Ravenscourt Park Montessori

A classroom surrounded by trees, a garden reached directly through its doors, and Montessori learning built around children's choices give Ravenscourt Park Montessori a clear character. Its position inside Ravenscourt Park matters: outdoor learning belongs alongside the classroom work, rather than being an occasional change of scene. Children join from age two and stay until their Reception year.

At its January 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding, with teaching that extended children's ideas through practical activities and conversation. The appeal is specific: independence, hands-on learning and time outdoors. Morning and afternoon attendance sit alongside full days for older children, all within a term-time calendar.

Learning and Activities

Montessori here means children choosing activities within an organised environment, with practitioners introducing materials, observing their work and helping them take the next step. The group-wide approach works alongside the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the statutory framework for children's learning and development: in everyday terms, children practise communication, movement, relationships and early literacy and mathematics through play and practical tasks. Montessori supplies the particular materials and organisation through which those areas are explored.

Practical Life, one of the group-wide curriculum areas, connects nursery activities with familiar jobs at home. Children might tackle buttons, pour liquids, prepare snacks or bake bread. These are useful tasks in their own right, while giving children opportunities to handle equipment and complete something independently. The Sensorial area develops observation through experiences such as comparing fabrics, listening to bells and grinding spices. Learning starts with something children can touch, hear or smell.

Literacy follows children's readiness. Sound games lead towards phonics, and moveable letters allow children to construct words before reading them; stories also become drama and imaginative play. Mathematics uses tangible materials alongside sorting, matching, songs and games. That gives children something to manipulate while they explore quantities and relationships, rather than relying only on written symbols.

The group-wide science and world-learning curriculum includes investigations into floating, dissolving and magnetism. Creative work leaves room for children's own decisions about the finished result, while daily sports games develop balance and coordination. These examples explain the approach more usefully than the Montessori name alone: children have practical problems to explore, with adults supporting rather than prescribing every move.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Ravenscourt Park classroom opens onto its garden, where activities include gardening, outdoor art and collecting objects for a nature table. Forest School adds hands-on exploration outdoors alongside the Montessori work. The direct connection between the two spaces gives outdoor materials and changing seasons a place in the learning day.

In January 2024, children used the mud kitchen for pretend cooking and developed imaginative games involving logs and ice. Practitioners helped them elaborate their ideas through questions. Garden produce also became a lesson in healthy eating: children grew fruit and vegetables and then ate what they had grown. Park outings, wheeled toys and large play equipment added different kinds of movement, including opportunities to judge manageable risks.

Another January 2024 example showed children building a castle together. When it collapsed, they consulted pictures and tried again, with adults introducing words about size and position. It is a useful illustration of how play can bring cooperation, mathematics and persistence into the same task.

Relationships and Communication

In January 2024, key-person work began with finding out about each child's interests and needs. That information helped practitioners connect new activities to things children already understood or enjoyed. Summer picnics arranged before the autumn intake gave incoming children opportunities to meet one another before starting nursery, making the first relationships part of settling rather than leaving them entirely to the first session.

Communication extended beyond a general account of the day. In January 2024, practitioners shared observations and assessments with parents and offered ideas for continuing learning at home. For families, that creates a practical link between what a child is doing in nursery and the conversations or activities that follow at home. The group-wide Montessori approach also uses individual learning plans across its curriculum areas, so progress is considered child by child.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective, strong relationships with parents, and excellent progress from children's starting points, including for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities; staff recognised when outside-agency referrals were needed and worked with families and other professionals. The current Ravenscourt Park team includes a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO), providing a defined role for coordinating additional support.

In January 2024, visual schedules helped children learning English as an additional language understand the day. Emotional learning was equally concrete: a toy monkey became a starting point for discussing happiness, sadness and fears, with adults helping children distinguish imaginary worries from real situations. This gave children a way to talk about feelings before having to explain their own directly.

