Busy Lizzie's Montessori

Teddy Tennis and music-making give Busy Lizzie's Montessori a character that reaches beyond its name. Based at East Sheen Baptist Church in London, it accepts children from 17 months to 5 years. At its January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged its safeguarding arrangements effective.

The practical appeal is flexibility within a shorter nursery day: families can book mornings or long days, with attendance during school terms. The educational picture has strengths and two clear cautions. In January 2025, children explored activities indoors and outside, but changes between activities needed clearer communication and adults sometimes intervened too quickly when children met a challenge. Those details matter more than the label alone.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care: in daily life, that means learning through play, building language and developing practical skills alongside personal development. Montessori is part of the nursery's identity, and staff undertake training in the approach. Concrete activities give parents a clearer picture of the day than the name alone.

Teddy Tennis involves practising shots across a net, with warm-up activities and a sticker at the session's end. It gives children a structured physical activity with a recognisable task to practise. Ballet and dance add movement, while cookery and artwork involve making things. These are different ways for children to take part, rather than a day built solely around sitting and listening.

Music includes instrument work and rhythm, alongside singing each day during circle time. Children also take part in two concerts a year for their parents. That gives music both an everyday place and an occasion to share it with family. The nursery's curriculum page describes these activities.

In January 2025, staff used children's interests during play to introduce words and early mathematical ideas. Story sessions included questions to encourage conversation. There was a practical weakness, however: children absorbed in another activity did not consistently receive advance notice before moving to a group story. The change could interrupt their concentration and make joining the next activity harder.

Outdoor and Community Life

A garden formed part of the nursery day in January 2025, with additional funding used to extend outdoor experiences for children needing individual support. Indoor and outdoor activities both featured in the learning programme. This gives the outdoor space a role in children's experiences, rather than treating it simply as a break from learning.

Everyday independence also featured in January 2025. Children helped themselves to food and washed their hands after messy play. Yet adults sometimes took over difficult tasks, including fruit cutting, before children had enough opportunity to keep trying. For parents drawn to practical learning, the balance between assistance and perseverance is an important part of the picture.

Relationships and Communication

At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that attentive relationships and information gathered from families helped children settle quickly, highlighted effective support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and found that multilingual staff helped children learning English as an additional language make good progress.

The settling arrangements observed in January 2025 included inviting parents to remain for their child's first visit and learning about the child's interests, development and home life. That gives staff something more useful than a name and start date: a starting point for understanding the individual child.

Advice for families continues through the parent handbook. Its communication tips encourage adults to pause and listen, follow the child's interests, reduce background noise and use their strongest language together. It also recommends adding a word to a child's phrase. These are practical ideas parents can use in ordinary conversation at home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In January 2025, visual prompts helped children with SEND understand routines. Staff also received training in planning more targeted support, and additional funding was directed towards individual needs. These are concrete support mechanisms, distinct from a general promise that every child will be supported.

Staff undertake first-aid refresher training every 18 months and training in using inhalers and Epipens. Parents must communicate allergy and medication requirements in writing. Children attending Lunch Bunch, the nursery's lunchtime arrangement, bring a healthy packed lunch; the nursery publishes a nut-free policy and excludes glass and sharp items from lunchboxes.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is East Sheen Baptist Church, Temple Sheen Road, London, SW14 7PY. Opening hours are 8.45am to 2.30pm from Monday to Thursday, and 8.45am to 1pm on Friday. Attendance is term-time, with closure during school holidays.

Morning sessions and long days are booking options, and flexible attendance can be arranged around parents' requirements, college hours or sibling routines. Short-term placements and emergency or nanny-cover care are also offered. The opening window remains important: a long day here ends earlier than an evening childcare arrangement.

Registration involves completing a registration form and terms form, with a deposit credited towards the first term's fees. An acceptance email confirms a place when possible; late admissions may instead join the waiting list. The contact form takes a child's age or date of birth alongside the family's contact details.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered. The two-year-old grant provides 15 hours for children with a Wandsworth code; the separate 15-hour and 30-hour free-education offers are at the owner's discretion for families experiencing financial difficulty. Those conditions are part of the offer, rather than a promise that every family can use either pattern.

Ballet or Tennis may carry an additional charge under the two-year-old grant arrangement, while Ballet can be added as an extra under the other free-education offers. Families provide the packed lunch for Lunch Bunch. A deposit contributes towards the first term's fees, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• An early finish and term-time attendance. Friday closes at 1pm, and the nursery closes during school holidays. These boundaries need to fit the family's working and holiday arrangements, even where morning or long-day bookings are flexible.
• Help versus independence. In January 2025, adults sometimes stepped in before children could persist with a difficult task, and activity changes needed clearer warnings. During a visit, ask how staff now handle both moments.
• Lunch and allergies. Lunch Bunch requires a packed lunch under the nursery's healthy-lunch and nut-free policies. Allergy-affected families should confirm current practice and provide requirements in writing.
• Funding conditions. The Wandsworth-code requirement and discretionary free-education offers deserve attention. Ask how the intended attendance pattern would use funded hours and what non-food consumables parents would need to supply or pay for.

Busy Lizzie's Montessori suits families seeking morning sessions or longer nursery days during term time, especially those who value music, practical activities and Teddy Tennis. Its January 2025 Good judgement sits alongside specific strengths in relationships and inclusion, with equally specific improvements needed in activity transitions and opportunities for children to persevere.

The deciding practical feature is the shape of the week. Flexible bookings offer choice within an early-finishing day; school-holiday closure remains a firm boundary. For a family whose routine fits those hours, the combination of active learning and individually informed care gives this nursery a clear appeal.