Staunton Montessori Nursery School

Sandpaper letters, a nursery pony and woodland with an Alpine log cabin give Staunton Montessori Nursery School a clear character. Practical learning runs through the offer: children handle materials, practise everyday tasks and explore outdoors. Renovated nineteenth-century barns house the nursery in Staunton in the Vale, Nottinghamshire. This is a rural setting with more to its educational approach than a picturesque address.

At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found safeguarding effective, with strong relationships helping children settle and carefully judged adult support extending their learning. That judgement belongs to 2022. A later safeguarding-related regulatory visit is a material consideration, addressed below.

The nursery accepts children aged 12 months to five years and has capacity for 65 children. Morning, afternoon and day sessions sit alongside breakfast and after-school provision, giving families several attendance patterns rather than a single booking option.

Rooms and Ages

Little Apple covers children aged 12 to 24 months, Green Apple is for two-year-olds, and Red Apple covers ages three to five. These age groups distinguish the youngest children from those approaching school, but the whole-setting capacity should not be read as the size of any individual group.

The physical setting matters here. Converted barns provide the indoor accommodation, while the outdoor play space contains climbing and balancing equipment, balls and wheeled toys. There is scope for movement as well as table-based work. The woodland provision adds a separate setting for exploration rather than relying entirely on the nursery play area.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the required foundation for children's learning, development and care, including learning through play and support for communication, movement and social development. Montessori adds the nursery's particular approach: children choose suitable activities, with adults guiding their use of materials and helping them work at their own pace. Montessori complements the EYFS, which remains the statutory framework against which Ofsted inspects the nursery.

Everyday independence has concrete expression. Practical life work includes fastening coats, polishing and managing shoelaces. These are recognisable tasks with a purpose beyond completing an exercise. Sensorial materials ask children to compare texture, colour, sound and weight, turning ideas that might otherwise remain abstract into things they can handle and distinguish.

Literacy uses sandpaper letters and a movable alphabet. Letters and Sounds guides work on listening, speech sounds and connecting sounds with letters; the staff policy includes short daily phonics activities and small-group work. Children can trace a letter before using alphabet pieces to build a word. Interest and concentration determine when the individual work begins, rather than pressure to start before a child is ready.

Number work follows a similarly concrete route, using counters and textured numerals before introducing addition and subtraction. Sorting, matching and comparing everyday objects link mathematical language with practical experience. Art and cooking extend opportunities to make something, while Sing a Rainbow Music Workshops introduce singing, dance and musical instruments. The curriculum overview explains these elements together.

In September 2022, toddlers squeezed oranges and poured their juice, while older children investigated citrus fruit using child-safe knives. Adults alternated between offering help and leaving children to pursue an idea. These examples show the approach in action at that time: ordinary materials became opportunities to practise coordination, make choices and talk about what children noticed.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School means learning through outdoor experiences and engagement with nature. Staunton's Woodland Outdoor Learning Centre has its own woodland site, with a teepee and Alpine log cabin; the route from the nursery crosses a meadow. Guided countryside walks introduce plants, animals and wildlife. Full Forest School sessions are for Red Apple children, organised in six-week blocks with mornings changing each term. Green Apple children visit the site periodically for introductory activities. Outdoor learning sits alongside Montessori work indoors, with participation differing by age group.

Pony Petting is also part of the curriculum, with no additional charge for keeping the pony or the associated insurance. It adds an animal encounter to the rural offer. It should not be confused with a regular riding programme.

In September 2022, children tackled a woodland trim trail with encouragement to persevere, and older children climbed trees and used large equipment in the paddock. Storytelling also moved outdoors: a bear-hunt story prompted children to explore textures with their feet, splash through water and stomp through mud. The combination was physical and imaginative, with children learning how to manage sticks safely as part of the woodland experience.

Relationships and Communication

In September 2022, staff knew children's interests and development closely, and worked with parents on changes between stages of nursery life. Care routines included explaining a clothing change to a child and allowing a little more play before it happened. The useful detail is the interaction: an adult explained the next step rather than simply interrupting the child's activity.

