The Beanstalk Montessori Nursery School

A large garden used in every kind of weather and Montessori learning inside St Peters Church give The Beanstalk Montessori Nursery School a clear character. Children can investigate outdoors daily, while the indoor approach gives them time to choose materials, repeat an activity and work towards understanding at their own pace. Independence is the connecting thread.

The nursery takes children aged 2 to 5 and has 40 places in total. At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Outstanding overall and found exceptional progress, with carefully planned learning and an ambitious emphasis on communication and language. That judgement belongs to that visit; the practical offer now includes morning sessions, afternoons and full days during term time.

For parents, the combination matters more than the label alone: daily outdoor play, a recognisable learning approach and an individual online development profile provide concrete ways to understand what a child will do here. The attendance pattern needs equal attention, especially for families arranging care around a working week.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sits alongside Montessori teaching, covering children's language, physical development, relationships, early literacy and maths, creativity and understanding of their surroundings. It is the shared early-years framework, rather than an extra programme unique to Beanstalk. Montessori adds a prepared environment in which practitioners introduce materials and children have opportunities to choose, revisit and explore them.

Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics, Cultural and Creative are the Montessori areas used here. The approach gives everyday tasks a place alongside early number and language work. Materials provide something children can handle and investigate, rather than requiring every idea to begin with an adult explanation. The nursery's account of Montessori learning also emphasises moving from simpler tasks towards more complex understanding.

In September 2022, children investigated the speed of water travelling down a ramp, while adults helped them think through practical puzzles such as fitting toy animals through a fence. Flower arranging provided another problem to solve: why a vase overflowed when more flowers were added. These are useful examples of the approach in action, with questions arising from what children are doing rather than from an abstract exercise.

The weekly activity offer includes gardening, cooking, messy play and yoga. Bilingual Beats provides language classes, while Playball is another weekly session. Most of these activities happen in the morning, so a morning attendance pattern includes more than Montessori materials alone. The Language Group supports children needing additional help with language.

Trips include visits to a library, theatre and farm, as well as places connected with everyday services, such as a dental surgery and fire station. These outings extend the subject matter beyond the nursery itself. They are opportunities to connect learning with people and places children may encounter in daily life.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden is part of the daily offer, with waterproof suits supplied for wet weather. Children can look for bugs, collect sticks and identify flowers and trees, alongside larger-scale movement and creative play. Outdoor time therefore includes close observation as well as physical activity; a rainy day does not automatically move the whole programme indoors.

In September 2022, children used balance bikes around obstacles, carried substantial blocks and worked together to construct an obstacle course. Garden exploration also gave adults opportunities to introduce precise plant vocabulary. The physical space supported both movement and conversation.

A separate Stay and Play toddler group runs on Fridays from 9am to 10am during term time for children aged 8 months to 2 years accompanied by a parent or carer. Its prepared environment includes simple Montessori resources, musical instruments, role play, messy play and mark making. This is accompanied provision for younger children, distinct from the nursery's accepted age range.

Relationships and Communication

Settling begins with a home visit, usually arranged shortly before the term starts. That gives the first meeting a familiar setting for the child and a practical opportunity for the family and staff to get acquainted. The key person observes children's interests and strengths, providing a starting point for individual learning rather than treating everyone as ready for the same next task.

My Montessori Child is the online system used to record development and share photographs and observations with parents. Staff use it daily, and families receive access to their own child's profile on a computer, tablet or mobile. It provides a continuing picture of nursery life, with plans and reports shared through the same system rather than progress being confined to a single meeting.

In September 2022, children sought comfort from staff and brought them their achievements. Adults also explained their praise when children persisted with difficult tasks, including puzzles. The emphasis was on recognising effort and helping children continue, rather than simply completing the task for them.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the September 2022 inspection, Ofsted found effective safeguarding arrangements and strong support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including collaboration with speech and language therapists. Those are dated findings about practice, rather than assurances inferred from the Montessori name.

