KIDS TOWN is A MONTESSORI
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

KIDS TOWN MONTESSORI PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL

At Kids Town, school life resembles a home away from home. It is a place for the children to run, play, learn and grow. Kids Town offers the best in Private Montessori Education where your child is moulded into a young scholar ready to take on the everyday adventures of Primary school.

The School is headed by a passionate Principal, Jenna Beulich, who has a reputation of successfully guiding young minds onto a path of respect, self-love and love for life. At Kids Town our goal is to produce happy, well balanced intellectual little people. This is only obtained through one on one attention and patience for the child to develop at his/her own pace. The small groups allow for this excellent standard of service to be reached.

Annual Fee

The Annual fee covers:

• 1 School Hat

• 1 School T-Shirt

• Stationery and books

• 1 Set of School Photographs (5 printed images, 1 class photo, 1 cd with high resolution images)

Children who are still in nappies are required to bring wet wipes and nappies to school.

Drop Off and Collection Times

Drop off: from 07H00.

Collection for all Groups: 12H30, 15H00 and 17H00

KIDS TOWN MONTESSORI CLASSROOMS

Each classroom is equipped with Montessori Materials designed to stimulate the child’s gross motor skills allowing them to exercise and develop their muscles throughout the work cycle. The tasks aimed at fine motor development,refines the child’s writing abilities.

The Juniors are introduced to learning colours, shapes, identifying the different dimensions and also various animal groups. The balance of their day is filled with fun art activities which allow them to explore their creativity.

The older groups discover the areas of Science and Geography which assist the children to understand the world around them. When ready, they start reading 3 and 4 phonetic readers to assist with early primary grades. The abstract way in which they learn math gives the children a concrete understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

All the children at Kids Town are exposed to learning skills of self-control, where they are required to interrupt correctly, have respect for themselves, their peers, teachers and the environment around them. It is important to groom our children to become independent and successful in life. These necessary skills are only learnt through observation and role modelling.

Each classroom is equipped with specific materials to assist the children with their age appropriate needs.

The Junior Group makes use of the Practical Life, Sensorial and Cultural Areas, and also Grace and Courtesy Skills.

• Ages 6 Months – 20 Months
• There is a maximum of 10 children in this group. 1 Qualified Montessori Teacher and 1 Trained Assistant (Ratio 1:5)

The Toddler Group makes use of the Practical Life, Sensorial and Cultural Areas, Math, Language and also Grace and Courtesy Skills.

• Ages 18 months – 3 years
• There is a maximum of 20 children in this group. 3 Qualified Montessori Teacher and 1 Trained Assistant (Ratio 1:7)

The Pre-School Group makes use of all the areas listed below. Each Group practices the Grace and Courtesy Skills.

• Ages 3 years to 6 years
• There is a maximum of 20 children per group. 2 Qualified Montessori Teacher per 10 children (Ratio 1:10)

The Practical Life Area

The Practical Life Area is essential for a strong Montessori educational foundation. In this area a child is learning control of movement (fine motor skills), concentration span, self-confidence and a love of learning.

The Practical Life activities consist of familiar objects that a child would normally see every day. These activities are designed for children to feel comfortable and be able to master with purposeful attempts. Practical Life activities fall into four main categories: Care of Self, Grace and Courtesy, Control of Movement and Care of Environment.

The goal of these activities is not only to help children build self-confidence in their working abilities, but to expose the children to fundamental work that builds up their concentration span with activities they will encounter through adulthood.

The Sensorial Area

The Sensorial Area of the classroom builds the child’s concentration for a broadened awakening of the senses and helps the children become more aware of details that are often overlooked.

Each activity focuses on one quality such as colour, weight, shape, size, texture, sound or smell. These activities develop the child’s sense of perception and discrimination for exploring and noticing small differences in patterns as well as fine motor function development in the hands.

The MATH Area

The Math area of the Montessori classroom encompasses the use of concrete materials for the recognition of numerals and quantities. Through these activities, children learn exactly how much a symbolic number stands for (i.e. The number 5 means counting the correct amount of objects to make up the number 5).

Mathematical activities are divided into 5 categories that include: counting and the decimal system, memory work, concrete abstraction, arithmetic tables and geometry. Children are introduced to more complex mathematical procedures and concepts as they are individually ready. A child will often complete a mathematical activity a few times until he feels ready to attempt a concept that is more difficult.

The LANGUAGE Area

The Language area of the Montessori classroom encourages development of early-literacy skills through the use of phonetic sounds. In the Language area, children are exposed to various types of phonetic awareness activities to build a strong literary foundation. Montessori Language activities are designed to improve a child’s vocabulary, listening skills for common sounds, and differentiating between objects and pictures.

