Buttercups at Ealing

A Montessori preschool floor above, an enclosed Forest School area outside and a separate sleep room for the youngest children give Buttercups at Ealing a clear character. Its Victorian building on Florence Road combines spacious, light playrooms with a large garden and an allotment. The appeal is the combination: resources for concentrated indoor activity alongside space for building, growing and exploring outdoors.

At its February 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found that children made exceptional progress, with effective safeguarding and individualised support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Practical independence was a strong thread through the day, from younger children managing personal care to preschool children helping organise lunchtime.

Children are accepted from 3 months to 5 years. Alongside full-day attendance, the booking options include shorter blocks and wraparound cover, making the detail of the chosen pattern important to the family budget.

Rooms and Ages

For children under 2, dedicated playrooms sit alongside a separate sleep room equipped with cots, allowing rest away from active play. Children aged 2-3 use rooms with specialist equipment and furniture made from wood and other natural materials. The 3-5 age group has a top-floor preschool suite containing Montessori and Early Years equipment, giving older children a space arranged around their stage of learning.

Montessori is an approach that encourages children to choose activities and develop independence through practical exploration. Here, its concrete expression is the preschool suite and its equipment. That is more useful to parents than a philosophy alone: the approach has a physical place within the nursery.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care, so play, communication and everyday routines belong within the educational day. Montessori sits alongside that framework rather than replacing it.

In February 2024, babies used visual cues to make choices during songs, while preschool children chose between experiences. Activities were arranged in a sequence that let children revisit skills as their understanding developed. For a parent, the useful distinction is between simply keeping children occupied and giving them repeated opportunities to practise something they are learning.

Language also ran through ordinary interactions at that time. Staff sang with babies, paired songs with actions and talked about what was happening during care. Children had time to answer adults rather than having the conversation carried for them. These are concrete examples of how communication can become part of the whole day.

Cooking, Gardening and Expressive Arts & Crafts are among the additional activities. Their presence broadens the choices beyond the preschool equipment and outdoor exploration, although the strongest detail here remains the spaces and experiences attached to the branch itself.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School means learning through exploration outdoors. Ealing's enclosed area gives that approach a setting within the nursery grounds: children build dens, experiment with water channels and learn about surrounding plants and wildlife. The main building is nearby when weather calls for a return indoors, while the allotment adds a growing space to the garden.

The outdoor provision offers more than somewhere to expend energy. Den building and water channels give children practical problems to work through, while learning about plants and animals connects play with the natural world. Families weighing indoor resources against outdoor space have both to consider here.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person when they start, and settling is approached gently, recognising that children adjust at different speeds. Those arrangements give a family a consistent relationship around the transition into nursery. Staff also receive continuing training on and off site, supporting the people responsible for that daily care.

In February 2024, children were encouraged to recover from small mistakes and take manageable risks. Examples included clearing a spill, cutting fruit and using stairs from an early age. These everyday tasks gave children chances to try, correct and try again, rather than having an adult immediately take over.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that staff worked effectively with outside agencies and adapted individual plans and routines for children with SEND, while school transition support included accompanying families on visits and sharing information with future schools. This is useful detail for families whose child needs continuity between adults, routines or settings.

The separate sleep space for younger children is a practical care feature, and CCTV operates throughout the nursery. Meals are freshly prepared each day by the nursery's own cook, with dietary requirements catered for; families managing an allergy should discuss their child's requirements and current meal arrangements during a visit.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 9 Florence Road, Ealing, London W5 3TU. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with wraparound cover also offered. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

A full day runs from 8am to 6pm. Parents who are not eligible for funding can instead purchase blocks from 8am to 1pm, 1pm to 4pm or 4pm to 6pm, combining them within a day if needed. Attendance consisting only of either afternoon block is limited to one such session per week.

Shorter attendance has financial consequences. A higher hourly rate applies to bookings that start after 8am or finish before 6pm, and a surcharge applies below 20 attendance hours. Admissions favour longer attendance and patterns that begin and end at the opening and closing times, so flexibility should be weighed against the total quotation.

Ealing Broadway and Ealing Common tube stations are close to the nursery.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered through the 30 hour scheme and the 15 hour scheme, subject to eligibility. Entitlements are stretched across 51 weeks, with weekly maxima of 22 and 11 hours respectively. Families attending for 2 or 3 days have a daily funding cap, so the weekly entitlement and the hours used at this nursery are separate questions.

Funded hours run from 11am to 6pm on Tuesday to Thursday and from 10:30am to 6pm on Monday and Friday. A minimum of 10 funded hours per week applies, and funded-only attendance must use the full daily funded allocation up to the child's maximum. Additional private hours must make the attendance day start at 8am or finish at 6pm.

Food and non-food consumables carry no additional surcharge, including for funded-only attendance; they are included rather than charged as separate extras. The same no-surcharge position covers special classes and outings. A non-refundable registration charge applies to joining the waiting list, except for funded-only parents, who must supply eligibility proof and stay within their entitlement. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the Ealing fees page explains the charging structure.

• Shorter bookings and total cost. Short blocks are offered, but higher rates and the surcharge below 20 attendance hours affect their price. Compare a written quotation for the precise shorter pattern with a full-day alternative.
• Funding across the year. Stretching reduces the weekly funded allocation, and daily caps apply to attendance over 2 or 3 days. Work through the funded and chargeable portions of each chosen day before committing.
• The youngest children's day. Under-2 playrooms and a separate sleep room provide different spaces for activity and rest. During a visit, ask how the key person coordinates sleep, settling and outdoor time for your child.
• Dietary requirements. The nursery cook caters for dietary needs. Allergy-affected families should confirm current preparation and serving arrangements for their child's meals.

Buttercups at Ealing suits families who value Montessori preschool resources, outdoor problem-solving and practical independence. Its February 2024 Outstanding judgement gives those choices a substantial inspection foundation, while the enclosed Forest School area and separate sleep room make the offer tangible.

It serves both full-day families and those using shorter morning or afternoon blocks, with wraparound cover adding another option. The financial fit needs equal attention: shorter attendance, funding caps and admissions priorities can materially change how an otherwise attractive pattern works for a household.