CURRICULUM AND METHOD
Ambleside School of Durban offers a formal curriculum for students from Grade R to Grade 5, and an informal curriculum for pre-school and after-school care.
Developed over 20 years by Ambleside Schools International, the rich and diverse curriculum is based on the philosophy and collected works of Charlotte Mason.
As the children mature, the curricula they encounter broadens and deepens, moving beyond fundamental skills to advanced works that prepares them to cultivate a rich intellectual life, regardless of their post-secondary paths.
PROSPECTUS
PRE-GRADES
Play
Practical Life
Foundation for Numbers
Foundation for Letters
Seasonal readings
Seasonal art
Recitation
Nature Study
Froebels
PRIMARY GRADES
Mathematics
Phonics
Grammer
Handwriting
Transcription/Dictation
Literature
Tales & Fables
Afrikaans
History
Science
Bible
Poetry
Recitations
Composer Study
Picture Study
Nature Study
Handwork
Read Aloud
Sport
Art
Citizenship
Education is...
...A DISCIPLINE
Charlotte Mason understood – long before sophisticated imaging technology confirmed it – that the physical brain is shaped by its experiences. Thus Ambleside teachers help students cultivate discipline in the form of habits proper to learning and mature living. They work alongside families, equipping students to live full, satisfying lives and practicing the following habits:
Attention
Narration
Careful approach to work
Obedience to proper authority
Mature relationships with others
Critical thinking
Generous spirit
Reverence
Courtesy
Physical fitness
Moral fitness
...A DISCIPLINE
Charlotte Mason understood – long before sophisticated imaging technology confirmed it – that the physical brain is shaped by its experiences. Thus Ambleside teachers help students cultivate discipline in the form of habits proper to learning and mature living. They work alongside families, equipping students to live full, satisfying lives and practicing the following habits:
Attention
Narration
Careful approach to work
Obedience to proper authority
Mature relationships with others
Critical thinking
Generous spirit
Reverence
Courtesy
Physical fitness
Moral fitness
...AN ATMOSPHERE
Students are welcomed into an atmosphere of beauty and inspiration. Classroom furniture is the work of craftsmen. Natural light filters into the classroom. Children observe birds feeding outside classroom windows. Walls display old masters’ works, wise sayings, maps of faraway places, and nature objects.
At Ambleside students encounter the past and present, the awe and wonder of science and mathematics, the frailty and nobility of humankind, the ebb and flow of life, and the relationships between authority and obedience. And – free from the burden of competing for ranks, grades or prizes – they learn for the joy of learning.
Ambleside teachers cultivate an atmosphere that nurtures:
Joy and belonging
Relationships that include, rather than exclude
Culture that transcends fads
Pursuit of, and love for, knowledge
Wonder
Delight in work and in the struggle to grow
Effort and enjoyment of effort’s fruit
Rigor, challenge, and an opportunity to meet mind to mind
Variety in work, conversation and focus
...A DISCIPLINE
Charlotte Mason understood – long before sophisticated imaging technology confirmed it – that the physical brain is shaped by its experiences. Thus Ambleside teachers help students cultivate discipline in the form of habits proper to learning and mature living. They work alongside families, equipping students to live full, satisfying lives and practicing the following habits:
Habits of Attention
Habits of Thinking
Habits of Imagining
Habits of Remembering
Habits of Obedience to Proper
Authority
Habits of Careful Approach to
Work and Perfect Excecution
Habits of a Generous spirit
Habits of Truthfulness
Habits of Courtesy
Habits of physical fitness
...A LIFE
Charlotte Mason believed that minds are nourished when they engage ideas – the best thought of the best minds. These life-giving ideas exist in the “thought atmosphere” that surrounds students; they breathe these ideas as their bodies breathe life-giving air.
Today much of what passes as education is actually data and technique, assessed by quizzes and tests. Real learning happens when students engage novelists, poets, philosophers, scientists, mathematicians, artists, musicians, historians, and explorers. Real learning happens when students wonder, ask why, and see how. Minds need ideas to grow. Ideas are the seeds in the child’s mind. As they germinate, others emerge, and a whole crop springs up from just one morning’s sowing.
Living books and living things
“Worthy thought and worthy work”
Times of silence and reflection
Narration and discussion that promote assimilation of ideas