The Cultural Area

Dr. Montessori believed that all children have an inherent curiosity about the world therefore; she did not limit her educational ideas to the above areas. She invites the children, through rich and stimulating cultural studies to appease his natural curiosity and to learn about his natural world. In the Montessori classroom, Cultural Studies generally encompasses the following areas: Geography, History, Science, Biology, Arts and Music.

The Grace and Courtesy Area

Lessons are given to each child in the environment and usually in a group setting. It is the Directress’s role to give the children the vocabulary, actions and steps required for him to build his awareness and responsiveness of those around him.

This in turn gives the child a better sense of orientation in his social structure. It also allows the child to have a clear understanding as well as a place to perfect himself with others.

These courtesy lessons include how to:

• Greet a person

• Use appropriate manners (please and thank you)

• Sit down and stand up

• Excuse oneself

• Open and close a door

• Interrupt

• Offer help

• Cough and yawn

• Blow ones nose

• Hand objects to another person, especially sharp objects

• Speak using an Inside and an Outside voice

• Take care of and have respect for the environment and his peers

• Deal with social conflict

• Acquire spatial awareness

SPECIAL EVENTS

Annual Sports Day

In April each year, the children display their talents at a fun-filled sports event. All age groups take part in the races and each child is awarded a Kids Town Trophy and a Treat for their outstanding efforts.

Annual School Concert

At the end of each year, the children put on a show for their families and friends. The children dress up in exciting costumes and get to practice their singing and acting talents.

Much effort and many hours are put into these practice sessions and the children thrive on the opportunity to perform. After the concert we hold a celebration with all the families where everyone gets a chance to socialise.

Our Concert is held at the CedarWoods of Sandton Conference Centre where all Parents, Teachers and students are offered the best proffessional service and awesome food!

Find out more about our concert venue, visit: http://www.cedarwoods.co.za/

Healthy balanced Meals

At Kids Town, it is important to us that our children have a well-balanced diet. Our food is freshly prepared each day by our School Chef. Allergies and Special Dietary Requirements are catered for and are charged out accordingly.

• Breakfast consists of a well balanced early morning meal. Served from 7:30am before School. 

• Mid-Morning Snack consists of a fruit portion and a healthy snack.

• Afternoon Lunch consists of a starch, protein and a vegetable. The children also receive a fruit portion with this meal.

Aftercare and Holiday Care Programmes

Aftercare is a daily service that runs from 12H30 until 17H00. During this time of the day the children eat a hot meal with a fruit portion, play, sleep, colour-in etc. The children are stimulated throughout the day and should spend this time resting and having free time to unwind from the morning routine. Late collection penalty per 15 minutes after 17H15 is R100. 

Holiday Care is run during the main holidays (End of Term). The children take part in daily craft and other sporting activities. During holiday care, no structural Montessori tasks are performed. Holiday Care is offered at an additional cost that covers the craft materials and the staff required. During holiday care, there are no set collection times as the normal menu applies. 

Report Feedback

Kids Town offers a specialized feedback system ensuring that the parents are kept well informed on their child’s progress and development throughout the year. In addition to the reports, the children are given a ‘Take Home Book’. This book is used as a form of communication between the teachers and the parents. This book is sent home daily. The Teachers are also on Watsapp with the parents for quick and efficient responses. This is monitored and kept to reasonable hours. 

Term 1 (April) – Term 1 Report is handed out. This report reflects feedback on all the areas of development over the first term. 

Term 2 (July) – The Pre-School Parents are invited to spend a morning observing the environment and how the children interact with the equipment and their Directresses. This gives the parents a good understanding of how the Montessori Classroom functions. Thereafter we have a one on one meeting with the parents to discuss the child’s development.

Term 2 (August) – Term 2 Report is handed out. This report reflects feedback on all the areas of development over the second term. 

Term 3 (December) – Term 3 Report is handed out. This report reflects feedback on all the areas of development over the third term. 

Payment Options

Kids Town Pre-Primary School Payment options for school fees are:

• DEBIT ORDER on the 1st – 3rd of the month in advance

• EFT / STOP ORDER received into the school account before the 1st day of the month in advance. Should the fees not reflect into the account by the 1st, the child will not be allowed to attend class.

• CASH or FOREIGN TRANSFER deposited into the account attracts bank charges, which will be allocated to the learners account.

• UPFRONT ANNUAL payment received before the 1st January attracts a discount.