Squirrels Leap Nursery School has carefully created a learning environment that stimulates learning and independence.
Our teaching philosophy
A large part of our teaching choices and principles are Montessori based, this leads to a system of education which is both a philosophy of child development and a motivation for guiding such growth. It is based on two important developmental needs of children:
- The need for freedom within limits.
- A carefully prepared environment which guarantees exposure to materials and experiences.
This system of education is designed to take full advantage of the child’s desire to learn and their unique ability to develop their own capabilities. Our learning environment will help the child to develop physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally.
Children choose their activities from open shelves with self-correcting materials and work in distinct work areas – on tables or on rugs on the floor.
The practical life exercises enhance the development of task organization and cognitive order through care of self, care of the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and refinement of physical movement and coordination.
The sensorial materials enable the child to order, classify and describe sensory impressions in relation, length, width, temperature, mass, colour, etc.
The Montessori maths materials, through concrete manipulative lessons, allow the child to grasp the concepts of numbers, symbols, sequence, operations and memorising basic facts.
The language work includes oral language development, written expression, reading, and the study of grammar, creative dramatics and children’s literature. Basic skills in writing and reading are developed through the use of sandpaper letters (loose alphabet letters) and various presentations, allowing children to effortlessly link sounds and symbols and to express their thoughts in writing and drawing.
Our School day
Squirrels Leap Nursery School welcomes children from the age of 2. Children younger than 2 may secure their place by completing the paperwork, paying the registration fee and may start no sooner than on the day of their 2nd birthday, which needs to be no later than on the first day of 2nd Term.
In line with our staggered start at the beginning of the academic year, new joiners in the younger class will be given a start date. Depending on the amount of new joiners this usually spans a period of no more than 2 weeks after the official school’s start date
You are welcome to start dropping off your little squirrels from 8.00am. Our Regular Day starts at 9am and ends at 12.30pm and those attending the Extended Day will end at 2:30pm Monday to Thursday and 2:00pm on Fridays
We run our school terms very closely to the Western Cape School Calendar, dates will be given to you upon commencement at Squirrels leap Nursery School and revised if necessary, should dates change.
Something special
- An Extended day of learning.
- The extended day is open to all Squirrels which will allow so much more to be achieved during the day, not only for the Squirrels themselves but particularly busy parents and those with older siblings who finish school later in the day..
- Lunch, a nap, craft, free play, dancing, singing and exercise will be incorporated into these additional hours in the afternoon, led by 2 of Squirrels Leap’s teachers.
- Because Squirrels Leap Nursery School and Simply Swimming swim school share the same property, we are delighted to offer your child a weekly swimming lesson. This offer is only available to children 3yrs and older, this is purely for safety reasons. Swimming will start at the beginning of February and finish at the end of November.
- Playball is included in our weekly schedule as an optional activity to our Squirrels. Playball is a leading sport and movement program incorporating the development of Life Skills through Sport Skills. The cost is payable termly directly to Playball.
- During the July and December school holidays we offer special holiday programs, details of which will be shared in advance.
- At no extra charge, we have a medical and permanent disability insurance policy covering every child in the event of an accident. Policy information is available upon request.
