Why We Are Extending Montessori to Grades 1 and 2
For years, our children have left the Montessori House at six and moved straight into Grade 1. Watching them, we kept asking ourselves a simple question: what if the Montessori years didn’t stop there? From 2027–28, they won’t. We are extending Montessori into Grades 1 and 2. We call it Lower Elementary.
Why six is not the end of Montessori
Many people think of Montessori as a preschool method. It isn’t. Dr Maria Montessori designed a full elementary programme for children aged six to twelve, because she saw that children of this age change in important ways.
A six-year-old is no longer content to know what. They want to know why. Why does the moon change shape? Where did numbers come from? Who decided the rules? They begin to think in big ideas, enjoy working with friends, and care deeply about what is fair.
Montessori elementary is built for exactly this stage. Instead of breaking learning into small pieces too early, it starts with the big picture and lets children investigate the details for themselves.
What Lower Elementary looks like
- Hands-on, still. Children keep working with concrete materials, such as bead chains for multiplication or grammar symbols for sentence structure, until an idea is truly understood. Then they move to paper.
- Driven by curiosity. Lessons often begin with a story or a question, and children follow it into research, writing, maths and art.
- Deeper, not lighter. The Montessori elementary curriculum is rich and demanding. Children often go further in maths and language than a textbook would ask at their age.
- Working together. Small groups plan, research and present together, building the confidence to explain their thinking.
What stays the same
Lower Elementary does not replace the ICSE curriculum. It is the way ICSE is delivered for children continuing on the Montessori pathway. All scholastic subjects continue, along with every ECA: sport, music, dance, theatre, gardening and more. Nothing is taken away. What changes is how children learn: with more hands-on work, more depth and more room to ask questions.
Every Lower Elementary teacher undergoes Montessori elementary training. Teaching six- to eight-year-olds the Montessori way is its own skill, and we want our teachers fully prepared for it.
A stronger foundation for Grade 3
Grades 1 and 2 are when children build the foundations everything else rests on: reading fluently, understanding numbers, writing their own ideas, and learning how to learn. If these are rushed, gaps appear later. If they are built well, Grade 3 and beyond become far easier.
We believe two more Montessori years give children that strength. By the time they reach Grade 3, they arrive not just knowing more, but understanding it, and still enjoying learning.
How the change will happen
- 2027–28: children moving up from Darwin Montessori 3 begin Lower Elementary Grade 1. Grade 2 continues in the regular format.
- 2028–29: Lower Elementary includes Grades 1 and 2 as the first cohort moves up. Regular sections continue for children joining from other schools.
Joining from another school?
Children joining Grade 1 or 2 from another school are just as welcome. One section in each grade will continue in our regular Primary format, as it runs today, so every child can settle in at their own pace.
A simple thought
We started Montessori at Darwin because we saw how it helped young children grow into calm, curious, independent learners. Extending it into Grades 1 and 2 is the natural next step: giving that growth two more years before the next stage begins.
If you would like to step inside our Montessori classrooms, join us for a Saturday afternoon on campus.