Moseley Montessori Nursery

Pouring, preparing food and choosing materials are part of the learning here, while Moseley Park provides a woodland setting for exploration beyond the classroom. Moseley Montessori Nursery combines practical independence with outdoor experiences at St Columba United Reformed Church in Birmingham. The approach gives children things to do for themselves, rather than making independence an abstract ambition.

At its April 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found that carefully timed teaching helped children sustain concentration and develop independence. That judgement has concrete substance: in April 2024, children selected resources themselves, became absorbed in activities and returned materials for others to use. Freedom came with responsibility.

Children can attend from six months to school age, with 74 places in total. Full-day attendance and a five-morning pattern serve different family routines.

Rooms and Ages

The Montessori Baby Room emphasises communication, movement and self-feeding, with a milk kitchen, changing facilities and a cosy area for stories alongside sensory resources. Treasure baskets, instruments and materials for making marks give babies different ways to explore through touch, sound and movement.

The Montessori Toddler Room serves children from 20 months to approximately three years, combining vocabulary and self-care practice with a large classroom featuring a wooden floor, high ceiling and natural light. Resources for everyday tasks, sensory exploration and early mathematics can be chosen freely. Self-care practice includes handwashing, feeding and toilet training.

The Preschool Montessori Classroom emphasises communication, social understanding and self-care through materials children can handle and activities they can continue for as long as they wish. Children help care for the classroom and practise resolving disagreements.

Learning and Activities

EYFS is the shared framework for early learning and care: children develop language, movement and relationships through play, alongside experiences with books, numbers, creativity and the world around them. Montessori adds a particular way of organising that learning, using accessible materials and practical tasks that children explore at their own pace. The two operate together here.

Practical Life activities include preparing food, pouring and washing dishes. These tasks turn ordinary actions into opportunities to practise careful movement and concentration. Sandpaper letters connect a spoken sound with its written shape, while mathematics uses objects children can manipulate rather than relying only on abstract explanations. The Montessori curriculum also includes caring for plants and experiments, linking learning to things children can observe directly.

Toddlers have weekly French lessons and a weekly activity programme that includes baking, music and movement, creative work and sensory exploration. Mini Athletics also forms part of that programme; in April 2024, its weekly sessions involved moving in different ways to music. This gives physical activity an identifiable place alongside quieter classroom choices.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School, an approach to learning through outdoor exploration, takes place in the nursery's own area within Moseley Park. Children can develop games, experiment with natural objects and tackle practical problems such as keeping rain out of a den. The woodland setting extends the same emphasis on choice and investigation beyond indoor materials.

In April 2024, children used tools, balanced on uneven logs and moved equipment during regular forest-school experiences. They also worked together on imaginative play with logs. These examples show what outdoor learning meant in practice at that time: physical challenge and cooperation, rather than simply a change of scenery.

Babies make regular journeys to Moseley Park in triple buggies and use an enclosed outdoor play area. Toddlers have outdoor access every day, including play on site, nature walks and forest-school sessions.

Relationships and Communication

A key person works with each family and shares observations of the child's development. In the baby room, settling takes account of the individual child and family, and each child is allocated a key person. Makaton sign language supports communication before speech, giving babies another way to express themselves.

Daily communication books and conversations provide baby-room feedback, while Tapestry, the learning-journal tool, carries weekly progress updates. Parents receive daily care feedback alongside a longer view of learning.

After a child turns two, the nursery provides a written progress summary covering communication, physical development and personal, social and emotional development. It identifies strengths and areas needing more help, with ways families and the key person can work together. Parents can share this summary with other professionals, including a health visitor, so nursery observations can contribute to a wider discussion about development.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the April 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and reported that staff identified additional learning needs promptly, with children with SEND and those learning English as an additional language making rapid progress. Current support mechanisms include working with outside agencies on speech and language, physical development and social interaction when needed.

Emotional understanding also has a place in the toddler day: staff help children recognise feelings and understand one another. Free choice is paired with expectations about leaving an activity ready for another child. This makes consideration for others part of the daily routine.

In April 2024, families attended coffee mornings, shared skills and spent time learning about their children's activities. Staff exchanged information with parents when children moved rooms and liaised with schools about preparation for the next stage. Those arrangements addressed both transitions: moving within the nursery and moving on to school.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is St Columba United Reformed Church, Chantry Road, Birmingham, B13 8DJ. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays, across 50 weeks of the year, with closure on bank holidays and for two weeks at Christmas. These hours describe the operating window; the morning pattern is a separate attendance choice.

Full-day care is offered, and the registration form includes five mornings as an option. The minimum attendance requirement is three days; two days may be considered depending on availability, but this is rare. For families organising a smaller weekly commitment, that condition is material to the booking decision.

Enquiries use the contact and registration route, or enquiries@moseleymontessori.com. The registration form collects the preferred start date and attendance pattern as well as information about the child and family. It is an enquiry step, so choosing an option should not be read as confirmation of a place.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible working families can use up to 30 funded hours per week for children aged nine months to four years. Funding is stretched across the year, and families share their approved code with the nursery and reconfirm eligibility every three months. Private childcare is also offered alongside funded attendance.

Private fees include meals and snacks, while funded hours carry an Additional Services charge covering extras beyond basic childcare. Non-food consumables such as craft materials and sun cream are included in private fees and fall within that additional charge for funded hours; outings and activities are also included in the private package.

Year-round bills are spread into equal monthly payments, including bank holidays and closures, unless attendance changes during a month. Missed sessions for holidays or days out remain chargeable. Invoices arrive by email and through Blossom Educational, the billing app, with payment due on the first of the month. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page explains the charge structure.

• The weekly commitment. The minimum attendance requirement is three days, while five mornings is a separate option; consideration of two days depends on availability and is rare. At a visit, discuss which of these patterns fits your family's week.
• Woodland learning. Forest School uses the nursery's area in Moseley Park, and babies also make regular park trips. Ask how outdoor experiences and preparation differ for your child's stage.
• Baby-room routines. A key person, daily communication books and weekly Tapestry updates form the communication arrangements. During a visit, discuss how your baby's sleep and feeding routines would fit the day.
• The funded-hours package. Funded attendance carries an Additional Services charge, while billing includes closures and holiday absences. Review the written quotation and contract together so the monthly commitment is clear.

Moseley Montessori suits families seeking practical independence, time to concentrate and outdoor exploration, whether they need full-day attendance or five mornings. The activities make that positioning tangible: food preparation, sandpaper letters and woodland problem-solving are different expressions of learning by doing.

The April 2024 Outstanding judgement supports that choice. Families must weigh the attendance minimum and funded-hours extras against their routine and budget.