Language support has several practical forms: a Language Group, visual aids for children with little or no English, and cooperation with parents around developmental difficulties. In September 2022, staff suggested ways families could support speech at home. That connection between home and nursery matters when a child needs practice across both settings.

Children staying through lunchtime bring food from home. Parents therefore retain responsibility for providing the packed lunch, a practical difference from a nursery that prepares lunch on site.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is St Peters Church, Black Lion Lane, London W6 9BE. Care runs during term time. Morning Group operates Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 12.30pm; Afternoon Group runs Monday to Thursday from 12.30pm to 4.30pm. Full-day attendance is offered on four days each week, with a packed lunch brought from home.

The usual attendance expectation is five mornings weekly for children aged 3 and 4, and three mornings for two-year-olds. Families seeking fewer sessions can discuss a different arrangement, with the nursery undertaking to try to accommodate it. Morning drop-off can be between 8.30am and 9.15am, while afternoon collection can be between 3.30pm and 4.30pm. These windows offer some flexibility within the session pattern.

Some calendar events alter the afternoon arrangements. Parent evenings remove afternoon care and packed lunch, and the final day of each term has no packed lunch. Sports Day also changes collection arrangements, with children leaving after their event. Families relying on an uninterrupted afternoon need to build those exceptions into their plans.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funding includes the 15-hour Universal Entitlement for children aged 3 and 4 from the term after their third birthday, the 30-hour Working Family Entitlement for eligible children aged 2, 3 and 4, and Additional Support 15-hour funding for eligible two-year-olds. The offer operates during term time. Eligibility conditions apply, and the Working Family and Additional Support routes require an application and continuing renewal of an eligibility code.

Standard funded morning attendance combines 15 funded hours with 5 private hours; the full-day funded pattern combines 30 funded hours with 6 private hours. Afternoon attendance for children receiving only the Universal Entitlement is privately charged. These distinctions matter because a funded entitlement and the nursery's usual attendance pattern are separate things.

There is also a voluntary charge for additional activities for children with funded entitlements, linked to attendance. Children are not excluded from the activities if parents cannot pay. Fully funded arrangements with no charges for private hours or these services can also be discussed. Private fees include the Montessori curriculum and activities for unfunded two-year-olds, children paying for afternoon sessions and children attending during the term in which they turn three. Current prices should come in the nursery's written quotation, with the structure explained on its funding and fees page.

A non-refundable registration charge applies. The deposit is refundable from the final term's fees or fees paid instead of notice; leaving, or deciding not to take up a place, requires a full term's written notice or payment of a term's fees instead. After registration, families receive a letter confirming either a place or a waiting-list place. Enquiries can be made by email to enquiries@beanstalkmontessori.co.uk or through the contact form.

• Morning commitment. The usual pattern asks three- and four-year-olds to attend five mornings, while two-year-olds attend three. At a tour, discuss how that rhythm would work for your child and whether a different pattern is suitable.
• Funding and private hours. The standard funded patterns include additional private hours, alongside a voluntary activity charge. Request a written quotation for the exact pattern you want, including the fully funded option if that is your preference.
• Afternoon exceptions. Friday has morning provision only, and parent evenings, Sports Day and term endings alter lunchtime or afternoon arrangements. Those details matter if another adult must cover the remainder of the day.
• Food and everyday supplies. Full-day children bring a packed lunch. During the visit, ask which non-food consumables families should supply and how any individual dietary requirements are handled.

Beanstalk suits families seeking regular morning attendance or a combination of mornings and full days during term time, with Montessori learning and daily garden use central to the experience. My Montessori Child gives parents a continuing account of development, while the settling home visit creates an early connection between family and nursery.

The September 2022 Outstanding judgement is a strong dated reference point. The decision now rests on whether the morning expectations, shorter Friday and funded-hours structure fit family life. For parents who value children practising independence through real tasks, materials and outdoor exploration, there is a clear educational identity to weigh alongside those practical commitments.