Wa Ora Montessori School Vision
Wa Ora Montessori School will be a collaborative community offering an authentic Montessori education experience from birth to adolesence, while being regarded as a flagship for Montessori education.
Wa Ora Montessori School Mission
Our school exists to:
- provide an environment that supports children's physical, moral, social, emotional and intellectual development, so they can be the best they can be, believing in their intrinsic worth and having a positive influence on the world.
- support the world-wide Montessori movement by influencing the external environment so that people and institutions are receptive to, supportive of and even embracing the Montessori concepts.
Our values that guide our school morally include:
Learning
We pursue excellence in learning, creating independent thinkers who are eager and able to explore and experiment. We believe that learning occurs best in the context of a rich and balanced life.
Ecology
We are impressed and awed by nature and respect the interconnectedness of everything in the natural world. We strive to conduct our lives responsibly and sustainably, mindful of our impact on other natural things, and maintaining a focus on peaceful and harmonious living.
Generosity of spirit
Good people create good people. We are sensitive to other people's needs and feelings and we want the best for each other. Our ways of acting promote respect and altruism and we consciously work to increase the capacity of all members of our school community for sharing and working together.
A Supportive and Strong Community
We are a thriving, energetic community of families, children and staff. School staff are "renaissance" people - capable across a wide range of areas, who challenge themselves to extend their learning and thrive on sharing their passion and mastery with our children. Our families invest their time, energy and trust in the school, bringing their strengths and skills to contribute to the life of the school and forming a support base for the school and for each other. Our children build a community where all are respected and each person's contribution is valued. They take pride in their environment, offer help to each other and experience joy in realising their full potential.
Montessori education is both a method and a philosophy based on 45 years of observation and work with children by Dr Maria Montessori, Italian doctor and educator (1870-1952). The Montessori approach begins with the acknowledged potential of each child and provides for cognitive, physical and spiritual development through a specially prepared environment.
Dr Montessori developed what she called the "prepared environment. It provides order and allows children to learn at their own speed, according to their own capacities and in a non-competitive atmosphere. She recognised that true learning only resulted from the self-motivation of the child. Children move themselves towards learning.The teacher prepares the environment, directs the activity and offers the child stimulation, but it is the child who learns, who is motivated through work itself (not solely by the teacher's personality) to persist in a given task. Once the child has experienced success in an activity, there is often motivation to repeat it many times in one session. Thus the development of concentration, self-esteem, self-discipline and independence begins.
Montessori teaches children to observe, to think, to judge. It introduces children to the joy of learning at an early stage and provides a framework in which intellectual and social discipline go hand-in-hand. Dr Montessori placed strong emphasis on providing a peaceful and orderly environment. For this reason classes are structured with a three-year age range (3 - 6, 6 -9, 9 -12).
Children learn to work independently but always within the context of a wider community with differing ages and abilities. The younger child is exposed to the exciting work of older classmates and the older child has a chance to reinforce knowledge through demonstration to the younger ones. Opportunities to practise newly acquired social skills - grace, courtesy and respect for others - occur naturally within everyday class life. The environment provides natural social interaction and development. It allows the positive aspects of the child's personality to assert themselves and become habit.
To view what this philosophy means in practice at Wa Ora click here
The school charter is a document required by the Ministry of Education that outlines the strategic direction of the school, its goals for the next 3-5 years and an annual plan section that is updated each year. Generally the Board of Trustees is responsible for the strategic direction and the overall goals while the principal has more responsibiliity for creating the annual plan.
Wa Ora's School Charter can be viewed here