Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered by our setting helps children to continue to do this by providing all of the children with interesting activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development.

There are six main areas to Montessori education and these link seamlessly to the areas of Development and Learning identified in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) programme. The blue titles are the Montessori areas of education, and the red are the new national areas of learning and development. Many parents will note and be pleased with the similarity between the evidence based and longstanding Montessori areas of education, and the new national EYFS areas of learning and development.

Practical life (including simple, practical tasks aimed at encouraging independence, such as, sweeping and learning how to tie a bow). Many of the Montessori elements here are now included in the 'Physical development' and 'Personal, social and emotional development' area of learning.
Our programme supports children to develop:

1. increasing control over the large movements that they can make with their arms, legs and bodies, so that they can run, jump, hop, skip, roll, climb, balance and lift;
2. increasing control over the small movements they can make with their arms, wrists and hands, so that they can pick up and use objects, tools and materials; and
3. their understanding about the importance of, and how to look after, their bodies.
4. their ability to dress and undress themselves, and look after their personal hygiene needs
5. confidence in themselves and their ability to do things, and valuing their own achievements;
6. their ability to get on, work and make friendships with other people, both children and adults;
7. their awareness of, and being able to keep to, the rules which we all need to help us to look after ourselves, other people and our environment;
8. their ability to expect to have their ways of doing things respected and to respect other people's ways of doing things.

Sensorial (specially devised activities to help refine the senses and, therefore, enhance perception and concentration). This area is now part of the ‘Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy’ area under the EYFS learning and development theme.
Our programme supports children to develop:

1. an understanding  dimension, order, shape, height, length, width, weight
2. an understanding and ideas about patterns, the shape of objects and parts of objects, and the amount of space taken up by objects;
3. understanding the concept of geometric plane shapes
4. understanding of 3d solid shapes, weight, order and classification sets, size, movement

Mathematics Now incorporated in the 'Problem solving, numeracy and reasoning' area of learning.
Our programme supports children to develop:

1. understanding and ideas about how many, how much, how far and how big;
2. understanding that numbers help us to answer questions about how many, how much, how far and how big;
3. understanding and ideas about how to use counting to find out how many; and
4. early ideas about the result of adding more or taking away from the amount we already have.

Language and Literacy A key aspect of the EYFS 'Communication, language and literacy' area of learning.
Our programme supports children to develop:

1. conversational skills with one other person, in small groups and in large groups to talk with and listen to others;
2. their vocabulary by learning the meaning of - and being able to use - new words;
3. their ability to use words to describe their experiences;
4. their knowledge of the sounds and letters that make up the words we use;
5. their ability to listen to, and talk about, stories;
6. knowledge of how to handle books and that they can be a source of stories and information;
7. knowledge of the purposes for which we use writing; and
8. making their own attempts at writing.

Cultural/Sensorial (geography, history and science activities) reflected in the 'Knowledge and understanding of the world' area of learning.

Our programme supports children to develop:

1. positive approaches to learning and finding out about the world around them;
2. knowledge about the natural world and how it works;
3. knowledge about the man made world and how it works;
4. their learning about how to choose, and use, the right tool for a task;
5. their learning about computers, how to use them and what they can help us to do;
6. their skills on how to put together ideas about past and present and the links between them;
7. their learning about their locality and its special features; and
8. their learning about their own and other cultures.

Creative (art, music and drama) identified as 'Creative Development' in the EYFS
Our programme supports children to develop:

1. the use of paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories and role-play to express their ideas and feelings; and
2. their interest in the way that paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories and role-play can be used to express ideas and feelings.

Within the EYFS, for each area, there is practice guidance which sets out the Early Learning Goals. Again these are comparable to the Montessori assessment process. These goals state what it is expected that children will know and be able to do by the end of the reception year of their education.

The practice guidance also sets out in 'Development Matters' the likely stages of progress a child makes along their learning journey towards the early learning goals. Our setting has regard to these matters when we assess children and plan for their learning whilst making sure that the Montessori elements are part of the assessment and used to ensure each child reaches their true potential.