At FMS we strive to give our students the widest variety of experiences in education.
We know our academic programs are second to none. We incorporate a variety of immersion experiences into our curriculum so that every FMS student can experience music, art, drama, languages other than English, culture, history, gardening, PDHPE and sport. These programs are offered within our regular weekly programming, going beyond NESA requirements for K-6 (primary) education, and as incursions, excursions and even camps throughout the school year.
Beyond this, we aim to offer students additional exposure to education and skills-building through our Extra-Curricular activities. These are activities offered on site at FMS, before or after school, as an add-on to your child’s day.
As well as being fun and educational kids, this is a great benefit for FMS families. It means less after school driving, drop-offs and pick-ups, and if needed, you child can go straight from extracurricular into after school care (OOSH), extending your day too!
What Extra-Curriculars do we offer at FMS?
Here is our 2025 activity list:
Personal days and times – Piano and Violin
1:1 music lessons in piano and violin. The wonderful Xiomara, a Montessori alumni, and highly experienced piano, violin, drama and singing/choir coach. Xiomara offers 30 minute 1:1 lessons in piano or violin for FMS students aged 3-12. Yes, we have some 3-year-olds learning the violin!
Music is one of those rare human experiences that has the ability to unite people from all walks of life regardless of language or background. It is a true joy for both player and listener. We are grateful we can provide our students with the opportunity to learn music from such a young age.
Monday – Mandarin Lessons
“A wonderful opportunity to expose your child to Mandarin – one of the most important languages of the century.”
Mandarin at FMS is led by the experts at Headstart Education Group. We offer a mixed age class for children in Kindergarten to Grade 6 (ages 5-12). The program is split between native speakers and total beginners. Beginner level is designed to develop students’ understanding of Chinese Language and culture, with themes and subjects relevant to daily life.
Like Montessori materials, Headstart learning materials are explorative and play-based to ensure they are both culturally enriching and engaging to your child. The lessons build vocabulary and sentences in an upward spiral approach that helps students lay a strong language foundation. Like FMS, Headstart Mandarin takes a student-centric approach and helps prepare learners for real-life communication.
Tuesday – Chess Club
Chess is a long-time favourite activity for FMS students. Weekly sessions are hosted by the dedicated team at The Sydney Academy of Chess, who have been passionately teaching chess for more than 24 years!
Lovers of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit might like to know the founder of the academy, Brett Tindall, has competed in national and international Chess tournaments around the world. All of Sydney Academy’s Chess coaches are highly proficient players. Beyond playing chess. They are trained in effective teaching methods and how to manage groups of children of all ages.
During Chess Club, FMS students start with an interactive lecture from the coach, before applying their newly learned strategies in live games.
Chess Club is available to FMS kindergarten to primary (ages 5-12) students on Tuesday mornings before school as part of your fees.
Tuesday – JC Ingenium STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering. Art & Maths)
Another ingenius (!) program, that teaches students through creative, hands-on play. JC Ingenium has partnered with experts from different early learning centres and primary schools to establish five characteristics that define their philosophy and align beautifully with Montessori learning. Their programs promote learning through play that is:
- Socially interactive
- Actively engaging
- Meaningful
- Iterative
- Joyful
The STEAM programs encourage teamwork, collaboration, and explorative problem solving.
Whether building towers, observing gravity, measuring motion, creating a design or coding, students are guided, rather than directed, to seek, explore, create and find solutions. Students build on prior knowledge working from one concept to the next across programs offered throughout the year.
Wednesday – Before School Sport
Recently, we’ve been thrilled to offer a variety of additional sports to primary school students via the Australian Government Sporting Schools initiative. Through this program, students have had fun learning dance, judo, AFL, hockey and taekwondo. Moving forward, pending grant approval, we hope to share new sport activities for your children to try. Who knows – we may yet discover the first Montessori Australian Cricket captain!
Wednesday & Thursday – T5 Football
T5 Football are an FMS favourite and have been kicking ball with our students for years. T5 is a local business whose high intensity sessions are designed to develop core football (soccer!) skills for all players and abilities.
The T5 Football Development Program has produced over 80 National Premier League players across all ages. Some of these players have gone on to play with teams in Spain, Germany, England and Dubai.
T5 run two after-school football sessions on the FMS oval each week. Preschool students aged 4-5 learn the basics and early skill development on Wednesdays, while our older, more experienced primary aged students have their turn to play on Thursdays. Look out Messi!
We are so pleased to share these wonderful programs with students at FMS. We are grateful to the dedicated and talented providers who guide, coach and encourage our students to learn, play and have a go, every week.
If you would like more information about our extra-curricular activities or have feedback or ideas, please share.
