The De Lacey Montessori School

A Kitchen Garden programme, individual Montessori teaching and children cooking lunch for their families give this Isleworth nursery a recognisable character. Practical learning runs through the offer: growing plants, preparing food and exploring materials sit alongside music and movement. St Francis Community Hall provides the setting, with wooden resources indoors and a garden for outdoor play.

At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated The De Lacey Montessori School Good and judged safeguarding effective. The current age range is two to five, with capacity for 44 children in total. The educational offer combines individual teaching with shared experiences, including weekly Yoga and Multi-Sports classes.

Attendance is organised around a term-time core day, with an early-start option. This matters for families planning care around school holidays: the nursery's calendar covers 38 weeks rather than the whole year.

Rooms and Ages

The listed building, wooden toys and garden give children different spaces and materials to investigate. Montessori classrooms mix ages, rather than separating every stage into its own age-specific classroom. The approach emphasises doing things for oneself and learning through experience, so the environment forms part of the teaching rather than simply housing it.

The Den is the named baby and toddler room, with Montessori activities intended to encourage exploration and individual time with practitioners. Its physical arrangements include cribs, sleep mats and bedding. The youngest-age joining question deserves attention alongside this room, because the nursery's current age range starts at two.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care, bringing language, early mathematics, social skills and independence into everyday activities. In June 2023, children learnt unfamiliar words through a dinosaur activity, discussed shape and size with practitioners, helped friends balance in the garden and prepared their own fruit at snack time. Montessori adds this nursery's particular approach: individual teaching, practical experience and growing independence within mixed-age classrooms.

Weekly Yoga and Multi-Sports classes bring structured movement into the programme, while music and cookery take place regularly. Cookery Club gives children opportunities to investigate tastes and textures. These are concrete additions to the day, rather than a curriculum name standing alone.

Forest School, an approach to learning outdoors, is also part of the offer, with participation from age two. The Kitchen Garden programme adds a more specific thread: children grow food and plants. Growing and cooking therefore sit within the same educational offer, giving families interested in practical learning something tangible to weigh.

In June 2023, a dinosaur activity included an erupting volcano, with practitioners explaining unfamiliar vocabulary and children trying out the words themselves. Conversations during routines also brought in descriptions of size and shape. The examples show how a group activity and ordinary play were used as occasions for teaching, rather than relying entirely on separate lessons.

Outdoor and Community Life

A garden and outdoor play area provide space beyond the indoor classrooms. In June 2023, children helped one another along balance beams, holding hands and celebrating successful attempts. Outdoor movement also included marching and waving ribbons. These were shared physical experiences, with children taking part alongside friends.

The Children's Art Gallery takes children's work into a public display at Osterley Park, organised with three other local nurseries. The Pop-Up Restaurant brings families into a different kind of participation: children prepare their lunch. Both give children's work an audience beyond practitioners and their immediate group.

An annual Christmas Show involves all children, while the World Book Day Family Reading Event brings families into reading activities. The calendar also includes a Grandparent's Afternoon and an end-of-year Graduation event. This is an offer with several ways for family members to participate, rather than parent contact resting solely on individual conversations.

Relationships and Communication

Home routines are part of settling in for The Den. Practitioners work with families to carry those routines into nursery life, and sleep arrangements follow the pattern used at home. For a child adjusting to a new setting, that continuity makes the care plan a practical part of the transition.

In June 2023, staff gathered information about families before children began attending, including photographs for a family tree. Visual prompts helped explain the sequence of the day. Those details show two different ways of making an unfamiliar routine easier to understand: recognising the child's family and making the next activity visible.

Regular updates through the Learning Journal app cover children's activities and learning, supplemented by newsletters and Open Evenings. The Den's updates also cover feeding, sleep and developmental milestones. Parents therefore have routes for following both the educational day and the everyday care details that matter for younger children.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The management structure includes a SENDCO role and a safeguarding officer role. These provide identifiable responsibilities for additional needs and safeguarding arrangements; families can discuss support through named roles without depending on a general promise of individual attention.

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that practitioners adjusted communication to include children needing extra support, but identified two improvements: teaching children more consistently why healthy habits matter, and tailoring professional development more precisely to each practitioner's needs. The distinction matters: offering healthy activities was only part of the task, and staff development needed to address individual teaching practice.

In June 2023, children practised independence through preparing fruit at snack time and managing their toileting. Practitioners also modelled mealtime behaviour and taking turns while children served themselves. These examples connect personal care with everyday learning, rather than treating independence as an abstract aim.

A chef prepares a vegetarian hot meal on site each day, with seasonal produce for snacks and milk and water to drink. Food attracts a separate charge on funded places, including when families opt out of the enrichment supplement, and food from home is not accepted.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is St Francis Community Hall, 865 Great West Road, Isleworth, TW7 5PD. Core Hours run from 9.30am to 3.30pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. The nursery operates for 38 weeks each year, so holiday cover needs to be considered alongside the regular booking.

A minimum attendance commitment of 15 hours per week applies. Booking examples include three or four full days, and part-time attendance carries a premium. This gives families a choice of attendance patterns within a term-time model, while keeping a minimum weekly commitment.

Early Drop Off starts at 8.45am and can be booked into the usual package or used on the day. Children help practitioners prepare the setting and select activities for friends during this time. Breakfast Club is another named option, beginning at 9am; its ending time needs clarification before booking.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email at montessori@delaceynurseries.co.uk or by telephone on 07856 347 860. There is also an online enrolment form. These are direct routes for beginning an application and discussing the required attendance pattern.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery participates in the 15-hour and 30-hour funding schemes, delivered during term time. The 15-hour offer applies from the term after a child's third birthday; the working-family offer depends on eligibility. Participation in the schemes does not make every part of a booking free.

Funded sessions attract a Montessori Education & Enrichment Supplement, covering additions such as individual Montessori teaching, yoga, drama and cookery. Families may opt out of that supplement, but must explicitly request a fully funded place when applying. Food charges still apply under that option, so the supplement and food should be treated as separate decisions.

Private fees apply to attendance beyond the child's funded entitlement. Fees remain payable during sickness, holidays and other absences, and payment is made in advance. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and funding page explains the supplement and payment options.

• The youngest starting age. The current age range is two to five, while The Den is promoted for babies and toddlers and the nursery advertises entry from 18 months. Before applying for a younger child, establish the accepted starting age and which provision the booking would cover.
• Breakfast Club timing. Breakfast Club is printed as ending at 9.30pm, alongside Core Hours ending at 3.30pm. Clarify the breakfast session's actual finishing time during a viewing before building it into a care arrangement.
• The funded-place package. Opting out of the Montessori Education & Enrichment Supplement still leaves food charges, and meals from home are not accepted. Request a written breakdown separating funded hours, private hours, food and any non-food consumables.
• Teaching consistency. The June 2023 improvement points concerned explanations of healthy habits and staff development matched to individual needs. During a viewing, ask how those changes now shape teaching and how practitioners explain the reasons behind everyday care routines.

The De Lacey Montessori School suits families seeking practical Montessori learning and a term-time timetable, whether they want the standard core day or a day beginning with Early Drop Off. Growing, cooking, individual teaching and family participation give the offer substance. The Kitchen Garden programme and Pop-Up Restaurant are especially useful examples of children learning by doing.

The Good judgement from June 2023 provides a dated quality benchmark, with teaching consistency the main improvement theme. The attendance commitment, funded-session supplement and food charges need to fit the family's plans as closely as the educational approach does. For younger children, settling the starting-age question is an essential first step.