Montessori at KPS
As part of the wider school, KPS has a Montessori Strand. The curriculum is aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum and follows the KPS local curriculum through a Montessori lens. The principles of Montessori are maintained, including providing a learning community of mixed ages, enabling a child to exercise choice and freedom to follow their interests productively, encouraging freedom with limits, developing intrinsic motivation, teaching the whole child and providing an ordered environment through which students can develop an ordered understanding of the universe.
All staff are trained as Montessori teachers and teacher assistants. This is a priority at KPS as the Montessori method incorporates the use of materials to ensure children understand ideas at a conceptual level through hands-on experience. The timetable operating in this area of the school is different to allow for the three-hour work cycle. During this three-hour period, students are involved in lessons, group investigations and independent exploration. Students develop metacognitive skills through having choices around some of their learning, and time to reflect on what they have gained and what their next priorities are.
Over the 8 years in the programme, students will interact with the Big Ideas of the KPS curriculum, within the context of the Montessori curriculum. The KPS values are taught as part of grace and courtesy, and the pedagogies and practices for effective teaching at KPS are maintained in the Montessori environment. Students in the Montessori strand are involved with all the other aspects of the wider school programme, such as assemblies, elective programmes, school-wide events, technology and student council.
For more information on the Montessori philosophy, click on one of the following links:
Montessori Education in Aotearoa
