Every young child wants to learn. From our Preschool on, we encourage children's inquisitiveness about their world. A child's enthusiasm for learning need not diminish as they grow older. "Will he or she still be a bright student at 16?" was one the the questions we asked in our first prospectus in 1981. Now we can answer that question – most definitely YES.

The Lower School comprises Parent & Toddlers from age 18 months, Pre-School, Infant and Junior classes to age 11 years. It encompasses a well-defined curriculum with specific skills and knowledge gained at each level.

From Parents & Toddlers through Infants classes, Montessori materials are utilised. Furniture, equipment, games, classroom materials, and teaching methods are all designed to familiarise the child with his environment and teach how things work in the child's life. Children learn to complete actions including putting things away and clearing up. Progress is closely monitored and new tasks introduced as earlier skills are mastered.

Monitoring Student Progress

Progress Boards in each subject are kept by the teachers and are updated weekly. Progress Boards are advantageous in two major ways:

• they show the minimum standard that all students are expected to achieve that year in each of their subjects

  And

• they display in any given week during the year where that student should be on each subject toward his end of year requirements.

This gives teachers and parents the information needed to set or adjust the students' pace of progress.

Parents are encouraged to see the progress boards frequently. This allows parents to take a much more active and informed role as they follow the progress of their child, supervise homework and help ensure it is done on schedule. With this information available every week, parents do not have to experience any unexpected surprises at the end of a term.

Holding the Standards

Upon completion of selected requirements the student is tested for application of the materials studied. Testing is done by and in our Qualifications Division independently for major section completions and in the class for basic sections, in a way that ensures the student knows and understands the subject studied and didn't just memorise facts for an exam. Testing detects any areas of uncertainty or confusion, which can then be addressed individually with the student.

The Qualifications Division also provides additional and individual care, using the tools of Study Technology to resolve any difficulties a student may have.

The overall aim in the Qualifications Division is to confirm that each student fully understands and can apply what has been studied, that the standard of teaching and instruction is supporting the students, adding educational value and empowering learning so that the school maintains a superior standard of education, results and care.