Forest Hill Montessori Nursery

Gardening has a practical destination at Forest Hill Montessori Nursery: children grow produce, help prepare it and see it become part of lunch. Daily Montessori sessions for preschool children add another clear strand to the nursery’s character, alongside a large garden with direct access for outdoor learning.

At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities benefited from targeted support and made progress. That assessment is dated; the current offer combines Montessori learning, individual progress records and a key person system.

The nursery has 82 places in total and accepts children aged 3 to 60 months. Its Forest Hill address and proximity to the Overground make it a practical option for local families and commuters.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning, development and care: children build language, movement, social understanding and early literacy and mathematics through activities shaped around their development. It is the common foundation for early years provision. Here, an individual progress tracker helps practitioners organise observations across the areas of learning and decide what comes next.

Montessori sits alongside that framework, emphasising independence, active learning and working at each child’s pace. Preschool children have Montessori sessions daily. This gives the approach a concrete place in their timetable rather than leaving it as a name above the door.

Learning Journeys collect photographs, artwork, observations from nursery and contributions from home. Children can revisit these records with their key person, while parents can access them in the room and keep them when their child leaves. The practical value is continuity: experiences at home can inform nursery activities, and families can follow the next steps being planned.

In September 2022, learning connected everyday materials with increasingly demanding tasks. Children sorted vegetables by where they grew, used autumn leaves for painting and counted seasonal objects before tackling simple sums. Familiar stories also became role play, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Cave Baby. These examples show how conversation, imaginative play and early number work were combined at that time.

Outdoor and Community Life

Garden Champions is a gardening activity covering habitats, plant growth and care for living things. Children use gardening equipment to prepare ground, sow and tend plants, then harvest what grows. Produce is prepared with the chef and incorporated into meals, giving children a tangible connection between growing food and eating it.

A nominated Garden Champion attends training and brings seasonal ideas back to nursery. Children also help assess whether the gardening area is suitable for the activity, discussing changes with a practitioner where necessary. That adds decision making to the practical work. The nursery holds Royal Horticultural Society accreditation.

Outdoor learning takes place daily, with direct access to the large garden. Wake up and shake up adds daily movement through music and dancing, providing another regular opportunity to be active.

In September 2022, outings extended topics beyond nursery: journeys by train and bus supported learning about transport, a fire-station visit connected with helping professions, and shopping trips supplied ingredients for cookery. Local parks provided further opportunities for physical play. Black History Month was also used to explore different cultures; these are examples from that period, rather than a current trip calendar.

Relationships and Communication

Settling sessions introduce children and parents to their key person. That practitioner observes development, shares information with families and provides familiar support when a child needs comfort. For a new starter, the useful feature is a relationship that begins before the ordinary nursery routine takes over.

Termly parent meetings provide time to discuss individual needs and development. Daily information sharing and an open-door policy allow conversations between those meetings, so a change at home or a new interest need not wait for the next scheduled appointment.

In September 2022, communication included daily feedback and weekly newsletters, while coffee mornings and parent activity days brought families into nursery life. A book stand in the entrance hall allowed children to borrow something to read at home. That offered a simple connection between nursery reading and family time.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In September 2022, children explored emotions using mirrors and picture cards, linking expressions with feelings and considering how feelings might affect behaviour. Practical independence was visible too: children helped prepare snacks, toddlers practised putting on coats and babies learned to use open cups. These are small tasks with a clear purpose, giving children manageable responsibilities during ordinary routines.

The September 2022 inspection identified a need for more targeted practitioner mentoring and training because some staff lacked confidence and were unclear about development opportunities. That is the material improvement point to weigh alongside the positive judgement.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, closing on bank holidays and for one week over Christmas and New Year. Families planning care around work need to allow for those closures as well as the daily opening window.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone on 020 8291 2999 or by email to manager@foresthillmontessori.com.

Getting There

The address is 1 Rojack Road, Forest Hill, London, SE23 2DF. Forest Hill Overground station and local bus services are within walking distance, and on-street parking is next to and around the nursery.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers 15 hours and 30 hours funded childcare for three- and four-year-olds, with the extended entitlement dependent on eligibility. Entitlement is stretched across 51 weeks, and fully funded attendance operates at set times. The important distinction for families is between the entitlement and the timetable in which it can be used.

Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. The fees and funding page explains the stretched arrangement.

Meals are cooked fresh on site by the nursery chef, using seasonal menus that change on a four-week cycle. Food for Life Served Here Silver recognises the use of ingredients including local vegetables, sustainable fish and farm-assured meat, connecting the food offer with its sourcing.

• Preschool Montessori. Daily sessions give the approach a regular place in the timetable. During a visit, ask to see how those sessions connect with your child’s interests and independent choices.
• Funded attendance. Entitlement is stretched over 51 weeks and fully funded attendance uses set times. Establish which timetable would fit your working week before choosing an attendance pattern.
• The whole quotation. Ask how meals, snacks and non-food consumables are treated for private and funded hours, so you can compare the complete arrangement.
• Practitioner development. Targeted mentoring and training was the September 2022 improvement priority. A useful visit discussion is how practitioners now receive support to develop their practice.

Forest Hill Montessori Nursery suits families who value practical independence, daily outdoor activity and a clear connection between gardening and food. Preschool Montessori sessions and accessible Learning Journeys give parents concrete features to weigh, while the year-round opening window may fit a commuting routine.

The September 2022 Good judgement provides a positive assessment from that date, with practitioner development the qualification to keep in view. For a decision today, the strongest points are the defined learning approach, the garden and the way each child’s experiences are recorded and shared.