The Gower School

A mini-staircase for babies, children preparing their own snacks and woodland learning at Caledonian Park give The Gower School’s nursery a recognisable character. Independence starts with small, practical tasks here. The nursery occupies 18 North Road in Islington, London N7 9EY, and accepts children from three months until their fifth birthday.

At its March 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding, finding rapid developmental progress, effective safeguarding and successful support for children with special educational needs and disabilities through professional collaboration, signing and visual cues. That judgement concerns the nursery, rather than the separate primary provision.

Montessori learning combines children’s choices with activities introduced by staff, while baby signing and specialist music add ways to communicate before fluent speech develops. Full days, shorter mornings and afternoon sessions give families several attendance patterns, although the older preschool room has its own minimum commitment.

Rooms and Ages

Les Nounours welcomes babies from three months, with a quiet room for sleep and feeding beside the main playroom, a mini-staircase for early movement and direct access to a decked garden area. Those separate spaces make room for different rhythms: a baby resting and another practising crawling need different surroundings.

From 11 months, Les Petits Lapins combines sensory exploration and everyday independence with a bright room opening directly into the garden. Les Petits Hérissons, for children from 16 months to two and a half years, uses messy play, songs and stories alongside a home corner and access to the garden downstairs.

Les Écureuils and Les Petites Souris both welcome children between two and three and a half, with pouring, transferring and snack preparation giving practical independence a clear place in their Montessori classrooms. Les Papillons takes children aged three to five, using individual activity plans and an extended work cycle to build sustained attention and increasingly independent choices.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the shared framework for children’s learning, development and care: play, conversation and practical exploration support communication, movement and early understanding. Montessori supplies the nursery’s particular approach alongside it. Children choose materials, staff introduce activities that match their interests, and familiar tasks such as pouring or serving food become learning opportunities.

In the toddler classrooms, the Montessori Work Cycle means staff watch children using materials and introduce further activities in response to their interests or planned next steps. Table and floor mats mark out each child’s workspace. The point is concrete: choosing an activity also involves organising a place to do it and caring for the resources afterwards.

Tiny Talk is baby sign language used during stories, music and everyday routines in Les Nounours. Weekly music sessions bring singing, percussion, guitar and piano into babies’ experiences. For Les Petits Lapins, weekly football coaching adds a different kind of movement, alongside music sessions in the hall.

Older children have responsibilities as well as choices. In Les Papillons, Special Helpers assist at lunch and bring a healthy snack to share; the weekly Flower Helper supplies flowers for the classroom. Preparing snacks and contributing something for others make independence social, rather than simply a matter of doing things alone.

In March 2025, puppets helped children explore familiar situations, including taking medicine, while painting prompted discussion about rainbows. Staff extended conversations with new words and questions that invited more than a short answer. Books also held children’s attention. These examples show how imaginative activity and language worked together at that time.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School brings hands-on woodland learning to Caledonian Park, including identifying plants and animals, exploring natural objects and learning how to manage outdoor risks. The nursery-wide programme is weekly for children aged two and above; Les Petits Hérissons describes its participation during the summer term. Weather-appropriate clothing is part of the learning, so outdoor activity carries practical expectations for families too.

Babies take regular wagon walks and park trips, while Les Petits Lapins has garden play twice daily. These are different outdoor experiences for different stages: direct garden access for everyday play, and outings that extend children’s surroundings beyond their room.

Relationships and Communication

A key person supports each child’s daily care and gradual settling, including meals, changing and comfort. In Les Nounours, a co-key person provides cover when the usual practitioner is away, and routines follow babies’ established eating and sleeping patterns. Familiarity is built into the arrangement, including who feeds a baby and how that care continues during an absence.

Settling begins before the first full nursery day. Children visit their new group, followed by a home visit and planned settling times. Families provide information about medical and dietary needs, languages, carers and authorised collectors, giving staff practical details to use when a child starts.

