The Gower School Nursery is Montessori Accredited!

The Gower School Nursery has successfully been accredited as a Montessori nursery by the Collaborative Montessori Accreditation Board. High quality Montessori education is so important, and this accreditation is something which emphasises our commitment to the Montessori method for our children at such a crucial point in their education. After the release of our glowing Ofsted and ISI inspection reports last year, this Montessori accreditation is yet another acklowledgement of our outstanding school.

The Report

The accreditation process involved a wide range of checks on our setting, both in terms of the policies, staff training and qualifications, parents feedback as well as an inspection visit day. In July we were visited by an assessor from Collaborative Montessori, who spent the whole day at the nursery, observing every room, our gardens, extra-curricular lessons, mealtimes, and park to check every aspect of our Montessori nursery provision.

The accreditation criteria draw on the principles of the dynamic learning triangle of Child, Adult and Environment, which is at the core of the Montessori philosophy and approach. The Collaborative Montessori Board has released their report along with our accreditation, and we are very pleased with the results.

They concluded, ‘At The Gower School children are active, busy, comfortable, sociable and happy.’ Our provision ‘is excellent, as children experience stimulating learning opportunities,’ as well as ‘rich in educational, creative and play resources which fully contribute to the children’s holistic development.’ The assessment lauded our provision for its positive effects on children in their personal independence, socialisation, exploration, movement and learning.

Our long-standing staff team was given much-deserved credit- ‘The teachers are a real asset at TGS’, ‘they are enthusiastic, caring, attentive, respectful, watchful and cooperate well together within each classroom to ensure they positively contribute to the delivery of best practice. The quality of engagement with the children is of a very high standard, being attentive and unobtrusive, enthusiastic and responsive.’ Parent voices were heard as well, and TGS parents ‘describe the teachers as, ‘calm, reassuring, professional, friendly, joyful, encouraging and organised.’

Thanks and Accolades

Our staff team are dedicated, passionate, and accomplish such excellent work on a daily basis, I cannot thank them enough for all their work enabling the accreditation process to go so smoothly. I would particularly like to say thank you for their huge commitment to this process to Sofia Pedrana, Mehtab Fazel and Lisa-Marie Smyth. Additionally, Montessori teachers Kathryn Kramer, Zahra Kasmani and Louise Quinn as well as our room leaders all went the extra mile.

Thank you to all the parents who wrote such positive and insightful feedback to the parents survey for Montessori Collaborative. Just going through the process of the accreditation has given us the opportunity to reflect on all aspects of our provision, and has been really beneficial in ensuring that The Gower School Nursery is the best Montessori nursery setting possible.