The Ashland Montessori School serves ages 2 and a half through 6. Teachers possess a Montessori Certification, which includes work in child development, competence in Montessori methods and successful completion of a nine-month internship. The Ashland Montessori School is affiliated with the American Montessori Society; is an Ohio Department of Education Chartered Kindergarten; and is licensed by The Ohio Department of Human Services. The Montessori philosophy is based on the child's developmental needs for freedom within limits, and a carefully prepared environment which guarantees exposure to materials and experiences designed to enhance intelligence as well as physical and psychological abilities. Children are to be respected as different from adults, and as individuals who differ from each other. Children possess unusual sensitivity and mental powers for absorbing and learning from their environment that are unlike those of adults both in quantity and capacity. The most important years of mental growth are the first six years of life when unconscious learning is gradually brought to the conscious level. Children have a deep love and need for purposeful work.
