Bright Beginnings Montessori Preschool

Rathbarry National School, Castlefreke, Clonakilty, Co. Cork, P85 E542

Tel: 086 263 8104

E-mail: carmelodonovan@hotmail.com

Owner: Carmel O'Donovan

Qualification: B.A Honours in Montessori Education


Mission Statement

Bright Beginnings Montessori Preschool consider it vital to provide each child with a safe environment in which they can grow and learn as an individual.  She and her team aim to provide each child with a positive foundation for all their future learning.  Each child will be seen as an individual and every measure will be taken to encourage and promote the child in its first journey through education and learning. It is also important that each child is made to feel welcome in its new environment and to ensure that they feel comfortable with being away from home. This is done by offering each child a safe, loving, friendly environment. 

The primary aim of Bright Beginnings Montessori Preschool is to provide the best possible safe environment for the intellectual, emotional and spiritual development of the children who attend, by adopting and adapting the Montessori philosophy as created and developed by Dr. Maria Montessori.

One of the greatest gifts we can give a child is the joy of learning.  At Bright Beginnings Montessori Preschool, Carmel and her team provide the children with an opportunity to progress and learn at their own pace, in an environment where each individual child is respected, using the materials designed by Dr. Maria Montessori to meet each child’s individual needs, encouraging the development of each child’s self-confidence, self-esteem, concentration and independence, thereby preparing them for the challenges they will meet in life.


What is Montessori?

The hallmark of a Montessori program is the prepared classroom environment.  Bright Beginnings Montessori classroom is equipped with materials that first teach through the senses and later lead to reading, writing, mathematics, problem solving, geography, science and cultural studies. Visual arts, music and movement are interwoven through out the days’ activities.

They offer a curriculum for parents who have the goal of preparing their child for primary school. Nearly everything within the walls of the Montessori classroom is child-sized. Children “work” with authentic Montessori materials including a wide range of high-quality, age-appropriate materials—objects such as wooden blocks, sandpaper numbers and letters, textured fabrics, and golden beads, to name just a few. All of the materials are designed to be self-teaching. Children learn to solve problems, see natural connections in knowledge, learn skills related to practical living, and therefore, expand their imaginative thinking.  Operating on the principle of freedom within limits, Bright Beginnings Montessori Preschool inspires children to work at their own pace, alone or with others.

Other activities enjoyed by the preschool children are: 

  • Outdoor play

  • Dance, music and singing

  • Drama

  • Creative arts – painting, colouring cutting and gluing

  • Sand Play

  • Water Play

  • Construction Play

  • Circle Time

Breakfast Club and Infant Hour

Bright Beginnings Montessori Preschool, with the support of Rathbarry National School, will begin offering a Breakfast Club (8am-8.50am) and an Infant Hour (1.45pm-2.45pm) at the school daily from September 2022.

Please contact Carmel directly at carmelodonovan@hotmail.com for further details regarding cost and support provided.


Catherine Foley, Principal (centre) welcoming Louise Murphy and Carmel O’Donovan (owner) of Bright Beginnings Montessori Preschool to Rathbarry National School in September 2021.

“We are delighted to welcome Carmel and her team from Bright Beginnings Montessori Preschool to Rathbarry National School. This offering is a wonderful addition to our school where we also seek to provide a caring and nurturing learning environment for all the children in our care”.