Enrolment Options & Parent Contributions

5 Options for Families to Choose From
First 20 HOURS FREE for all 3,4 & 5 year olds until 6

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PREBOOKINGS OPEN FOR 2023, 2024 & 2025. Please prebook to secure your place

Montessori 3-6 is committed to our mission of making Montessori, FREE accessible and affordable to families throughout the Bay.  

How can my child access Montessori 3-6 and use the Ministry of Education 20 ECE Subsidy?

Your first 20 hours are completely FREE if your children are 3, 4 or 5 until the day before they turn 6. You simply attest 20 hours to us on your enrolment form. Everyone is entitled regardless of your income level.  We do not have optional charges for our high adult:child ratios, language assistants or sunscreen. We are purposely small to ensure we can build close relationships so our roll is limited to 30.


How do you help settle my child and our family into your Montessori 3-6 community?

 All children have at least three transition visits with their family before starting so our teaching team get to know your child, their interests, strengths and needs. You contribute to goals for Outdoors, Literacy, Numeracy, Pracitical Life, Sensorial, Te Reo and Spanish. Four times per year we also open on a Saturday or Sunday so family and grandparents can visit and catch up with teachers and see the progress being made. Children lead their learning. Parents working or studying fulltime love Discovery Journeys at the weekends so they have the opportunity to observe their child having fun, learning alongside their friends and can be fully involved in goals and contributing to photo albums.

How can I best prepare my child for primary school?
We recommend our PREP FOR SCHOOL programme.  Dinah leads this option and is both primary and early childhood trained and has over 18 years experience in Montessori education. It operates from 8.30 to 2.30 or 11.30 to 5.30pm daily, 30 hours per week.  Over time children develop their knowledge of sounds which is the foundation for future reading, they learn to count, group, sort, locate, sequence, add and read clocks which are all essential early maths skills. Every child has goals based on their needs and 1:1 time with the team to help them progress.  We get great feedback from families and New Entrant teachers, especially with children being independent, articulate, with many flying through their reading levels.  Allowing time for children to progress at their own pace is paramount and if children have had development delays or speech delays they can stay on at Montessori 3-6 until they are ready to transition to school.  Children who go to the Montessori Primary Class leave us the day before their 6th birthday.  We usually have five or six children staying on beyond five and envisage this growing as the government introduces cohort entry in primary schools.

My child is not yet three, can they still start?

Yes, if they show signs of readiness. For health & safety reasons it is important they have stopped mouthing small items and are at the stage of exploring with their hands, not their mouths. They need to be ready to leave mum or dad and parents need to be ready to let them develop a sense of self through independence. Families can start by booking a tour and if they like what we offer we book a 1:1 so one of our team can assess readiness. Siblings of existing children or Alumni are often ready earlier as they are used to our environment and know our teaching team well already. We help transition children still in nappies. We limit children not yet three to a maximum of six children to ensure great support for the youngest members of our Montessori 3-6 community.  We offer 8.30 to 11.30 for children who like to go home for lunch and still need an afternoon sleep.  Alternatively we have a 2.30 to 5.30pm option for families that have other morning activities or for parents that also have older children at primary school who they like to spend some quality time with.
Some children are very independent and have stopped their afternoon sleeps before they turned two and are ready for more so may enrol straight into our Prep for School options if they show signs of readiness.  Vicki Thomson leads our morning programme and has responsibility for goals and albums for morning children.

 Is there FLEXIBILITY with Early Starts or Later Finishes?
We can accommodate  7.45am starts for families who start work at 8am. We may be able to help those needing longer on certain days or one-off occasions. Hours over and above the first 20 FREE for 3, 4 & 5 year olds will be charged at $10 per hour (without WINZ). Planned changes to enrolled hours require two weeks notice and must be made on the original enrolment forms and signed and dated as per Ministry rules.


All children are enrolled 5 days for consistency as per the National Montessori Journey to Excellence
This helps children establish friendships and routines and gives them time to develop their independence and learn at their own pace. Montessori 3-6 offers a 3 year Montessori education programme which is inclusive of the Principles of Te Whāriki, the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum. Three of our team are Primary and ECE trained so children can stay until the day before their 6th birthday and have their learning challenged and extended with great ratios that exceed the 1:10 ratio.

4 Weeks Notice
If families are moving written notice must be given 4 weeks before the intended departure date to allow us to transition a family from our waiting list. It is illegal to have children enrolled for the same hours in two services and claiming the 20 hour subsidy so please be mindful to give 4 weeks notice.

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