At Alf & Bett Scholars, our mission is to deliver affordable childhood education that meets the highest international standards and provide what is simply the best learning environment for children, not just in Rivers State, but in the whole of Nigeria.

Working with young children is challenging and demanding but also uniquely fulfilling and rewarding. Every new child is different and fascinating and the environment in which a child develops can greatly influence the mind of that child.

To ensure that the foundation for lifelong learning is widely achieved, we provide early childhood education and care, educational materials as well as teaching aids for both able and physically challenged children. Every child is special and all children have the right to have equal access to education without discrimination.

Our vision is to ensure that all children irrespective of race, gender, religious orientation, physical challenges or special educational needs have equal access to quality education and care.

Alf & Bett Scholars adopts the British Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as well as the Montessori Approach to Childhood Education.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework aims to support children's learning, development and welfare. The principles which guide the work of all Early Years Practitioners are grouped into four themes

A Unique Child - every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

Positive Relationships - children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.

Enabling Environments - the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.

Learning and Development - children develop and learn indifferent ways and at different rates and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and inter-connected.

These four guiding themes work together to underpin effective practice in the delivery of the EYFS.

Alf & Bett meets the individual needs of all children in the Setting. We deliver personalized learning, development and care to help children get the best possible start in life.

We promote positive attitudes to diversity and difference with in all children. The children learn to value different aspects of their own and other people’s lives. This includes making sure that all children and families feel included, safe and valued; that all children and adults are treated as individuals and are not discriminated against; and that all children are listened to and respected.

Dr. Maria Montessori founded the educational method known as the MONTESSORI SYSTEM in 1907. It is recognized as one of the best throughout the world and is entirely compatible with the demands of our complex modern society. Dr. Montessori observed children and developed ideas about the best ways of helping them achieve their full potential. She put her ideas into practice, retaining and developing those that obviously worked. So great was her success that she travelled the world, establishing schools and lecturing about her discoveries.

The Montessori system of education is based on the firm belief that every child is born with creative potential, the drive to learn and the right to be treated as an individual. This is a child-centred approach and its primary aim is to create a safe, happy, caring environment in which each child can learn and develop freely – that is, at an individual pace, following the child’s own interests and inclinations.

The children are given freedom to work and move around within limits and there are suitable guidelines that enable them to act as part of a social group, while promoting their individuality and independence. Special materials, equipments and activities are designed to help the children explore their world and enable them to develop essential physical, cognitive, language, emotional and social skills. Mixed age groups encourage all children to develop their personalities socially and intellectually at their own pace.

The basic principles of ‘The Montessori Method’ include the idea that there are sensitive periods during which learning something is motivating, easy to achieve and promotes repetition until mastery is attained. The timing of the sensitive periods and the introduction of appropriate learning tasks is a critical part of the teaching strategy which demands a large degree of individual programming to fit the emergence of readiness in each child.

Children are primed to learn. But it is important to tune in to their understanding, the flow of their interests and current abilities. Trying to make children learn something earlier and more quickly does not help them to learn better and can actually disrupt their confidence and flow of learning.

It is important, therefore, not to focus so much on a child’s chronological age, but on his or her development in any given area. Each child is an individual and will develop in his/her own idiosyncratic way. The stages of development of each child will depend upon many different factors, which include the physical environment into which he/she is born; his/her own personal disposition and interests at any given time, the culture in which he/she grows and the expectations of his/her parents/carers. In other words, all aspects of development are inter-linked and depend upon the situation in which a child grows up.

A renowned American psychologist specialising in child development, Jerome Bruner, maintains that language and the social setting in which learning takes place are both important, and also asserts that a child can be taught anything as long as the ideas are presented in a way that is intellectually comprehensible to him/her.

At Alf & Bett Scholars, children learn at their own pace; and by following their absorbing current interests, they are encouraged to explore, find out, practice their skills and learn through different flexible materials as well as through play, music and other extra-curricular activities to gain confidence. We, as early years professionals are analytical, we know about the norms of development therefore we are able to assess and support all aspects of the development of each child in our care and at the same time never lose sight of the fact that each child is a “little person” and will have his/her own agenda for development and will develop as a whole person at their own pace.

At Alf & Bett Scholars we provide quality care for the children and we meet and exceed the required standards for Health and Safety as well as for childcare and education as established and required by the Ministry of Education.

Amongst our staff are certified and internationally trained early years practitioners and carers. All our teaching staff are fully certified First Aiders and have undergone, additionally, training in Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Fire Safety.