Communication has several current routes. Tapestry is an online learning journal where parents can see observations, photographs and videos, comment on entries and contribute experiences from home. Termly progress reports provide a further overview, and parents' evenings usually take place annually. This gives families both an ongoing account of daily learning and a more structured opportunity to discuss development.

Regular newsletters cover projects, events and nursery news. Staff are also available after sessions for questions and support. The literacy policy assigns responsibility for tracking a child's phonics development to their key person, linking individual observation with planning the next steps. Children's information is passed to their next school, supporting continuity when they move on.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Parents must notify the nursery in writing about medical conditions or learning difficulties requiring additional supervision. This is a practical starting point for discussing an individual child's needs. The terms also require prompt written notification of infectious illness and restrict return while the child is unwell, subject to medical advice.

Following a regulatory visit on 13 March 2024, Ofsted reported unmet requirements concerning procedures for allegations against staff, action taken to put matters right, a review of those procedures and further safeguarding training being provided. The published outcome is dated 14 March 2024; it does not establish a later completion position.

Sessions and Attendance

A minimum booking of two sessions per week applies. Morning Session runs from 9am to 1.15pm, Afternoon Session from 1.15pm to 3pm, and School Day from 9am to 3pm. The Red Apple short day runs from 9am to 2pm and is restricted to children receiving Free Entitlement funding. Those differences matter: the shorter funded day and the full nursery day end at different times.

Breakfast Club runs from 8am to 9am, with After-School Club from 3pm to 4pm. Nursery attendance follows term-time arrangements, with term dates based on Nottinghamshire Local Authority dates unless families are notified otherwise. A separate Summer School Holiday Club has hours of 9am to 3.30pm.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01400 282 860. Enrolment involves completing and returning a form, but an application and enrolment payment do not themselves guarantee a place. The terms make the induction deposit the step that confirms an offered place.

Getting There

The address is Staunton in the Vale, Nottingham, NG13 9PE. A signposted private drive provides access near the Staunton Arms, and the directions cover approaches from the A1 and A52. Families choosing this rural location need an attendance pattern that works with their own travel arrangements.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and privately paid hours are both offered. The funding arrangements include the universal entitlement of 15 hours and an additional 15-hour entitlement for eligible families, with the nursery offering up to 25 funded hours through its five-hour daily pattern. Funding is delivered during term time over 38 weeks; eligibility conditions apply, and hours outside the funded periods are charged privately.

For Red Apple children using Free Entitlement funding, the morning session carries no additional hours charge, while the full day includes privately charged time. Means-tested bursaries can help with those additional hours. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, and the terms and conditions set out the contractual arrangements.

Snacks are included in fees, while parents provide packed lunches; hot lunches can also be arranged directly with the Staunton Arms Restaurant. The nursery publishes a nut-free policy, and children help distribute snacks and drinks.

Parents supply nappies and wipes where needed, and must apply sun cream before attendance in summer. Fees include specialist activities such as music, dance, yoga, gardening, cooking and forest schooling. An enrolment charge applies except when a child attends solely for government-funded hours; notice is normally a full half term in writing, with four weeks applying to funded-only attendance.

• Safeguarding procedures. The outcome dated 14 March 2024 records action on allegation-handling procedures and further training being provided. Ask how those changes were completed and how staff understanding is maintained.
• Different finishing times. Morning, funded short-day and School Day attendance have different end points, while After-School Club finishes at 4pm. Choose the combination that fits your working day and term-time needs.
• Outdoor preparation and allergies. Woodland sessions require suitable footwear, leg coverage and weather protection, and packed lunches must follow the nut-free policy. Allergy-affected families should confirm current practice before attendance.
• A visit with the youngest child in mind. A tour can be booked by calling the office. For a child joining Little Apple, ask how settling, rest and the day's group arrangements work alongside the practical and outdoor activities.

Staunton suits families seeking Montessori learning with substantial outdoor experiences, whether they want morning sessions, afternoon attendance or the School Day with breakfast or after-school care. Sandpaper letters, practical tasks, music and the woodland site give the offer substance. The term-time pattern and different session endings require careful planning.

The September 2022 inspection provides a dated assessment, while the March 2024 safeguarding outcome deserves direct discussion. For parents drawn to hands-on learning and a rural setting, the educational offer is clear; the later procedural changes belong in the decision too.