Ecole La Marelle

 Our school is located in Chêne-Bourg, close to the French border and welcomes children from all backgrounds. If you're interested in Montessori pedagogy, regular nature and farm outings and a small, friendly structure, we'd be delighted to meet you for an individual interview and a tour of the school!

A child is a human being in the making, under construction, and must draw from his environment everything he needs at the different stages of his development. To achieve this, it is necessary to give children freedom of action.
Children must be able to exercise their choice freely in their activities, according to their sensitive period and desire.

Thus, ambiance is the answer given by Maria Montessori to children to enable them to have autonomous activity and optimum psychic and intellectual construction. It's all about giving the child the indispensable foundations for the development of his thinking, his future social being and allowing him to move in freedom.

The adult is constantly evolving too, adjusting his behavior according to each child and is responsible for instating a climate of joy and freedom so that the child is in the best possible learning dispositions.

Children aged 3 to 6: Help me to do things on my own

In a Montessori environment, children are in mixed-age groups, a sine qua non condition for ensuring good group homogeneity. A "natural mental osmosis" is created between them, as Maria Montessori put it.

There is no spirit of competition or jealousy, but rather a spirit of mutual help and respect, of love, admiration and enthusiasm. Mutual stimulation is created.

A micro-society is formed, with its own rules and rights. The child, from age three to six, is "a social embryo". Maria Montessori says that this society, created before the age of six, is a society of cohesion, "a society of little children guided by the magical powers of nature" The absorbing mind.

So every child has a place in a Montessori environment. They find everything they need to develop and grow in harmony. He advances at his own pace, thanks to individualized teaching, without fear of the adult's gaze or that of his peers.
Children with high intellectual potential, or not, are welcome in a Montessori atmosphere

Children aged 6 to 12: Help me think for myself

At six, the child becomes a social newborn and develops a gregarious instinct.

At the end of cycle 3-6, Montessorian children have undergone a learning process based on self-confidence and self-esteem. Their knowledge, acquired at a sensory level, has enabled them to grasp concepts, difficult for their age but not out of reach.
They have also developed a sense of the group, its culture, its strength and are ready to integrate another group, aware of their status as a member of the group and the position they can have within it.

This is why it's important to be able to offer them the opportunity to continue their learning under the same conditions. They must be able to continue to be free in their choices, to use sensory material to access abstraction.
Their mind is then described as "a mind that understands" by Maria Montessori.

The children are thus led to become autonomous and responsible for their work, on a weekly basis, thanks to roadmaps that provide them with time markers.
The teacher is also at the heart of this process and does a weekly review with the child to prepare this sheet.

Recommendations...

We recommend that you read up on Montessori pedagogy, as it is very important that teachers and parents act together for the well-being of your child.

Our team puts all its knowledge at the service of your child's mind and we consider him or her to be a being in his or her own right, capable of autonomy and reflection. That's why no toys, costumes or pacifiers are allowed. A "cuddly toy" may make it easier for him to get used to our class in the early stages.

In the same vein, parents are not allowed in the classroom and are asked to stay outside. From the 2nd trimester onwards, it is recommended that children be allowed to dress and undress themselves, in line with their capacities for autonomy and self-confidence, as established at school throughout the day.

Reviews are offered with parents on an individual basis each trimester. It is also possible to speak with teachers by appointment throughout the year. There is no daily assessment of children's progress.

With due respect for the traditions and beliefs of each individual, the school aims to be free from any religious, political, intellectual or philosophical movement, in order to maintain its independence and freedom of action with regard to the educational project.