My Montessori Child is a secure system through which parents follow their child’s development. Les Petites Souris provides weekly updates alongside daily conversations with the key person, opportunities for individual meetings and an annual written report. A fortnightly nursery newsletter adds a separate channel for information about nursery life. That combination gives parents both immediate feedback and a longer view of progress.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The nursery has a SENCO role, and its SEND arrangements use an assess, plan, do and review process. Adjustments and interventions are agreed with parents and recorded in a Short Term Plan; support is reviewed twice termly or on a timetable agreed with the family. This provides a specific structure for discussing what a child needs and whether the support is helping.

Specialist individual therapy is charged separately. Where an Education, Health and Care Plan applies, additional provision may be charged to the local authority if it is responsible for fees and The Gower School is named in the plan; otherwise charges may fall to parents, except for provision that constitutes a reasonable adjustment. Families weighing this provision need to distinguish everyday support from additional specialist services.

Meals and snacks are prepared on site, and babies’ sleeping arrangements follow their individual routines. Les Petits Lapins likewise schedules rest around the child, rather than describing a single sleep pattern for everyone.

Sessions and Attendance

Full-day bookings run from 8am to 6pm, with separately charged extended care from 6pm to 6.30pm. For children aged 18 months to three years, Short Morning runs from 9am to 12.30pm, Long Morning from 9am to 2.15pm, and Afternoon from 2.15pm to 5pm. Those part-day patterns are offered for three, four or five sessions weekly.

The funded afternoon pattern runs from 12.15pm to 5pm. Les Papillons also offers five Core Days from 9am to 4pm, and children joining from the term after their third birthday must attend at least six sessions each week. Its room guidance gives five mornings plus an afternoon, or three full days, as examples of that commitment.

The nursery operates for 48 weeks annually, closing for a week at Christmas, a week at Easter and two weeks in August, as well as bank holidays and five annual staff training days. These closures matter even for families choosing year-round care.

Applications use an online account and registration form, after which children enter the waiting list for their requested start date. Full-time applications receive priority. A deposit accompanies acceptance; the admissions terms provide for its full refund when three months’ written notice is given that the place is not required.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded childcare includes 15 hours weekly from the term after a child’s third birthday and the conditional 30-hour entitlement for qualifying families with children from nine months to four years, effective from the term after the child’s relevant birthday. Funding is stretched across the nursery’s 48-week year. Additional paid hours can be combined with the funded afternoon pattern.

For wholly private hours, food and drink, specialist activities and most trips are included in the fee. Parents supply babies’ formula and the nappy used for the journey home; washable nappies are supplied during nursery care. On funded places, meals, snacks, activities and trips belong to an optional paid package, with a separate consumables charge within that package for children under two. Children whose families decline the package do not participate in the listed additional activities.

The nursery fees page explains those distinctions. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. A non-refundable registration charge applies, with fully government-funded places exempt, and charges begin with the first settling day.

Getting There

The nursery address is 18 North Road, Islington, London N7 9EY. The Gower School’s primary provision has a separate admissions process: nursery families must register separately, and Reception entry involves assessment. Attending the nursery does not guarantee a primary place; families apply through the independent school’s own process.

• The preschool commitment. Les Papillons requires at least six weekly sessions from the term after the third birthday and has a simple uniform. During a tour, discuss how that attendance pattern fits the move from your child’s existing routine.
• Funded care and the activity package. The funded afternoon and optional paid programme have different inclusions. Request a written quotation separating private hours, food, consumables and activities so the choice is clear before accepting a place.
• Baby care in practice. Les Nounours combines a quiet room, individual routines and co-key-person cover. Use the nursery’s approximately 30-minute tour to discuss how those arrangements would work for your baby.
• Additional support costs. SEND planning involves parents, while specialist therapy can attract separate charges. Discuss the proposed Short Term Plan and which elements would count as reasonable adjustments before agreeing additional services.

The Gower School suits families seeking Montessori learning with practical responsibilities, baby signing and woodland activity, whether they need full days, shorter mornings or funded afternoons. Its strongest decision value lies in the detail: babies have separate quiet space, toddlers practise everyday tasks, and parents can follow development through My Montessori Child.

The March 2025 Outstanding judgement adds weight to that educational picture. The attendance requirement in Les Papillons and the distinction between funded core care and optional paid activities deserve equal attention. This is a nursery choice to make around both the child’s stage and the family’s intended pattern.