Cobham Montessori School

Newsletter W/C 19th January 2026

Dear Parents and Carers,

NOTICES

Open Morning Saturday 31st January

We intend to hold an Open Morning at the end of January. If anyone you know is interested in finding out more about what a Montessori education entails then do pass on our details or have them email katybartlett@cobhammontessori.co.uk.

THE WEEK IN SCHOOL

Children's House
This week in the Children’s House we have been reading Animal Families by Colin Treadgall. We learned the appropriate collective names for different animals. If you would like to find out what a group of wolves, geese, whales, cows, fish, or birds is called, you might want to ask your child to give you a presentation!

We also learned about food traditions from around the world. In Bolivia, people eat quinoa with honey, called pisara. “Yum, I love honey,” one child said. “I eat quinoa but never with honey! I will ask my dad,” another child added. In Ukraine, they prepare a beetroot soup called borsch (from the book Come and Eat With Us!).

On Tuesday, we resumed our yoga sessions. Miss Hayley led the children with the story of "The Gruffalo" by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, which celebrates the intelligence and wit of a small mouse, in spite of the brute strength of the Gruffalo.

On Thursday, we made pizzette. All the children worked collaboratively, measuring, mixing, and rolling the dough. For this recipe, we used gluten-free flour and Greek yoghurt, to which some children commented, “This is not Italian pizza!” However, at the door later on, some children told us, “It tasted like Italian pizza.” Phew!

We also had to remind the children that in order to continue cooking, it is important to listen—not only while cooking, but also afterwards, when we all need to tidy up together. Our pizza nearly burned because, instead of tidying up, the children decided to do a conga! (Don’t laugh!) As a result, the oven was briefly left unattended. “Go, go, back to the kitchen!” the children were saying when the alarm went off.

Sports this Friday was beautifully sunny and the children seemed to have a full supply of energy as they ran and ran in the warm ups! A football match then followed, with lots of collaboration, ending in a draw between the two teams!

Snapshot of the Week
A child doing flower arranging
Child:“The last one is going to be just right.”

A child looking at vases
Child:“This is a square-based prism.”

One child approached another who was writing
Child 1:“You are writing beautiful letters.”

Child 2: “Thank you.”

Elementary

We have started exploring the International Rights of the Child in our weekly meetings. We began the week looking at the first few which state that the rights belong to ALL people in the world under the age of 18, they belong to EVERYONE and no-one should be discriminated against regardless of gender, skin colour, religion, language or their opinions. Lastly, it is up to governments to ensure that rights are being protected; and all adults should make decisions in the best interests of the child. We will continue looking at the list next week; we hope to remind the children that with rights, we also have responsibilities.

On Tuesday Miss Hayley noticed that the children were a bit "antsy" with "indoor play energy" as it had rained heavily all day and the children hadn't been out yet! She encouraged one of the older children to lead everyone in a sun salutation. Miss Hayley had kept their individual goals from January 2025 and it was interesting for the children to revisit these together; some habits had been broken, others completely forgotten about! The children then spent time coming up with some positive habits for the coming year before a gentle relaxation before home time.

In sports the children enjoyed developing their football skills, dribbling and passing to each other as well as defending the ball. The final game came to a premature finish as the competitiveness was a little too great for such a low-stakes situation. Coach Phil suggested that the children play a game of pac-man instead to diffuse the upset. We are helping the children come to understand that whilst competition can be healthy, it is unnecessary to fall out over the outcome of a game. No doubt, there was some tiredness contributing to the heightened emotions of a Friday afternoon.

Next week we will do our outdoor learning on Monday, we plan to lead an excursion from school by foot so pick-up will be at the normal time from school every day next week. We will only need scooters for sports on Friday.

Kind regards,

Yvonne