Early Years Montessori Department

Castle Park welcomes pupils from age 3+ and provides a rich educational experience for pupils, that prepares them well for when they leave at age 12+ to go onto secondary school. Our Early Years Montessori Department is an important and integral part of the School.

Curriculum

The Early Years Montessori environment, which is registered with IMEB,  ensures that each child is introduced to materials and experiences that help to develop his or her whole personality. They also follow the Irish Primary Curriculum for Junior and Senior Infants.  Reading is introduced using the phonetic approach.  The children are also thoroughly prepared for the Prep Department, in Irish and Mathematics.  Pupils  undertake cross-curricular project work including themes from History, Geography and Science.  They have regular access to the School Library and ICT suite.

The Senior and Pre-Prep children attend a weekly PE session with the Director of Sport and the Pre-Prep also have a weekly swimming lesson as part of their school day.  The younger children may avail of swimming lessons after school.  Music is an important feature of provision and there are weekly lessons with the Director of Music in the well equipped Music Room. Performances of Harvest, Nativity, Spring and Summer concerts are a regular feature of the calendar.

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School Day

The Montessori day begins at 8.50am but if parents need an earlier start, pupils can be looked after from 8am. The Junior pupils  finish school at 12.30pm. The Senior pupils finish at 2.00pm and the Pre-Prep children finish at 3.00pm,  except on Swimming and Library days, when they leave at 3.30pm.   An educational day-care facility is available for all Montessori children where they may stay until 6.30pm. See Day Care for further details.

Organisation

 Pupils may join Castle Park’s Early Years Montessori Department  in September, or January or April if there are places available. The Department has six classes, four of which cater for 3 – 5 year olds and two which prepare the 5 – 6 years olds for entry into the Prep Department. Small class sizes, normally not more than 20 pupils, allow children to benefit from a substantial amount of individual attention.