The prepared environment
The main pillars of the Montessori Palau educational project, based on the Montessori Educational Method, are:
The prepared environment
This term refers to physical spaces, to people with whom the pupils build relationships, to proposals for developmental activities and to the guidelines that govern their implementation.
The environments are designed differently, according to age, in order to meet the specific needs of the children. The class environment is managed by the students themselves, designed so that they can feel ownership of the classroom, and where dynamics of the classroom becomes their natural habitat.
The Infant Education prepared environment
For the youngest students, until they are 2 ½ years old, the classrooms at Montessori Palau Girona are 200 m2, and from 2 ½ to 6 years, the classrooms are 100 m2. All of these, with their natural outdoor environments, are equipped with materials tailored to the child, arranged in a specific and precise order and with a design that arouses the child’s interest and sensitivity. This atmosphere is similar to that of the home. The classrooms include all the material for the Montessori method. The opportunities for movement within the classroom are aimed at refinement, which will be used to acquire the abstract concepts of knowledge of the environment and for all other areas of the curriculum.
The Primary Education prepared environment
Montessori Palau Girona has large classrooms with both Montessori materials and those of our own design, laboratory spaces and multimedia materials that allow access to all fields of knowledge, with specific areas defined for personal and educational development. Also forming part of this environment are the woods, the kitchen garden and the farm, along with the school and the wider society which, through cultural outings, helps to understand the functioning of the world.
The Secondary Education prepared environment
All classrooms and areas are equipped with the latest information and communication technologies to support the educational method.
The classrooms for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years of ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education) are 200 m2, each equipped with a kitchen and laboratory and individual services in order to create a diverse work environment, to allow work in cooperative groups and to manage learning. This environment promotes the initiative, autonomy and responsibility of the student
For the 4th year of ESO and the baccalaureate, classrooms are specialized and are focused on deepening the understanding of each subject. The environment allows students to work autonomously, in a team in the common areas and to consolidate their social personality and identity.
Also forming part of this learning environment are the other areas of the school, the surrounding society and the real world. Therefore, many activities in these courses are carried out outside the School itself and there are visits from various specialists in different fields.
