About Zonkie
Zonkie Montessori is a dynamic, bilingual and multi-cultural pre-school with 35 years of experience, respecting the diverse and rich cultures of our children whilst offering the best educational resources. We are a registered school at the Department of Basic education.
Zonkie Montessori provides an enriching environment that stimulates children’s learning. Children’s natural interests and activities together with formal teaching methods forms part of our curriculum, which is in line with modern day’s needs and requirements.
A Montessori classroom places emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. The tangible and interactive materials in the classroom encourage children to explore the world through their senses, through tactile experiences and movement, and by observing and interacting with their peers. One distinctive aspect of Zonkie’s Montessori education is its hands-on approach, where children engage with specially designed materials, manipulating and investigating until they master the lesson at hand. Our teachers guide students through the curriculum at their own pace, introducing new lessons and allowing children to practice and reinforce their learning. As children progress, the classroom materials evolve to accommodate their growth, allowing older children to delve into the curriculum in more advanced and profound ways towards independence.
We are proud to share in the success stories of some of our children who are now today prominent leaders, engineers, doctors and successful business owners.
We honour our parents and value the relationships with our children’s parents. We share updates on classroom activities, including photos of their child, and facilitates effective communication between parents and educators.
We welcome you to visit us to experience our community and let us know what we can do for your child. We create experiences, friendships, learning opportunities and memories together.
Our Mission
- To approach each child in a unique manner, allowing them to reach their full potential.
- Provide a safe secure and stimulating environment, where learning is fun.
- To prepare our children for formal learning years, academically and socially.
- Foster a sense of self-discipline, confidence and pride in themselves and in their environment.
- Encourage maximum participation and loyalty from all the children, parents and staff.
Why Montessori education?
Montessori education is recognised internationally as a merited educational method.
For more than a century now, the child-focused approach that Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, developed for educating children, has been transforming schools around the globe. Two important mental structures of Montessori education are Sensitive Periods and the Absorbent Mind.
What is Sensitive Period? Why is it so important?
The Sensitive Periods she describes in The Secret of Childhood, “When some of these psychic passions die away, other flames are kindled and so infancy passes from conquest to conquest; in continuous vital vibrancy, which we have called its joy and simplicity.” That is why, at particular epochs of their life, they reveal an intense and extraordinary interest in certain objects and exercises, which one might look for in vain at a large age.” During developmental “primetimes,” neurons can create synapses most easily and efficiently. These periods have traditionally been referred to as “Sensitive Periods.”
These Sensitive Periods correspond with a child’s development of movement, language, sensory perceptions, and sense of order.
What is the Absorbent Mind? Why is it so important?
In Dr. Montessori’s books, she labelled the child’s mind as the Absorbent Mind.
She described how an infant/child’s mind takes in all the sensorial and emotional data present in the environment without filtering or prioritizing.
Dr Montessori said that this means the brain is literally creating itself and its knowledge from the absorbed experiences. If this is the time when the brain is most active in creating synaptic connections, then parents and educators must be sensitive to the first six years of the child’s life as the foundation upon which all further learning is built.