Music
The children have fun working with sound recognition, singing together regularly, doing listening exercises and recognising families of instruments, reproducing rhythms, discovering the main musical styles and creating musical instruments.
Our Educational project
Recognising a child’s fundamental needs
During the first few years of their life and drawing on the educational environment that they have (family, school, society), children will find the keys to build the foundations of their personality and develop their potential.
In line with this, we believe that it is crucial to give children an environment which may reveal and develop their intelligence and creativity and where they can go at their own pace and according to their own individual profile, whilst progressively introducing them to social norms and being part of society.
This is the type of environment that the Gerbert d’Aurillac School provides, based upon learning and taking into account a child’s fundamental needs.
A personalized approach
Each child is unique with their own personality, their own pace of development, their own potential and their own possible difficulties.
Our educational approach works on essentially respecting this individuality, in all its forms, so each child can find their place and achieve their full potential within the group.
Our mission is to enable each child to develop his or her full potential, while respecting his or her own pace. The only accepted stimulation is the one which aims for each child to achieve their full potential.
Sensitive periods
According to the work done by Maria Montessori, children go through « sensitive periods » during the course of their development, meaning moments where they feel sensitive about something particular around them. This sensitivity means that they become hugely receptive to things linked to this element: the written word for example.
These sensitive periods can be combined together and come together in a specific way which is always unique to each child.
The educational environment must be able to give each child the means of exploring and honing these different sensibilities at the right time. This means when the child feels the need to and is ready.
To support our way of working
The teachers' attitude
A structured environment
The teaching material
In the 3-6 years class, the teacher, in the Montessorian sense of the word, is a guide and mediator who by giving personalized support, is a part of what a child will become. They do not consider themselves as fountains of knowledge whose role it is to pass the learning on and they are not the focal point of the classroom – their presence is discreet and attentive. Their role is above all to observe each child so as to help them gradually become part of the world around them and be independent.
In primary classes, teachers alternate between group lessons and individual work to ensure that everyone progresses to the best of their ability
The environment is an important factor in the development and well-being of children. We strive to give them a pleasant and joyful setting which is adapted to their needs, as well as a calm and peaceful atmosphere which is also lively and fun. The environment has been carefully prepared to “feed” the children’s intelligence by giving them everything they need to assuage their strong need of discovering the world around them. All the materials are arranged in an organised and logical way so children can find their way around largely on their own in organising their work. This independence aims to develop a child’s capacity for self-discipline and concentration but also their willingness and perseverance.
The Montessori material is quite particular in that it has sensory-motor qualities that supports children during their thought processes. By touching the materials, children will gradually become to distinguish, clarify, generalise and move from understanding the world around them mainly from a sensorial and concrete way to understanding it in a more abstract fashion. This material is organised in a very structured fashion, in a logical way that goes from the concrete to the abstract. The concrete materials help children improve their natural learning skills, and they will be best equipped to understand when in future learning situations.
- The teachers' attitude
- A structured environment
- The teaching material
The school activities
The school activities
Art
The art sessions will help children understand very different art forms: drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, exploring a range of techniques and different ways of expressing their sensibilities, developing their perspective and experimenting with the pleasure of creating something. In the elementary classes, this work will be done as much as possible in tandem with guided visits of permanent and temporary museum exhibitions.
Nature
Children will have varied experiences to do with nature from a young age. Discovering, experimenting, learning to be patient and observing, understanding by being in contact with the causes and effects of managing our living space : our vegetable garden.
Sport
The psychomotor and sports sessions allow children to develop their motor skills with the right materials and activities which are adapted to them: hoops, balls, parachutes, collaborative games, courses that encourage coordination, balance, lateralisation, shaping of their bodies.
Classes
- 3-6 years
- Primary
This is one class made up of children whose ages correspond to the “petite”, “moyenne” and “grande” sections of pre-school in the French school system.
The 3-6 age group is an area that has been specifically designed and laid out for young children of this age.
The teaching materials are put out on low shelves and are permanently within reach of a child who wants to explore them at their own pace, choose to take them, handle them according to their tastes and personal interests.
At first, children are accompanied by the teacher who will encourage them to discover things for themselves, then bit by bit express their choices. They can move around the class freely, settle down on a rug with an activity that interests them or sit around a table but also watch other children doing things or just even sit and daydream…
An Example of a Day in the 3-6 Age Group
(excluding daily sessions of music, art, and psychomotricity)
- 8:30am – 9:00 am: Children are greeted individually in the hall: they are taken in hand by one of the staff.
- 9:00 am – 9:15 am : The day starts with different rituals in French or English depending on the day and the needs of the group: saying hello, warming-up exercises, calling the register, saying the date…
- 9:15 am – 11:15 am: Montessori work period: individual personalized activities in both languages, presentation of the teaching materials, small workshops (reading, painting, DIY…)
- 11:15 am – 11:30 am: The children come together for songs, nursery rhymes, telling a story, stories… sometimes in English, sometimes in French.
- 11:30 am -12:30 pm: Lunch. The children serve themselves then clear away and clean their table.
- 12:30 pm -1:30 pm: Playtime in the garden.
- 12:30 pm…: Nap time for the children concerned in the dedicated area. Presence of an adult etc. Continue as is.
- 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm: Personalized Montessori work period on their own or in a group and in both languages.
- 4:00 pm: School ends.
- 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm: After-school care for enrolled children.
The primary classes are combined in one mixed-age class which corresponds to the classes of « CP/CE1/CE2 » and classes “CE2/CM1/CM2” in the French school system.
These draw on the Montessori philosophy for mixed-age groups which encourages children to work independently and allows children to progress at their own pace and learn through experimenting but the Montessori teaching materials are not the only ones used.
So as to help children with the transition to a “traditional” school system, other teaching materials are introduced to the
children as soon as they enter primary classes : worksheets, written exercises in notebooks, classes in small groups and regularly checking the skills and knowledge acquired in the main subjects.
The class is always prepared to encourage independent work that respects the pace of each child.
An Example of a Day in the Primary Classes
(excluding school trips and music/art workshops and sports activities)
- 8:30 am – 9:00 am: Children are greeted individually in the hall by the director. The children go to the classroom on their own where the teacher is waiting for them.
- 9:00 am – 9:15 am: The day starts with different rituals in French and in English: calling the register, date responsibilities.
- 9:15 am – 11:30 am: Montessori work period: generally dedicated to fundamental learning in Maths and French. Group sessions in small groups.
- 11:30am-12:30 pm: Sport activities and playtime in the garden.
- 12:30 pm -1:30 pm: Lunch.
- 1:30 pm -2:00pm: Individual then group reading time.
- 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Time for whole class work in core subjects or in research sub-groups in the various world discovery subjects.
- 4:00 pm: School ends.
- 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm: After-school care for enrolled children.
