Oceanside Montessori is settling nicely into their new location and are finally able to take more students.
They had been at capacity in the basement of St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Qualicum Beach but are now licensed for 24 students, 10 more than they currently have.
The new classroom space in the old Bavarian House Restaurant in Errington, has room to spread out the five learning categories: practical, sensorial, cultural, language and math, explained teacher Danielle Gauthier.
Students are free to move around to various learning tools, which Gauthier said they call work instead of play because the children have fun and — almost accidentally — learn a lot. That’s also why they call it school, rather than daycare, for three-year -olds.
The children start with concrete items like blocks, beads or puzzles, which “have error control built in, the blocks only fit in certain holes for example,” she said, “so there’s no need for external error control.”
From the concrete they move toward the more abstract meaning behind things.
They invite everyone to see their new location at 1223 Smithers Road for an open house this Saturday (April 16) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Check their website at www.oceansidemontessorischool.org or call 250-738-0305 (250-951-0305 after the move) for more information.