Stepping Stones Montessori Nursery

Independence here starts with ordinary tasks: choosing an activity, preparing food and helping to put things away. Stepping Stones Montessori Nursery combines a Montessori approach, which gives children guided choices and practical activities, with cooking, gardening and time outdoors. Its home is two rooms in the Church of God of Prophecy on Kitto Road, rather than a purpose-built nursery complex.

The nursery accepts children from six months to five years and has capacity for 30 children. At its December 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities received good support, while identifying a need for more consistent teaching of ambitious vocabulary. That gives families a clear balance: positive findings on care and education, with a specific teaching improvement to weigh.

Attendance is for whole days across the year, with full-time attendance and patterns of two, three or four days per week. The combination suits parents seeking regular care and a day in which children practise doing things for themselves.

Rooms and Ages

The toddler unit takes children from six months, while the Montessori class serves ages two to five. Moving between them follows a firm age rule: children can enter the main class at two, and by two years and two months must move there or leave the nursery with the required notice. This makes the transition between groups an important part of choosing the setting for a younger child.

Two rooms share the church premises. The wider learning environment includes a playground and gardening activities, so the experience extends beyond the classroom. There is a clear distinction between the youngest children's starting point and the main Montessori class, but the emphasis on growing independence runs through the day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: daily experiences support learning alongside physical and emotional needs. Montessori adds a particular way of organising that learning, with adults introducing individual activities and guiding children towards their interests or next steps. Children have room to choose. Adult direction still matters.

Practical Life activities include washing, pouring and dressing, turning everyday jobs into opportunities to practise control and independence. Sensorial materials concentrate attention on individual senses, while Language materials develop vocabulary and introduce letter sounds and symbols. Maths moves from handling concrete materials towards understanding concepts such as measurement and number. These areas give parents something more tangible than a general promise of learning through play.

The Montessori approach also includes a Nature Table, where children's finds become starting points for talking about seasons and the natural world. The Book Corner provides space for quiet reading as well as shared stories. A dancing teacher adds movement at no additional charge, alongside the songs, role play and art in the daily routine.

In December 2023, even babies took part in making play dough, handling ingredients and attempting the kneading themselves. Older children's everyday responsibilities included managing their belongings and serving food. These examples show what the practical emphasis looked like at that point: adults expected children to attempt tasks, rather than automatically completing them on their behalf.

Outdoor and Community Life

Gardening, playground activities and park visits appear throughout the routine. In December 2023, children made daily trips to the local park, grew vegetables and chose food at a supermarket before cooking it. That linked outdoor activity with an understanding of where meals come from, rather than treating the garden solely as a place to run around.

Occasional outings include Docklands City Farm, markets, museums and libraries. Visits from the Fire Brigade, Police and road safety organisations bring other adults and practical topics into nursery life. These are occasional experiences, alongside the regular classroom routine. Major religious festivals also feature in the nursery calendar.

Relationships and Communication

The day is organised around practitioners supporting their key children, with everyone expected to be present by 9am. That shared start gives the morning a clear rhythm before activities develop. The timetable also makes space after lunch for children who need sleep, while others continue with quieter play, stories or table activities.

Parent discussions take place several times a year, and families are encouraged to raise concerns through appointments. Parents may also spend time in the classroom. This gives communication both a scheduled place in the calendar and a connection to the activities children actually undertake.

In December 2023, staff helped children talk about emotions and consider how sharing affected their friends. Parents also reported receiving useful guidance about learning at home and support with the move to local schools. These are practical forms of partnership: understanding a child's next steps, then connecting nursery experiences with family life and the next educational stage.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The admissions policy considers reasonable adjustments and the facilities needed for a child's welfare. At the December 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that staff identified learning gaps, worked with parents and outside agencies, and built secure relationships with children. For a family needing additional support, the useful detail is that assessment and information-sharing formed part of the work.

A designated safeguarding role and deputy arrangements sit within the nursery's safeguarding policy. Recruitment procedures include references, identity checks and enhanced criminal record checks.

Staff qualifications include a Montessori Teaching Diploma and early years qualifications. This connects the named educational approach with relevant staff preparation, without turning qualifications into a claim about today's deployment of adults in either room.

A part-time chef is employed, and lunch uses fresh vegetables and whole ingredients, with vegetarian and vegan diets included; the other meals are a fruit snack and a bread-based tea. Meals are included in fees.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Church of God of Prophecy, 39 Kitto Road, London SE14 5TW. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays, with children expected by 9am. Attendance is sold as full days: families can choose full-time attendance or two, three or four days each week. Morning and afternoon bookings are not offered, and places follow the year-round pattern rather than term-time-only attendance.

Closures include bank holidays, an Easter week, two weeks during August and seven working days over Christmas. Those breaks matter even for families choosing year-round care, because they need to fit into work and holiday arrangements. Registration forms are returned by email to info@steppingstones.me.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible families can use 30 funded hours per week over 38 weeks for children aged nine months to four years. Three- and four-year-olds whose parents do not qualify for that entitlement receive 15 funded hours weekly, beginning in the term following their third birthday. Funding depends on the nursery receiving the necessary support from the London Borough of Lewisham.

The funded allowance is spread across the year in the calculation of monthly invoices, rather than producing changing monthly bills around term dates. Additional private hours are charged, and payments are made in advance each month through BACS or the HMRC Tax Free Childcare scheme. Families should obtain a current written quotation to understand their own attendance and funding combination.

Meals, consumables and activities such as dancing are included in the fee, with no separate extras, including for the funded attendance arrangements. The fees and funding terms explain the charging structure. A non-refundable registration charge applies if, after visiting, a family chooses to join the waiting list; paying it does not guarantee a place.

• A whole-day commitment. Attendance runs across the year, with the choice centred on how many full days a child attends. The Easter, August and Christmas closures still require separate planning.
• The toddler-to-class move. By two years and two months, children must transfer to the Montessori class or leave with the required notice. During a visit, ask how preparation for that move and initial settling are handled for your child.
• Language development. In December 2023, ambitious vocabulary was not consistently extended during play. Ask how staff now help children use unfamiliar words in conversation and activities.
• Joining involves a family visit. After receiving the form, the nursery allocates an appointment for both parents or guardians and their child, if born; visits take place around six times annually. The subsequent waiting-list charge is non-refundable and gives no guarantee of an offer, so the sequence matters when planning a start date.

Stepping Stones suits families choosing either full-time attendance or a regular pattern of two, three or four whole days, with an interest in Montessori learning through practical tasks and guided choice. The Nature Table, gardening, cooking and occasional Docklands City Farm outings give that approach concrete expression. It is a setting where everyday routines contribute to learning.

The Good judgement from December 2023 provides a positive inspection position, balanced by the identified language-development improvement. For parents of younger children, the fixed transition into the main class deserves equal weight alongside the educational approach. The strongest fit is a family comfortable with the year-round calendar, shared morning start and emphasis on children attempting things for themselves.