Mimosa opened in 1996 as Mimosa Montessori. We first encountered the Reggio Emilia approach in 2013 and were inspired to test out a few aspects of the approach – particularly the move to longer-term investigations – alongside the Montessori curriculum. In 2017 we agreed to pack away the Montessori materials and embrace the Reggio Emilia approach fully. We’ve been amazed at the transformation – in ourselves and in the children – as we start to see ourselves and each other as creative, thoughtful, critical, collaborative and socially responsive citizens. And we have been inspired to extend this socio-constructivist approach to learning into our recently opened foundation phase.

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In 2017 we started Grade 1 as the first step in the implementation of a Reggio Emilia-inspired foundation phase. It has proven to be a really exciting investigation into how we can meet the demands of the CAPS curriculum while embracing and practicing the Reggio philosophy in each encounter. As of 2020 we have Grades 1, 2 and 3, with hopes of expanding up.