Social expectations were taught through ordinary play. In January 2024, adults encouraged children to negotiate, wait and share, while modelling courteous conversation themselves. Preparation for the next stage, including school, ran through developing independence, language and cooperation. The group-wide staffing approach includes Montessori-qualified practitioners, connecting the classroom method with the adults delivering it.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 1 O'clock Club, 39 Ravenscourt Road, London W6 0UJ, inside Ravenscourt Park. Attendance follows the autumn, spring and summer terms, with holidays outside those terms. Children normally begin in September and must have reached their second birthday before joining.

Morning sessions run Monday to Friday, with starts at 8.30am or 9am and finishes at noon or 12.30pm. Afternoon sessions run Monday to Thursday, starting at 11.45am or 12.30pm and ending at 3.15pm. Friday closes at 12.30pm. Older children can attend full days. Early Birds is the 8.30am to 9am add-on, while Lunch Bunch covers noon to 12.30pm, giving families named options around the main sessions.

The minimum booking is four sessions each week, rising to five after a child's third birthday. Children over three are also asked to move towards longer days in preparation for school. These are meaningful attendance commitments: the offer suits families able to build a regular nursery week, rather than those seeking occasional sessions. Children attending another nursery school cannot also attend here.

For sessions that are full, families can join a waiting list. Children already attending afternoons receive priority when morning spaces arise. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 07917 071364. One full term of written notice is required both to withdraw and to reduce booked sessions; without the required notice, a term's fees are due instead.

Getting There

Ravenscourt Park Underground Station serves the District Line, and the nursery gives its walking distance as a 2 minute walk. Buses on King Street and Paddenswick Road provide other public-transport options.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers the Universal Entitlement and Working Family Entitlement within its term-time provision. The former provides 15 funded hours weekly from the term after a child's third birthday; the latter provides up to 30 hours for eligible two-, three- and four-year-olds, with an application code that parents must renew. Private attendance and hours beyond an entitlement are charged separately, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

For funded attendance, separate session charges cover specialist Montessori resources and activities, snacks and ingredients, hygiene materials, and books and take-home learning materials; those fees are voluntary, with support offered so children can participate regardless of circumstances. The activity element supports externally coached sports, Forest School equipment, science and art resources, gardening materials and replenishment of Montessori shelves, so families should understand what each part of their quotation covers.

Private session fees include provisions and specialist activities, including snacks and hygiene materials; children staying for lunch bring a packed lunch from home, whether their attendance is privately paid or funded. For funded sessions, snacks and food used in activities are charged separately, as are changing and hygiene consumables. Payment is due by the beginning of each term and is non-refundable.

• A tour from outside. Visits take place through the garden gates and classroom windows to avoid interrupting children. Use the visit to discuss how your child's key person would organise their first weeks and how the daily group would work for them; dress for the weather.
• The attendance commitment. Four weekly sessions become at least five after age three, with longer days encouraged at that stage. Map morning, afternoon or full-day attendance against your family's term-time routine, including the earlier Friday finish and the rule against attending another nursery school alongside this one.
• The funded-place quotation. Funded hours sit alongside voluntary charges for specialist provision, food and hygiene materials, while lunch comes from home. Discuss the whole proposed pattern and the support offered, so the distinction between funded hours, additional hours and session extras is clear before joining.
• A term of notice. Withdrawal and reductions in sessions both require a full term's written notice. Consider that commitment if work arrangements or childcare needs may change during the year, because insufficient notice brings fees in lieu.

Ravenscourt Park Montessori suits families who want practical Montessori learning and outdoor exploration within a regular term-time routine. Morning sessions and afternoon sessions offer different ways into that routine, with full days for older children and a clear expectation that attendance grows after age three.

The garden connection gives the educational approach a physical setting, while the January 2024 examples show children developing ideas through construction, conversation and imaginative play. The decision turns on fit as much as educational appeal: the weekly minimum, Friday finish, funded-session extras and notice commitment all deserve weight alongside the classroom and outdoor experience.