The honest answer to the question every parent asks.
Marketing copy can describe a programme in any number of ways. The most useful description is the one that follows the day, hour by hour, and tells you what your child would actually be doing.
What does my child actually do here?
The honest answer is the most useful one. Here is what an ordinary day looks like, hour by hour.
- 7:00 – 8:30 AM
Welcome and free arrival
Children arrive on their own schedule. Educators greet each child individually. Quiet activities are set out for early arrivers: books, puzzles, a watercolour table.
- 8:30 – 11:30 AM
The work cycle
Three uninterrupted hours of self-directed work in the prepared environment. Children choose their own activities. Educators observe, offer brief lessons, and step back. This is the heart of a Montessori day.
- 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Outside
Daily outdoor time, weather permitting. Our garden, the climbing structure, the sandbox, the loose-parts area. Children run, dig, build, and rest.
- 12:15 – 1:00 PM
Family-style lunch
Children set the tables, serve themselves, eat together, and clear their own dishes. Lunch is a community event, not a transaction.
- 1:00 – 3:00 PM
Rest, then afternoon work
Younger children rest. Older children begin a quieter afternoon work cycle: art, music, science extensions, group projects.
- 3:00 – 6:00 PM
Studio time and pickup
Open studio: pottery, painting, woodworking, gardening. Children choose. Pickup runs continuously through the afternoon.
The best way to know if Oakbridge is the right fit is to come and see it.
Tours run weekday mornings at 10:00 AM and afternoons at 2:00 PM, with select Saturdays available by appointment. They take about 45 minutes and include time in each of our classrooms.