It’s that time of year again when thoughts turn to school. The shops are awash with uniforms, bags, lunchboxes and back to school offers. For those of you with a child due to start with us in Montessori for the first time we wanted to give you a few helpful hints to ease the transition from home to Montessori.

Every year thousands of children start pre-school or montessori. Many children find starting in the Montessori exciting and have little trouble with the changes that it brings, while others can find this time stressful. It’s a time of great excitement and new beginnings for the child and their parents, saying goodbye to home, meeting new teachers and making new friends. For parents and staff it’s the start of a new journey too as we work together in partnership ensuring the best interests of your child are being met.

For children the montessori room in the crèche can appear bigger than they are used to with more children, more adults and more rules. Those first days can be an anxious time for parents who wonder, will she manage on her own, will she make friends, will she be able to sit and listen, will she be able for the playground. Often it’s the parent who gets a bit overwhelmed and has to hold back the tears as their child takes this next step on life’s journey! It’s important to talk with the Montessori team as communication between parents and staff is key to ensuring children and parents are happy and content. We are here to talk and listen and welcome feedback from parents at all times.

We hope you and your child can join us on 27th August from 2-4pm to see the Montessori room, meet the teachers and other children who will be in their class. This is a great opportunity for parents and children to say ‘Hello’ and look around together, meet the staff, play and take their time to explore their new surroundings. This is a good day to leave a spare set of clothes in their cubby hole too.

Some tips to help the transition from home to Montessorr;

• Make an event of choosing their lunch box & drink bottle together, making sure to choose bags and containers your child can manage on her own. As we have a healthy eating & recycling policy please ensure your child’s lunch is nutritious and that they can manage to open it themselves. Any leftovers or containers will be put back into the lunch bags.


• Make sure your child has clothes that are easy to manage when going to the toilet. Elasticised waists are usually best. Avoid wearing ‘good clothes’ as your child will have lots of exposure to arts & craft materials which may stain or damage clothes.


• Your child will have his own hook in the room for his coat so practise putting on and taking off coats.


• For the first 3 days please come into the room with your child and help her to identify her hook and get settled in. After that we would ask you to drop your child and leave promptly. This allows us to get everyone settled in and start the day’s activities. If every parent comes into the room and stays it means we are later starting and it can be disruptive for the children.


• For the first week or two your child may be quite tired due to the change in her routine and all the new things that are happening so try to ensure she gets a good night’s sleep


• If you have any concerns/ worries please let us know and we will be happy to meet you outside of class hours. We find this is better than trying to talk while your child or other children are present