The Communities
The Nido Community
At Millbrook Montessori our Nido community is thoughtfully designed to support our youngest children with warmth, gentleness and respect. Created specifically for infants aged 6 weeks to 15 months, the environment provides a calm, nurturing space where every child feels deeply cared for, safe and secure. During this sensitive stage of development, it is essential that each child’s individual needs and rhythms are honoured. We work closely with families to follow home routines, ensuring a smooth and comforting transition into care.
The environment is carefully prepared to encourage natural exploration. Children have access to open spaces where they can move freely, practise new skills and explore at their own pace. Activities are placed at the child’s level, allowing them to engage independently once they have been introduced to each material with intention and respect. This allows them to build understanding, concentration and confidence.
Practical Life experiences are woven gently into each day. Even at this early age, children are encouraged to participate in meaningful tasks that support independence and self-discovery. This includes opportunities for self-feeding, drinking from small cups, wiping hands, carrying out simple care-of-self routines and beginning to assist with caring for their environment. These moments build fine motor skills, coordination and a strong sense of capability.
Our Nido environment is light-filled and inspired by nature, with soft tones, natural fibres and wooden materials that promote calmness and sensory richness. We intentionally incorporate sustainability and role modelling into our daily practices, supporting children in developing an early awareness of caring for themselves, others and the world around them.
Children also enjoy regular access to the outdoor environment, where they can discover and explore a range of natural play spaces including swings, a sandpit, grassed areas and other carefully selected activities. Both indoors and outdoors, the space is designed to be language-rich, providing countless opportunities for children to hear, absorb and begin to use language through gentle conversation, songs and meaningful interactions.
Our Nido Community provides a peaceful, nurturing foundation where each child is supported to grow with confidence, curiosity and joy.
6 WEEKS TO 15 MONTHS
The Piccolo Community
At Millbrook Montessori, the Piccolo community is a warm, nurturing environment designed for children aged 15 months to 3 years. Rooted in Montessori principles, our space feels calm, home-like and secure, giving each child the confidence to explore, learn and flourish at their own pace.
Our classroom is thoughtfully prepared with natural, sustainable materials that invite hands-on learning. We prioritise quality wooden resources, real-life tools, and materials sourced with care, allowing children to connect with the natural world and develop respect for the environment from a young age. This focus on sustainability is woven into daily routines—caring for plants, gentle water use, animal care, and learning to look after their surroundings with intention.
The Piccolo environment offers rich opportunities across key Montessori areas: Practical Life (including care of self and the environment), Sensorial, Language, Culture, and Numeracy. Children are given individual lessons on each material and are free to return to their work repeatedly until they feel confident, capable and satisfied. Through purposeful repetition, they develop independence, concentration, and a deep sense of accomplishment.
Movement and exploration are central to the Montessori approach. Children enjoy the freedom to navigate both the indoor and outdoor learning spaces, choosing activities that capture their interests. The outdoor environment is an extension of the classroom—offering opportunities for discovery, nature play, physical development and sensory experiences.
Whether watering the garden, observing insects, transferring materials or engaging in imaginative play, children learn to appreciate the natural rhythms and beauty of the world around them.
Our educators act as gentle guides, following each child’s interests and modelling respect for the classroom, materials, their peers and nature. We work at the child’s pace, honouring their individual strengths and supporting their emerging independence and self-expression. Through meaningful work, rich language experiences, connection to nature and a strong sense of belonging, the Piccolo Community nurtures confident, curious and joyful learners—ready to take their next steps in the Montessori journey.
15 MONTHS TO 3 YEARS
The Casa Community
The Casa community at Millbrook Montessori is a thoughtfully prepared environment designed to foster the natural curiosity, independence, and developing capabilities of children aged 3–6 years. Rooted in Montessori philosophy and aligned with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline (QKLG), the Casa Community offers a calm, purposeful space where children can grow into confident, capable learners.
At this age, children are within key sensitive periods for language, order, movement, refinement of the senses, social development, and early numeracy. Our environment honours these windows of opportunity by offering materials and experiences that meet each child exactly where they are developmentally. Every child follows a personalised learning journey guided by careful observation, respect, and the belief that children learn best when trusted to explore at their own pace.
An Integrated Curriculum with Five Parts:
Practical Life - Children engage with real, meaningful activities that develop concentration, coordination, independence, and care for themselves and their environment. These experiences promote confidence, responsibility and a deep sense of belonging.
Sensorial - Beautiful, hands-on materials help children refine their senses and build strong foundations for abstract thinking. Sensorial experiences support classification, comparison, problem-solving and the early development of mathematical and scientific reasoning.
Language - Across the room, rich spoken language, early literacy experiences, and hands-on materials support vocabulary growth, phonetic awareness, writing, and reading. The language program nurtures expression, understanding and a joy for communication.
Numeracy - Concrete mathematical materials allow children to explore quantities, symbols, operations and number relationships with clarity and confidence. Mathematics in the Casa is joyful, purposeful, and deeply understood.
Culture - Cultural studies - including geography, botany, zoology, history, science and the arts - help children understand their world and their place within it. These experiences spark wonder, broaden perspectives and cultivate global awareness.
3 YEARS TO 6 YEARS
More about the Casa Community
Concrete to Abstract Learning in Montessori
A core element of the Montessori method is the principle of “concrete to abstract” learning. Within the Casa community, children first explore concepts using hands-on, tangible materials that make ideas clear and visible. Through repetition, exploration, and self-discovery children gradually internalise these concepts and move toward abstract understanding.
This gentle progression ensures deep comprehension, confidence and a love of learning that lasts far beyond the Casa years.
Inside–Outside Community Learning
Our indoor and outdoor spaces flow seamlessly, encouraging children to move freely between environments that promote exploration, independence, and connection to nature. Through gardening, practical life activities, movement and discovery, the outdoors becomes a natural extension of the classroom.
Guided by Grace, Courtesy, and Social–Emotional Foundations
Social and emotional wellbeing is at the heart of the Casa community. Through daily lessons in grace and courtesy, children learn to collaborate, communicate respectfully, resolve conflicts peacefully and contribute positively to their community. These experiences support the development of empathy, resilience, self-regulation and a strong sense of self.
Creating a Lifelong Love of Learning
Every aspect of the Casa environment is designed to ignite a love of learning. Children are empowered to make choices, follow their interests, and develop deep concentration through uninterrupted work cycles. With gentle guidance from Montessori educators, children discover confidence in their abilities, joy in their work, intrinsic motivation and pride in their achievements.
The Millbrook Montessori Casa community is a place where children are seen, respected and supported as they build the foundations for lifelong learning, wellbeing and purposeful engagement with the world.
