Daisies Montessori Nursery School

Hands-on Montessori materials and a purpose-built eco-building give Daisies its character. Children choose work from classroom shelves, practise everyday skills and have free-flow access to a large fenced garden. The setting shares the grounds of Abbots Ripton C of E School in Abbots Ripton, near Huntingdon, but nursery attendance does not guarantee a place at the school.

Children aged 2 to 5 attend this term-time nursery. At its April 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated Daisies Good overall, while identifying uneven staff interactions as the main area requiring improvement.

Morning sessions, mornings with lunch and full days can be combined, with breakfast and late-collection additions extending the nursery day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the shared framework for children's learning and development, covering communication, relationships, physical development and learning about the wider world alongside literacy, mathematics and creativity. Daisies delivers this through Montessori: children select activities, receive an individual introduction to unfamiliar equipment and work towards using it independently. Choice comes with guidance.

For children starting out, pouring, sorting and threading offer manageable tasks with a clear purpose. Staff introduce further activities as children become ready for them. The classroom also contains jigsaws, small-world play, a creative area and a book corner, so Montessori materials sit alongside other familiar forms of nursery play. Children can work alone or with others.

Practical Life, the Montessori area concerned with everyday independence, includes dressing, food preparation, cleaning and gardening. Sensorial work develops discrimination through materials such as the Pink Tower and Colour Tablets. These give children physical objects to compare and organise, rather than relying only on spoken explanations.

Literacy uses tactile materials, including Sandpaper Letters and the Moveable Alphabet, to connect sounds with written language. Mathematics starts with objects children can handle, including Number Rods and a Spindle Box, before introducing more abstract ideas. The learning and development page explains how these classroom materials fit together.

In April 2024, children chose activity trays and used tables or mats for their work. Story sessions included retelling with picture cards and anticipating what might come next. A postcard exchange with overseas preschool settings brought drawings and information into the classroom, creating a concrete starting point for conversations about other countries.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden is accessible directly from indoors, making outdoor space part of the classroom arrangement. In April 2024, children investigated creatures beneath logs using magnifying glasses and identification charts; they also constructed crate towers and worked together to wash bicycles. The activities combined observation, physical exploration and shared tasks.

School-leavers can take optional, separately charged enrichment programmes. Forest School runs over ten weeks in the Spring Term, with two-hour sessions in woodland behind the nursery car park. Its activities include shelter building, environmental care and outdoor creative work.

Key Sports runs a ten-week coached sports programme in children's final term before school, using mini-games to practise movement, listening and participation. Individual weekly Piano Lessons introduce school-leavers to the instrument over ten weeks, using a Casio keyboard and My First Piano Adventures books designed for children before reading and writing.

A summer sports day and a Christmas nativity performance give families recurring occasions to share nursery life.

Each child has a dedicated key person for wellbeing and an individual education plan. Settling begins with a visit alongside a parent; once attendance starts, the approach is adjusted to the child's circumstances, with parents initially remaining nearby.

My Montessori Child is the observation and communication system used to record activities, photographs and development. Parents have secure access to their own child's information, including ideas for supporting learning at home, while weekly news and planning explain classroom topics. There are also two formal parent meetings each year.

Learning plans draw on staff observations, and children aged two receive a development check. Behaviour concerns are discussed with parents so that home and nursery can respond consistently. Classroom expectations include looking after materials and respecting another child's concentration; children may watch a group activity rather than being compelled to join it.

At the April 2024 inspection, Ofsted found effective safeguarding arrangements and good support for children with SEND, including prompt early intervention. Current staff roles include a SENCO and designated safeguarding leads. These roles provide routes for discussing additional needs or concerns.

Sessions and Attendance

Daisies operates Monday to Friday during term time, with an opening window of 8.30am to 3.30pm. The Morning Session runs from 9am to noon; Morning plus Lunch is also listed from 9am to noon; the Full day runs from 9am to 3pm. Flexible drop-off is between 9am and 9.30am, and full-day collection can take place from 2.40pm to 3pm.

Breakfast / Early Drop-off Session runs from 8.30am to 9am, while Afternoon Tea / Late Collection Session runs from 3pm to 3.30pm. Children can use these additions on some or all of their nursery days. Two-year-olds must attend at least two sessions each week; children aged three and four must attend at least three.

Joining starts with an enquiry form, followed by an invitation to a viewing and then an electronic registration form. A deposit is credited in full against the first invoice once the child starts. Fees are payable a term ahead, withdrawal requires one term's written notice, and absence does not reduce the fee.

Getting There

The address is Abbots Ripton C of E School, Wennington Road, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE28 2LT. Access is from Wennington Road, with off-street parking in the school car park.

Sharing the school site does not secure a Reception place at Abbots Ripton C of E School.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered for eligible two-year-olds, including working-family and low-income or benefits-based routes, and for three- and four-year-olds. The universal 15-hour weekly entitlement starts in the term after a child turns three and continues until they start Reception, with an additional 15 hours for eligible working families; working-family funding for two-year-olds is 30 hours per week. Attendance is term-time, and invoices distinguish entitlement hours from chargeable hours. Daisies also accepts Tax-Free Childcare.

Lunch treatment depends on the booking: Morning plus Lunch and Full day fees include lunch, while cooked lunches during funded hours are charged separately and families may instead supply a healthy packed lunch. The school catering team prepares the cooked food fresh each day; the lunchbox policy excludes nuts, sweets, chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks.

Parents provide sun cream in warm weather, along with outdoor clothing, spare clothes and a reusable water bottle. Breakfast and afternoon tea sessions are separately charged and cannot be paid through early years funding; Forest School, sports and piano programmes are optional paid additions for school-leavers. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the sessions and fees page explaining the charge structure.

• Consistency of adult interaction. The April 2024 improvement point concerned differences in staff interactions. At a viewing, ask how training and observation now help staff extend children's learning consistently.
• Lunch-session timing. Morning plus Lunch is listed with the same clock times as the morning-only session. Clarify its collection time when choosing the weekly pattern, especially if lunch determines your working arrangements.
• Montessori in practice. Children select materials and are expected to respect others' work. Use the viewing to discuss how staff support a child who needs help choosing, joining in or moving to an unfamiliar activity.
• Food and additional costs. Funded hours exclude cooked lunches and the breakfast and tea additions. Allergy-affected families should confirm current food arrangements, and families should discuss the full invoice alongside their chosen sessions.

Daisies suits families seeking term-time Montessori education through either mornings or full days, with lunch and short extensions available around those patterns. Its strongest practical attractions are the purposeful classroom materials, direct garden access and regular communication through My Montessori Child. School-leavers also have clearly defined optional outdoor, sport and music programmes.

The April 2024 interaction concern belongs in the decision alongside those strengths. It suits families who value independent activity and clear classroom expectations.