Wimbledon Village Montessori School

A classroom exceeding 175 square metres, Montessori materials and the Emmanuel church garden give Wimbledon Village Montessori School a recognisable character. Children have space for independent work, a smaller room for group activities and a large hall for movement. The appeal is concrete: learning through objects children can handle, alongside room to move.

At its October 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with positive relationships supporting children's emotional wellbeing. That judgement is dated. Two improvement priorities also matter: involving quieter children more effectively in group activities and providing greater opportunities for appropriate outdoor risk-taking.

The nursery is at 26 Lingfield Road, Wimbledon, SW19 4QD, with capacity for 45 children in total. In October 2021, children attending were aged two to four. Morning, afternoon and all-day attendance feature in its session arrangements, with additional clubs extending the day.

Learning and Activities

Montessori here means children choosing practical tasks and working at their own pace with purpose-made materials. It sits alongside the EYFS, the framework covering children's learning, development and care, including communication, physical development and relationships. The nursery connects children's work with Montessori materials to assessment within that framework. The approach adds a particular way of teaching; it does not replace the common early-years requirements.

Practical Life activities make the connection between home and nursery tangible. Children transfer objects using spoons or tweezers, practising controlled movements through everyday tasks. Sensorial work makes differences easier to explore: Tactile Boards introduce texture, while the Pink Tower uses differently sized cubes.

Mathematics also starts with objects. Number rods and cards connect quantities with numerals, while golden beads represent the decimal system. Language work uses letter sounds, word-building, stories and songs. Cultural activities move from a whole subject towards its parts, such as considering the world before its continents. Children can therefore encounter an idea physically before working with a more abstract version of it.

The EYFS resources broaden that practical offer. Story sacks and puppets support conversation; sorting bears and wooden shapes support mathematical exploration. A balancing beam, bikes and threading activities give children different ways to practise movement and coordination. The EYFS in Montessori curriculum page explains how these resources connect with the areas of learning.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Emmanuel church garden provides outdoor free play during both morning and afternoon attendance. Inside, the large hall accommodates Montessori work and movement activities, while the smaller room supports focused group work.

Regular walks to local parks extend outdoor experiences beyond the garden. In October 2021, outings included a farm and a theatre, and specialist music and sports teachers contributed to activities.

The 2025/26 activity arrangements included weekly Football, Piano Music lesson, French, Interactive Music and Dancing, and Gymnastics & Show and Tell. Football involved visiting specialist staff; French involved language activities; the gymnastics activities worked on core muscles. These additions were included within the all-inclusive package or separately charged under the optional-extras arrangement, so participation and cost depended on the package chosen.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key worker, and settling can be extended to suit the individual. Planning takes account of changes such as potty training, a new sibling or moving home.

A Learning Journey brings together children's development, their own mark-making and comments, and contributions from home. WOW cards allow parents to share achievements outside nursery. A home learning diary provides another route for comments and questions, giving communication a written form as well as daily conversation.

Individual parent meetings are arranged towards the end of the autumn and summer terms, with developmental reports. Settling meetings and the two-year progress check add further opportunities to discuss development. Coffee mornings before children start introduce families to their key teachers and to one another; workshops at the beginning of the academic year explain the connection between Montessori and the EYFS.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the October 2021 inspection, Ofsted found that the key-person arrangements addressed individual needs effectively and that observation and assessment supported children's progress. In October 2021, children learning English as an additional language understood the routines, and children practised independence by putting toys away and helping at meals.

The same October 2021 findings identified a weakness during group activities: quieter, less confident children did not consistently receive the support needed to participate fully. Outdoors, children enjoyed physical activity, but opportunities to attempt suitable challenges were narrower than they should have been.

Staff receive continuing professional development, appraisals and management support. The nursery also uses a duty rota and ongoing risk assessments to organise supervision.

Children can bring packed lunches, while hot lunches were separately charged in the 2025/26 arrangements. Milk and dried snacks were included in the all-inclusive package, but separately itemised alongside consumables in the funded optional-extras arrangement.

Sessions and Attendance

Attendance is organised around term time. The all-day pattern runs from 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday. Under the 2025/26 arrangements, morning patterns ran from 8.45am to 11.45am or from 9am to noon, with afternoon attendance from noon to 3pm.

The 2025/26 schedule also offered Morning Club from 8.20am to 9am and After School Club ending at 3.30pm, with starts at 2.45pm or 3pm. Extra sessions required advance booking. These extensions provide a different attendance option from the core sessions, but the arrangement remains considerably shorter than an early-morning-to-evening childcare day.

The 2025/26 terms expected children to remain for at least an academic year. They also required at least five mornings each week during the academic year in which a child turns four, and excluded places for children planning to leave for a state school at three. That is a substantial commitment for families considering a later change of setting.

For 2026/27, terms end at noon and there are half-term breaks and staff inset days. Families need to plan around those closures as well as the usual session times. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 020 8944 0772 or through the contact form.

Funding and Paid Extras

The 2025/26 funding arrangements covered eligible two-year-olds receiving certain government support and universal funding for three-year-olds from the term after their third birthday. They also referred to up to 30 hours for eligible working families with three-year-olds. Funded attendance was arranged within term-time sessions; entitlement and the nursery's participation do not establish an individual family's eligibility.

The charge structure separated all-inclusive attendance from funded childcare with optional extras. In the all-inclusive package, wipes, tissues, sun cream and hand sanitiser were included. In the funded optional-extras arrangement, those consumables, milk and dried snacks were separately charged. Packed lunches came from home, and hot lunches carried a separate charge.

Activity extras were individually itemised, as were education and reporting packages. Families comparing packages should distinguish the statutory EYFS requirements from additional presentations, materials and communication services. Current prices belong in the nursery's written quotation, with the selected attendance pattern and extras clearly identified.

• Group participation. In October 2021, quieter children needed better support during shared activities. On a visit, ask how practitioners now draw a hesitant child into group learning.
• Outdoor challenge. The October 2021 improvement priorities included more appropriate risk-taking outdoors. Ask to see how garden activities offer manageable physical challenges as well as free play.
• Attendance commitment. The 2025/26 terms expected an academic-year stay and five mornings in the year a child turns four. Confirm how the current agreement fits your intended start, attendance pattern and move to school.
• Package choice. The 2025/26 arrangements separated inclusive packages from funded sessions with individually charged extras. Request a written quotation showing your chosen sessions, food, consumables and activities together.

Wimbledon Village Montessori School suits families drawn to practical, self-directed learning, with tangible materials, a spacious classroom and garden access. It serves morning-only, afternoon-only and all-day attendance, rather than a single pattern. The Learning Journey, diaries and parent meetings also give families several ways to contribute to children's learning.

The October 2021 Good judgement provides a dated quality reference, while the group-participation and outdoor-challenge priorities temper the picture. Attendance commitments and package choices are equally important to the decision. For families whose plans fit those terms, the strongest appeal is the combination of hands-on Montessori work and sustained communication between home and nursery.