Cherry Tree Montessori Nursery

A separate Montessori classroom and gardens of around half an acre give Cherry Tree Montessori Nursery a clear identity: practical independence indoors, with space for exploration outside. Its grade 2-listed building stands on High Street in Ashley Heath, Ringwood. The nursery accepts children from three months through the preschool years to age five.

At its July 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged its safeguarding arrangements effective. The strongest character comes from concrete choices: Montessori Practical Life activities, Forest School outdoor learning and Healthy Movers activities led by adults who demonstrate movements before following children's interests. These approaches give families more to assess than a broad promise of learning through play.

Attendance can be all-day, morning or afternoon, with term-time attendance also offered. The range matters: this is an option for families seeking shorter sessions as well as care across the working day.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby room serves children from three months to two, with care organised around individual routines; Toddlers, for ages two to three, introduces Montessori Practical Life tasks alongside language and social development; Pre School, for ages three to five, uses Montessori learning to prepare children for school, including small-group work in a separate Montessori classroom.

That classroom gives the older children a dedicated setting for more structured activities. For toddlers, the emphasis is on doing everyday tasks more independently rather than simply encountering materials associated with a named approach. The distinction is useful for parents considering how the day changes as their child grows: personal routines for babies, practical self-help for toddlers and small-group learning for preschool children.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, including learning through play. Montessori sits alongside that framework here. Children choose activities, try things for themselves and learn at their own pace, with adults observing and guiding their work.

Montessori Practical Life makes that approach tangible. An activity can be broken into manageable steps, such as learning to put on, remove and store an apron before using it for painting. Other tasks develop self-care, responsibility for the surroundings and consideration for other people. The practical value is clear: independence is something children rehearse through ordinary actions, rather than a quality adults simply expect them to acquire.

The Curiosity Approach adds natural materials, reused items and resources that can serve several purposes, giving children room to decide how to use them. Accreditation is being pursued, so the approach and completed accreditation should be kept separate. A mud kitchen offers another concrete setting for exploratory play.

Healthy Movers brings a different emphasis. Adults demonstrate activities using cards and resources, then respond to children's interests as the activity develops. Physical literacy, communication, wellbeing and preparation for school are its stated aims. This gives movement a place in planned learning, alongside the opportunities to move freely outdoors.

In July 2023, babies used wall-mounted pipes to experiment with balls while practising grasping and pulling themselves upright. Older children worked with tools and ground coffee, combining purposeful tasks with movements that prepare hands for writing. Toddlers practised getting into ride-on cars and operating the doors themselves. These examples show what practical learning looked like at that time, rather than promising an identical set of activities today.

Language also ran through everyday play in July 2023. Adults sang to babies and described their actions; older children revisited earlier learning, counted and used mathematical vocabulary. Books were accessible across the learning spaces. The useful connection is between conversation and activity: children had reasons to use words while doing something, rather than language being confined to a separate group session.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School sessions give older children child-led outdoor learning alongside their indoor activities. Natural materials become resources for making and experimenting, including using sticks as paintbrushes. A Forest School lead role supports this part of the nursery's work.

The gardens also contain an outside learning area, while gardening, looking for bugs and making bug houses appear among the nursery's activities. Those are concrete ways to explore the natural surroundings. In March 2023, Cherry Tree received a Youth Sport Trust award recognising its early-years physical literacy practice, adding a specific achievement to its emphasis on movement.

Relationships and Communication

New starters are offered three settling sessions free of charge, with further sessions offered if needed. That gives a child more than one opportunity to become familiar with the setting. The provision for additional sessions also makes settling responsive to the child rather than fixing the same endpoint for everyone.

In July 2023, daily exchanges between parents and staff connected children's learning at home with their next steps at nursery. Babies received attentive interaction during nappy changes, and children practised helping to tidy their surroundings. These were everyday care routines with opportunities for conversation and independence built into them.

The same dated account included toddlers fetching tissues, cleaning their noses and disposing of the tissues themselves. Older children recognised changes in their bodies after exercise and understood the need to drink water. These examples make the nursery's practical emphasis recognisable in care as well as in planned activities.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the July 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that staff identified developmental gaps and supported children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children learning English as an additional language, helping them make progress. The current team structure includes SENCO and designated safeguarding lead roles. Those are support mechanisms, rather than a promise that every child's needs will be met in the same way.

There were also two clear areas for improvement in July 2023. Quieter children's ideas sometimes received insufficient attention when older children dominated group activities, and adults sometimes intervened before children could work out solutions themselves. Both matter to the nursery's stated emphasis on independence: children need opportunities to contribute, predict what might happen and learn from trying again.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 1 High Street, Ashley Heath, Ringwood, BH24 2HP. Opening hours are 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and a Christmas period, and also accepts term-time attendance.

Children can attend all day or book a morning from 8am to noon or an afternoon from 1pm to 5pm. A separate lunchtime period runs from noon to 1pm and can be added to attendance. Morning-session drop-off is between 8am and 9am; afternoon children start at 1pm, while children arriving for lunch start at noon. These distinctions help families match the booking to their actual day.

Fees are billed monthly, with invoices emailed on the 14th and payment due by the 28th. A registration charge applies when a child starts. Absence through illness remains payable, and withdrawing a child or changing attendance days requires four weeks' written notice. These terms matter when comparing the cost of a regular pattern with one that may need to change.

Getting There

Off-road parking is provided for parents collecting and bringing children. The nursery is set back from the road, with access from Horton Road in Ashley Heath.

Funding and Paid Extras

Local authority funding is accepted for children aged two, three and four, and childcare vouchers are accepted too. Paid childcare is also offered; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, alongside the attendance arrangement being considered.

The sessions and fees page sets out payment and notice terms. Families can contact the nursery by telephone or email to discuss their child's needs, and visits can be arranged through the same route.

• A voice in the group. In July 2023, quieter children's suggestions sometimes lost out to those of older children. On a visit, ask how adults now make space for less vocal children and how they allow time for children to solve problems themselves.
• The midday arrangement. Morning attendance ends at noon and afternoon attendance begins at 1pm, with lunch booked as a separate period. Decide whether that additional hour is part of the pattern your family needs.
• The complete funded arrangement. Funding is accepted for two-, three- and four-year-olds. When discussing that arrangement, ask how funded hours fit the chosen sessions and how meals and non-food consumables are handled.
• Changes need notice. Four weeks' written notice applies to withdrawal or changes of attendance days, and illness absence remains payable. Families with changing work schedules should weigh those terms alongside the choice of sessions.

Cherry Tree suits families interested in practical independence, outdoor learning and planned movement, whether they need morning or afternoon sessions or all-day attendance. The separate Montessori classroom, gardens and Healthy Movers activities give that offer substance. Three free settling sessions are a useful part of the joining arrangements.

The July 2023 improvement points deserve attention alongside the Good judgement: making room for quieter voices and allowing children to work through problems are central to the experience promised here. For parents drawn to its approach, the most useful visit discussion is about how those everyday interactions work now.