Tara House Montessori Nursery

Small jugs, button-fastening frames and a garden sheltered by a glass canopy give Tara House its character: practical independence has a clear place in the day. This Stamford Brook nursery combines Montessori materials with languages, movement and outdoor play. Children can choose activities, while adults help them develop the skills to use those choices well.

At its July 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Tara House Outstanding overall and judged the quality of education Outstanding. That is a dated judgement, but the detail behind it matters: in July 2023, younger children selected pouring equipment for themselves, carried it carefully and practised transferring water into glasses. Independence meant doing something concrete.

The current age range is 24 to 60 months. Morning, afternoon and full-day attendance sit within a term-time calendar, with a separate Summer Club during August. This is a nursery for families who want a Montessori day and can work around school-holiday closures, rather than an uninterrupted year-round arrangement.

Rooms and Ages

The main classroom gives children space to select activities that interest them; the small classroom includes a space for sensory exploration. These are learning spaces rather than a sequence of named baby, toddler and preschool rooms. The practical question for a parent is how their child uses the spaces and moves between activities.

Choice comes with responsibility. Children are expected to look after equipment and consider other people using the room. The Montessori Programme links those expectations to everyday tasks, so independence includes managing a coat, using the toilet and handling resources thoughtfully. It is an approach with visible applications beyond the classroom shelf.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for tracking development across areas of learning; observations of play, interests and milestones inform each child's weekly planning. The Montessori Programme adds specific equipment and practical exercises within that framework. The distinction matters: Montessori shapes the activities, while development is monitored against the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Practical Life begins with manageable jobs: pouring a drink, fastening clothing, sweeping or preparing food. These give children reasons to practise hand control and do more for themselves. Sensorial Education uses materials such as sound boxes, colour boxes and the pink tower to explore differences in sound, colour and size. The Montessori Programme sets out how these activities connect with language and mathematics.

Literacy includes sounds, conversation and stories, with word-building and reading introduced when a child is ready. Mathematics brings quantities, counting and number symbols into games and practical work. In July 2023, children also made books about themselves and used books both for enjoyment and to find information. That gives reading a purpose beyond practising a skill.

French, computer activities, dance, Spanish and yoga form part of the weekly curriculum. Named Fun Clubs include Technokids for IT and Crouching Tiger for karate. Forest School activities include using tools, making dens and creating objects from natural materials. These additions widen the kinds of activity a child can try alongside the Montessori equipment.

Outdoor and Community Life

A lawn provides room to run, while the glass canopy allows outdoor play in different weather. There is also a large sand pit, water play, an outdoor blackboard and a garden where children plant flowers and vegetables. Wooden blocks can become obstacle courses; outdoor listening activities bring music and stories outside. The garden serves several kinds of learning, rather than movement alone.

The Tara House Approach brings together experiences including cooking, puppet play and painting alongside music. A visit from the Living Eggs Project introduces the development of a chicken and animal care; Syon Park Tropical Zoo is another named visitor connected with learning about nature. No frequency is attached to either visit.

The annual Sports Day uses the lawn, and families also take part in the Christmas Concert. The concert involves costumes, singing, drama and music, giving children a shared project with an audience of parents. In July 2023, planting included peas, tomatoes and beans, with children discussing what bees needed. Everyday gardening was a route into thinking about the environment.

Relationships and Communication

A key worker helps each child settle and gives parents a consistent contact. A child's attendance can build gradually over a few weeks towards a complete session. A familiar comforter or toy is welcome. Families are advised to remain nearby during the first few sessions in case an earlier collection helps.

Afternoon attendance or Summer Club sessions are recommended as possible starting points before moving to mornings. This makes settling part of the attendance plan, rather than a single introductory visit. The gradual increase in attendance gives the child time to adjust to the session.

Tapestry hosts digital learning journals containing observations, photographs and examples of work. Parents can contribute, and key workers use these records to discuss development and plan next steps. Two parents' evenings each year provide dedicated conversations, alongside informal feedback at session boundaries.

A termly project planner gives families an outline of activities and space to suggest goals for their child. Parents are invited each term to read a story or contribute a short lesson. That creates practical ways to influence nursery life: families can share an interest, add context to an observation or help set a useful next step.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the July 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described effective support for children needing additional help, with the special educational needs coordinator working with external specialists. These findings belong to that inspection, rather than providing a current guarantee about an individual child's support.

