Chives Montessori School

A working farm, long stretches of child-chosen activity and practical jobs give Chives Montessori School its character. Children can grow vegetables, explore the wider farm and work with materials indoors or outside. This is an early-years setting where independence has a concrete meaning: choosing an activity, managing a simple task and learning to care for the surroundings.

Based at Akenham Studios in Akenham, Ipswich, Chives welcomes babies from four months, with its oldest room serving children aged three to five. Three main rooms provide age-related bases, but children can move between them. That arrangement gives the day a different shape from one spent entirely within a single age group.

At its December 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Chives Good and found safeguarding effective, while identifying a need for staff to extend children's questioning and critical thinking more consistently. The practical appeal is clear, but the quality of adult conversation deserves as much attention as the materials and outdoor space.

Rooms and Ages

The Nursery takes babies from four months to around two years and provides their starting base within a setting where children can move between rooms. The Red Room mainly serves two- to three-year-olds, with an emphasis on developing independence. For children aged three to five, the Green Room emphasises confidence, respect, independence and enjoyment of learning.

Those room boundaries are accompanied by opportunities to become familiar with other spaces. In December 2023, children spent time in other rooms and ate together across age groups; parents contributed to decisions about when their child was ready to move. For a family approaching a room change, this makes familiarity and readiness more useful considerations than age alone.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, Montessori adds a particular way of organising that learning: children choose activities, work at their own pace and use practical materials within a prepared environment. The approach gives children time to attempt a task themselves rather than moving everyone through an identical sequence.

Each morning includes at least two hours for Montessori activities, with access to both indoor and outdoor work. The afternoon has a shorter work cycle and retains activity choices. Sustained time matters for a child who wants to repeat an exercise or remain absorbed in something that has caught their interest.

Practical work connects hand movements with purposeful tasks. Activities of Everyday Living develops independence and concentration through real jobs, while Mathematics Activities introduces physical quantities and sizes before written numbers. This makes the route towards later learning tangible: children handle and compare before working with symbols.

Language Activities uses sandpaper letters, insets and pink and blue boxes, alongside conversation, songs and books. Sensorial Activities separates individual sensory concepts for children to explore; Cultural Activities connects classroom learning with the natural world and relationships between living things. These are concrete additions to the statutory framework, rather than a replacement for it.

Visiting professionals teach cooking, ballet and art, and children choose whether to participate. This introduces specialist-led experiences while preserving the setting's emphasis on choice. The curriculum page explains how practical tasks and the prepared learning areas fit together.

Outdoor and Community Life

The farm setting earns its place in the day. Chives has its own grounds, where children plant vegetables, flowers and bulbs; a mud kitchen, water and sand trays, and Wendy houses provide other ways to explore. Growing something and returning to it gives children a reason to notice change over time.

Beyond the immediate garden, the wider farm is used for river walks, pond dipping and birthday picnics, as well as science and biology activities. These experiences extend learning beyond classroom materials. The surroundings become something children can investigate rather than simply a backdrop for outdoor play.

In December 2023, practical environmental activities included putting fruit leftovers into compost, conserving water and growing vegetables. Physical play included balancing on wooden planks, obstacle courses and yoga, while older children used the grassed outdoor area for energetic group games. These examples connect the setting's emphasis on caring for the natural world with ordinary actions children can take themselves.

Relationships and Communication

At the December 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that staff's knowledge of individual children supported close relationships and settling, and that the curriculum helped children develop confidence and independence. The examples were everyday ones, which is useful for parents judging what the approach means in practice.

In December 2023, children practised managing their coats and bags, pouring drinks and taking a tray to the kitchen. They could find cleaning equipment and deal with spills with little assistance. Adult support allowed room for attempts and mistakes, making independence something practised during the day rather than reserved for a planned activity.

Communication also had practical content in December 2023. Staff shared the coming week's learning activities, and children could borrow books and equipment to use with parents at home. This gave families something specific to talk about and continue beyond nursery hours, rather than relying only on a general account of how the day had gone.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

For babies, December 2023 activities included bubbles, water, paint and glue, with adults joining their exploration. Singing was used with the youngest children, while stories introduced vocabulary that older children could revisit during play. The mix gave younger children sensory experiences and older children opportunities to use language in context.

The staff team includes nursery assistants and teachers, supported by deputy and principal roles. All staff receive internal Montessori training, including how to follow children's interests and prepare suitable activities. This matters in a setting built around choice: adults still have a role in selecting resources, demonstrating their use and helping a child take the next step.

Medication requires a completed, signed parental form, and medicines must arrive in their original pharmacy container. Families managing a course of treatment therefore need to plan the handover and consent arrangements as part of the nursery day.

Sessions and Attendance

Chives Montessori School is at Akenham Studios, Akenham, Ipswich, IP6 0HL; its contact address also identifies Henley Road. Opening hours are 8am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, excluding bank holidays, with a week-long closure between Christmas and New Year.

There is no minimum booking requirement, although two sessions each week are strongly recommended. Enrolment involves requesting preferred sessions on a form, followed by written confirmation and a Welcome Pack once registration is complete. A free trial session is offered in the month before entry, providing a planned introduction before the regular arrangement begins.

Funding and Paid Extras

Chives offers Funding from 9 months, Funding for 2 year olds and 30 hours funding. For the first of these, eligibility begins in the term after a child turns nine months; eligible children may receive 30 funded hours each week. Funding does not necessarily cover the whole bill, and an additional charge may apply.

Current prices belong in the nursery's written quotation, with funded childcare kept separate from any additional paid care. The Spring 2026 menu covered three weeks and included breakfast, snacks, lunch and high tea, with dishes such as tomato pizza and scrambled eggs. It offers a dated example of the food rather than a promise about a later menu.

• Conversation alongside choice. The December 2023 improvement point concerned extending children's ideas and critical thinking consistently. During a visit, look at how adults help children explain an idea, ask a further question or develop an activity they have chosen.
• A regular rhythm. Chives has no minimum booking requirement but strongly recommends two sessions a week. Consider how that recommendation fits your intended attendance and your child's opportunities to become familiar with routines.
• Moving between rooms. Children can use rooms beyond their age-related base, and the Red Room emphasises emerging independence. Ask how a younger child's settling and readiness for a room move are handled within that arrangement.
• The funded-place bill. An additional charge may accompany funding. Before agreeing to a pattern, ask for a written breakdown covering paid hours, food, non-food consumables and the way funded hours are scheduled.

Chives suits families who value child-chosen practical learning and want outdoor experiences rooted in a working farm. Its morning Montessori work cycle and shorter afternoon cycle both retain choice, while the absence of a minimum booking requirement gives families room to propose an attendance arrangement within the opening hours.

The strongest reasons to consider it are concrete: practical learning materials, gardening, farm exploration and a day organised around growing independence. Balance those attractions with the December 2023 point about extending children's thinking. For this approach, the adult's next question matters as much as the child's freedom to choose.