All Maria's Babies Society programmes, while incorporating a variety ofteaching goals and methods, are unified by a common theme: our respect forthe humanity of each individual. While beliefs may vary between cultures andgenerations, we feel that a concern for the value and dignity of all human beings is a unchanging element in any successful educational endeavor.Therefore, we attempt to incorporate all the components of a widely-based curriculum into our larger aim: to equip our pupils to form loving and meaningful relationships with one another, their families and communities,and an increasingly impersonal world.

Accordingly, an essential element of all our programmes is the encouragement of healthy lifestyle choices, as well as considerate behaviour and speech,in all pupils. This is accomplished through an emphasis on a structured daily routine and good manners. It must be pointed out, however, that our true aim in doing this is to develop the inner caring, both for one's self and others, that is later reflected in outward acts.

This is not something that children can be drilled in; rather, we aim to provide them with positive examples to model their behaviour on, as well as praise and reinforcement as they develop these sensibilities at their own pace.

Another defining characteristic of the Maria's Babies Society programme is our reliance upon specialist subject teachers to enrich our general curriculum. In addition to providing practical stimulus to the young child's senses and imagination through daily tasks and activities, we make use of individual professional competencies to encourage our pupils' aesthetic development through art, music and rythmique classes. In this way, we are able to guarantee the highest level of quality in teaching, as well as greater attention to meeting our pupils' educational needs in diverse areas.

We offer a scaled and structured curriculum designed to suit each level of development, drawing upon a rich variety of resources and teaching aids. The yearly learning objectives for our programmes are based on British national curriculum, and are then tailored to meet the needs of Maria's Babies Society pupils and teachers.

Our in-house, thematically-based curriculum workshop is divided into 16 2-3 week sections. Each month the children concentrate on particular letters/sounds connected to specially-chosen themes.

The aim of our in-house curriculum is that the children complete the entire alphabet in one academic year (some months 3 letters will be covered). The letter is taught first as a phonic sound, as the phonics approach has proven to be an effective methods for teaching new readers. Alternatively, reading skills are developed through the use of the Oxford Reading Tree scheme. Please inquire at the school office to further discuss curriculum and learning objectives.

Our scaled progress recording accurately assess the many areas of your child's development, reinforcing our goals of assisting parents in the raising of happy, well-rounded children. Pupils will be evaluated three times a year, once-termly. This will be followed by a parent-teacher meeting, in order to measure their mastery of an increasingly complex range of tasks related to specific academic and social skills and cognitive recognition, and to track their development through following years of study in the school. Younger children will be assessed for healthy physical and emotional development as well as the growth of motor, sensory and language skills. Evaluations for older children will be completed in the academic areas, based on the school's yearly learning objectives, as well as in the specialist areas such as Art and Rhythmique.

These progress records are intended to measure the development of the whole child, reflecting our commitment to provide children not only with content-based learning, but a comprehensive aesthetic and moral education as well. They further provide parents with detailed information about their child's strengths, as well as the areas in which they may require additional support to develop their fullest potential.

In order to properly assess pupils, Progress Recording will only be done when the child has attended a complete term from the beginning. If a pupil is absent more than one month during a term, Progress Recording will not be completed during that term.

At Maria's Babies Society, we focus on the education of the whole child: intellectual, social, emotional and artistic. We emphasize the development of two streams of learning. The first leads the child to learn how to communicate through verbal and written language, using mediums such as reading, science, mathematics and of course, second-language acquisition. The second nurtures the young child's creativity and self-awareness, and teaches them the ways in which they may communicate with and understand others through art and music.

We are strongly convinced that creative, artistic communication can best be achieved by exposing the young child to professional artists and their work. The specialist teachers that we employ to lead the children in Art, Violin, and Rythmique classes are not only excellent instructors but also excellent artists in their own right. By exposing pupils to a high standard of excellence in art-making, we encourage them to develop a high level of aesthetic skill and appreciation.

The goal of the art classes is to encourage children to develop confidence and spontaneity in creating their own works of art. The curriculum is developed and implemented by a specialist teacher to include both theme-based "Weekly Craft" activities and basic skills training classes, which develop children's competency in skills such as cutting, gluing and painting. Children in all groups take part in art classes, undertaking group and individual tasks according to their abilities. Pupil's art work is displayed and the children are constantly surrounded with their own creations, which are incorporated in the decoration of the school's classrooms and play areas.

We hold the violin in very high regard at Maria’s Babies Society. Through years of experience, we have observed that violin practice sustained for a long period of time does much more than simply helping a child become a good at playing the violin. The child also develops skills and attitudes that lead to success in other areas of life. While younger children benefit from the stimulation of listening to the violin, it is when they get a little older that we begin to see the benefits of dedicated practice. We encourage parents who want their child to succeed beyond a beginner level to consistently attend the child’s weekly violin lesson at school and also set a reasonable but regular practice schedule at home.

The underlying goal of our violin programme is simple, but it is of the utmost importance to the children’s future success. The goal is for children to learn, gradually over a long period of time, that there is simply no substitute for diligent practice if you want to do something well. We trust that this attitude towards learning will stay with them as they grow and will be a valuable asset as they encounter new challenges and experiences later in life. Immersing children in the rich musical environment provided at our school has an effect similar to that of being raised in the home of a musician. Children listen to live performances by musicians as a regular part of their daily life, and this provides the rare and exceptional conditions under which children can develop a refined ear for music and an excellent musical sense from a very young age.

The goal of the Rythmique classes is to use music as an aid to the physical and mental development of the young child. Through musical stimulation, pupils are motivated to express their feelings in a spontaneous manner, while they learn to employ their imagination, creativity and active listening skills in responding to a variety of musical styles, rhythms and tempos.

This class is concerned with pupil's growth in a holistic sense, including the areas of concentration, reflexes, self-confidence and intuition. These skills are later employed in mastering the essential communicative competencies of reading and writing, as well as in many other facets of daily life. Finally, it is good, healthy fun, and a chance for the children to release some of their energy and love for life.

Children take an active part in group cooking activities once a week. Teachers select simple recipes that do not require large amounts of advance preparation, allowing the children the opportunity to learn how to weigh and measure ingredients themselves. We aim for recipes that emphasize healthy ingredients, a low sugar content and short cooking time so that children can sample their efforts on the same day.

It is our privilege to provide live classical music for the children five times a week. Our professional violin teachers give mini-concerts during the snack time or collecting time. As well, to encourage personal growth and display a job well done, we often select children to perform music for their peers.

Taking the British National Curriculum as our academic base, Maria's Babies Society nonetheless believes in a process of ongoing programme development. One result of the continuing evolution of our curriculum has been the creation of original textbooks and workbooks. These include the My Book Method Text for phonics, The Kore Nani Book (kanji) for Japanese hiragana, and My Cooking Book for our cooking classes. All books have been written at an age-appropriate level, contain professionally drawn art work, and are laid out in an easy-to-understand manner. Lessons and activities in our texts are designed to incorporate logical problem solving, thought and analysis in an enjoyable, "hands on" way.

Mother's Giving Club

Maria's Babies Society Mother's Giving Club provides a further contact point between school and home. A schedule of meetings and events is drawn up early in the New Year by the coordinating mothers, who are elected at the end of the previous calendar year.

We work together on charity fund-raising activities and at the same time form friendships and support networks and share cultural exchange.