About Little Seeds

Little Seeds was born out of a desire to share the wonders of the Montessori method and a passion for early years education with as many children as possible. Our doors opened in June 2021 at the Bovingdon Baptist Church in Bovingdon, West Herts.

Owner and teacher Angie de Mink is an experienced mother to four children and a qualified Montessori and early years teacher. She has worked in Motessori Pre schools in the UK and South Africa, prior to opening Little Seeds.

We are extremely passionate about Montessori and about working with small children, being able to combine the two is immensely rewarding. We are in the privileged position of being able to guide these wonderful little beings on their first journey through education and have the huge honor of watching them progress, grow and flourish under that guidance.

We believe our interactions with children should always be guided by love, kindness, empathy and a desire to encourage children towards self belief and independence in all that they do. These beliefs are perfectly represented by the Montessori ethos of follow the child and not doing for a child that which they can do for themselves.

All of our staff at Little Seeds hold paediatric first aid and enhanced DBS certificates. Staff are either Montessori teacher or assistant qualified and undertake regular professional development training including being SEN and therapeutic approaches to behaviour informed. We are passionate about the importance of our role and the impact we have in children's lives and learning and development.

Our School Day

The Routine

8.30 am - Arrival for early risers
9.00 am - Arrival for all other children
9.00 am - 11.45 am - work period - children choose and are guided towards activities from the environment.
11.45 am - 12.00 pm - Social circle time
12.00 - 12.30pm - Outside time
12.30pm - 1.30 pm - Lunch time
1.30 pm - 2.00 pm - Afternoon activity
2.30pm - 3.00pm - Outside time until collection at 3 - 3.30pm
Afternoon activities: Mon: Interactive Story Time, Tues: Special Craft, Weds am: Forest School, Thurs: Music, Fri: yoga and food preparation.

The Curriculum

The Montessori curriculum comprises the following areas:

Practical Life - activities that teach practical skills but also work to refine fine and gross motor skills and hand eye coordination to prepare your child's body for all that they will do moving forward.
Sensorial - activities that isolate and refine your child's senses particularly visual discrimination, touch and auditory discrimination. Foundational maths is delivered using sensorial materials.
Literacy - encompassing language, reading, understanding, listening and speaking.
Maths - working with numbers, space, shape and measure. The concrete nature of the Montessori materials means children can work from recognition of numbers to adding into the thousands during their pre-school and nursery years.
Understanding the World - covering Culture, Science, History, Geography, Botany and zoology.
Art - to include music and movement and all other forms of expression.

The Teaching Method

Montessori is taught one on one or in very small groups.
The teacher acts as a guide to the child inviting the child to do and demonstrating activities that are developmentally appropriate and of interest.
The teacher is responsible for preparing the environment so that it interests, engages and challenges children within it.
The teacher observes, assesses and plans activities that help each child progress.
Children are of mixed ages so that teaching occurs between younger and older children
Montessori offered alongside the EYFS 7 areas of learning and development and in line with the key worker system.