the school day in the classrooms. A reading specialist works with individual students and develops in conjunction with the class directors short and long term goals for these children.

Does ISMS receive any external funding?

The school is funded primarily from school fees paid by parents. The School also receives significant funding from both the Commonwealth and State governments, which assists in maintaining school fees at the lowest possible level so that as many families as possible can have access to the school.