Kelly’s Bay Montessori is a private part-time and sessional childcare facility owned by Cheryl Boardman. The purpose of this service is to provide affordable, accessible, high quality early education and care to young children in our community in an inviting warm environment.
We are open from 8.15am–5.15pm, Monday to Friday. We offer morning sessions from 9.15am-12.15pm (Classes 1 & 2) with an optional extra of morning clubs from 8.15am-9.15am and afternoon clubs from 12.15pm-1.15pm. Our 2 afternoon sessions run from 1.30pm-4.30pm (Class 3 & 4) with an optional extra of afterschool club for these two classes from 4.30pm-5.15pm. We are open for 38 weeks per year for ECCE and 50 weeks per year for NCS (we run camps throughout the year outside of the ECCE calendar, 9am-1pm).
We cater for 40 children at any time, aged between 2 ½ and 5 ½ years old whom are required to be toilet trained.
Kelly’s Bay Montessori supports each child reach their full learning potential in a safe, secure and stimulating environment. Our aim is to support each child in their overall development in these formative years. We will do this through a quality curriculum and stimulating environment facilitated by our dedicated Early Years Educators.
We offer an open door policy which means we pride ourselves in sustaining open lines of communication between parents, carers, the child and ourselves. We always take into consideration the needs and opinions of parents/carers as a paramount part in maintaining a happy healthy environment and relationships for all involved in the child’s welfare.
We are proud to adopt the Montessori approach. The classrooms are called “prepared environments” where children a given an array of stimulating learning and purposeful activities. The children follow a set programme of tasks or exercises.
They learn everyday life skills such as dressing themselves, washing themselves etc. They learn social graces and manners but also cover a wide range of subjects including Mathematics, Reading and Writing, History and Geography, Science, Sensorial, Music, Irish, Art, Drama.
Children attending our school have access to a variety of play and learning spaces. During Montessori work time your child will learn about the world around them using specially designed Montessori materials. Depending on the day our schedule is broken up into Montessori work time, Free Play, Snack time, Outdoor play, Art & Crafts, Songs, Stories, Group work and Circle time.
We have a wonderful outdoor play area which is constantly being developed and added to depending on the emerging interests of the children and the time of year. We endeavor to allow the children as much freedom as possible with a certain amount of risk.
Outdoor play develops coordination, imagination, gross motor skills, confidence and agility, which in turn play a vital role in children’s mental learning and concentration.
Parents can avail of two schemes if they wish their children to attend our school. They are the ECCE and NCS.
The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme provides early childhood care and education for children of pre-school age. The scheme is offered in early years settings (pre-schools, Montessori’s, creches, playgroups) for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, 38 weeks of the year. All children are entitled to 2 full academic years on the ECCE scheme.
The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) is a new scheme that provides financial support to help parents to meet the costs of childcare. The NCS will replace all existing targeted childcare support programmes and the current universal childcare subsidy by 2021. It gives financial support towards the cost of childcare for the hours spent outside of pre-school or school.
The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a child-centred model, involving 7 levels of progressive support, moving from universal to the targeted, based on the needs of the child and the pre-school provider. AIM is designed to enable children who may require additional supports to access and fully participate in the ECCE.
https://www.gov.ie.en/publication/2459ee-early-chilldhood-care-and-education-programme-ecce/