Current communication arrangements include Makaton-trained staff, visual timetables, puppets and simple signs. A key worker monitors language development with parents, and staff learn some familiar words for children who speak another language at home. These are specific mechanisms for helping children communicate and adjust to nursery life.

Health arrangements have practical consequences for attendance. After vomiting or diarrhoea, children must remain away until 48 hours have passed since the last episode. Essential medication requires written parental permission and a completed medication form. Families therefore need to allow for both recovery time and the paperwork involved in treatment.

Sessions and Attendance

Mornings run from 9am to 12.30pm, Monday to Friday. Afternoon attendance starts at 1pm, with finishes at 3.30pm or 4.15pm; full days begin at 9am and have those same alternative finishes. Regular afternoon and full-day patterns run Monday to Friday. The minimum booking is two sessions for two-year-olds and five for three-year-olds.

The registration choices include two-, three- or five-morning patterns and specified three-full-day combinations. Families can also combine mornings with selected afternoons. The lunch club runs from 12.30pm to 1.30pm, and the dedicated ad hoc booking arrangement covers lunch and afternoons Monday to Thursday. Regular additions can be arranged in advance, while ad hoc additions are separately bookable.

Early attendance starts at 8.30am on weekdays; late collection extends to 4.45pm Monday to Thursday. These additions must be arranged for designated days in advance for the term. The year has three terms, each with a week's half-term break, and Summer Club runs separately for the first three weeks of August.

Getting There

The address is Wilson Walk, Stamford Brook, London W4 1TP, in the scout hut. Access is from Goldhawk Road or Prebend Gardens, with signs directing families onto Wilson Walk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for eligible two-year-olds through additional-support and working-family routes, and through EEE funding for three- and four-year-olds. The funding arrangements refer to 15 or 30 hours according to entitlement and eligibility. Tara House is term-time, with fees billed by term; current prices come in a written quotation tailored to the family's choices and funding.

For working-family two-year funding and EEE funding, charges outside funded hours cover additional attendance, a Montessori teaching premium, specialist teaching and consumables; these charges are optional. Consumables are therefore charged separately in those funded arrangements. The fees and funding page distinguishes these extras from the funded entitlement.

Lunch arrangements vary: families can supply a packed lunch or choose a separately charged Lune and Wild hot lunch, including alongside funded attendance. The nursery describes an allergy-awareness policy and accommodation of special dietary requirements.

A non-refundable registration charge accompanies registration and tour booking, with a separate office route for two-year funded places. Deposits are taken on acceptance and again for the following September; they are credited against the final term's fees only when the written full-term notice condition is met. Withdrawal otherwise requires a term's notice or a term's fees in lieu. Absence, illness and family holidays do not attract refunds.

Developmental information can be shared with a child's next school through the consent arrangements, including learning journals and progress records. This supports continuity between settings without attaching an admissions advantage to nursery attendance.

• Friday additions and collection times. Regular attendance extends across weekdays, but ad hoc lunch and afternoon booking information differs about Friday, and afternoon finishes have two alternatives. At a tour, agree the precise days and collection time for your intended pattern.
• Settling and group experience. Settling requirements conflict: one policy expects first-day separation after a parental stay of up to half an hour; another expects parents to stay for at least the first week, possibly longer, until their child can remain happily without them. Agree the applicable settling plan and discuss the usual group size for the youngest children.
• Funding and commitment. Optional funded-place extras sit alongside deposits and full-term notice conditions. Read the bespoke quotation and withdrawal terms together before choosing an attendance pattern.
• Allergies and lunch choices. Packed lunches and Lune and Wild meals are both options under an allergy-awareness policy. Families managing an allergy should confirm current food-handling practice for their child's needs.

Tara House suits families seeking morning sessions, afternoon attendance or full days within a term-time routine. Its character comes from practical Montessori work, a usable outdoor space and additions such as languages and movement. Digital journals and planned parent conversations give families several ways to follow development.

The July 2023 Outstanding judgement is a strong dated reference point. The decision now is also practical: whether the settling approach, alternative collection times and termly financial commitments fit the child and household. For families aligned with that rhythm, the combination of hands-on learning and opportunities to make choices has clear appeal.