“We are the sowers – our children are those who reap. We labor so that future generations will be better and nobler than we are.”
– Maria Montessori
A warm welcome to Growing Minds Montessori Childcare. We have two homely settings; one in Barnton, a family friendly village a couple of miles from Northwich town centre and one in Tarporley, conveniently located next to Delamere CofE Primary School.
Growing Minds Montessori Childcare was founded by husband and wife, Stephen and Debra, following the success of their childminding business. While childminding Debra studied Early Years Education in Montessori Pedagogy.
We have healthy, nutritious meals and snacks freshly prepared by our cooks. Children are nurtured by practitioners who use a gentle approach, and they learn and develop in a safe and stimulating ‘home from home’ environment.
We follow the EYFS curriculum and statutory guidelines with the added benefit of following the Montessori approach to learning and development. Our approach is child focused and very high quality. The rooms are prepared with development milestones in mind, so children reach their full potential independently and at their own pace. Children have a natural inner motivation to learn and our resources ensure children make the most of that absorbent state of mind. In the preschool rooms most of the resources are a little bit different to those found in regular nurseries. They were designed by Maria Montessori, who was a pioneer in early years education. Her philosophy and method of teaching were based on her scientific studies. We still have modern day resources too, such as technology, many children’s favourite books, a mud kitchen and allotment for growing food.
Please come and visit us! The nurseries have a great atmosphere; they are calm welcoming even when there are children busy playing.
Where it all started:
Before opening Growing Minds Childcare Debbie and Steve started as childminders from their own home!
(This is a tiny snippet of old photos!)
About Montessori
“It is not true that I invented what is called the Montessori Method. I have studied the child, I have taken what the child has given me and expressed it, and that is what is called the Montessori Method.”
– Maria Montessori
Montessori is a method of education developed by Dr. Maria Montessori. It is a child-centered educational approach based on scientific observations of children from birth to adulthood. Maria Montessori’s Method has been used for over 100 years in many parts of the world.
It is a view of the child as one who is naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a supportive, thoughtfully prepared learning environment. It is an approach that values the human spirit and the development of the whole child—physical, social, emotional, cognitive. Maria Montessori believed that children who are at liberty to choose and act freely within an environment prepared according to her model would act spontaneously for optimal development.
Montessori education involves free activity within a “prepared environment”, meaning an educational environment tailored to basic human characteristics, to the specific characteristics of children at different ages, and to the individual personalities of each child. The function of the environment is to help and allow the child to develop independence in all areas according to his or her inner psychological directives.