Jelly Beans Montessori Nursery

Buttons, bread-making and sensory play give Jelly Beans Montessori Nursery its practical character. This Southend Road setting concentrates on babies and toddlers, with separate rooms for their different stages and a Montessori approach that puts everyday tasks within children's reach. Learning includes doing things for yourself, alongside songs, stories and outdoor exploration.

At its May 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, while identifying two teaching priorities: giving babies more opportunities to finish tasks independently and making conversations more appropriate to children's development. Those are useful points to keep alongside the Montessori emphasis on independence. A named approach matters most in the small decisions practitioners make during an activity.

The nursery has capacity for 35 children, with a recorded age range from birth to under five, although its current baby and toddler provision concentrates on birth to three. Its home is the Catholic Church of St. Pius X on Southend Road, Hockley. Morning, afternoon and nursery-day bookings give families different ways to use the setting.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room serves children aged 0–2, emphasising early communication, sensory discovery and close relationships; the Toddler Room serves ages 2–3, with movement, self-care and independence shaping its day. That division gives the youngest children a different starting point from toddlers practising how to manage more for themselves.

Sand, water, light, sound and textured materials are part of the sensory offer. Songs and signing sit alongside conversation and stories. These are concrete ways for children who are still developing speech to explore and communicate, rather than a day built around verbal instructions alone.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning and care, with children learning through play across areas including communication, physical development and early mathematics. Montessori adds a practical approach: children handle materials and practise ordinary tasks, with activities such as fastening buttons, polishing and setting tables. The distinction matters. EYFS is the shared framework; Montessori shapes how activities are presented here.

Practical Life links nursery learning to tasks children recognise at home. Sorting objects, preparing a table and managing fastenings give an activity a clear purpose. Sensorial work involves comparing objects through their texture, shape, sound and size, while Mathematics uses counting songs and Montessori materials. These approaches make learning something children can handle and repeat, rather than simply listen to.

In May 2022, children selected resources from shelves they could reach and searched for particular colours among books and play materials. Babies explored wooden rings and practised negotiating small steps. The examples show how early mathematical and physical learning could sit within familiar play, with the environment itself giving children opportunities to make choices.

Bread-making also featured in May 2022, but it exposed an important limitation: adults sometimes completed parts of the process that babies could have attempted. Conversations could also move too quickly or involve ideas beyond a baby's understanding. Independence therefore needs more than access to equipment. It requires adults to leave room for children to try, pause and respond.

Outdoor and Community Life

An outdoor classroom forms part of the day for both age groups. Walks include Hockley Woods, and outings also take children to the local library. These extend exploration beyond the rooms, bringing books and the natural world into the nursery experience without a stated timetable for trips.

The nursery occupies two large rooms beside an enclosed garden. In May 2022, outdoor play included digging with small spades, building in a sandpit and making chalk marks on blackboards. Those examples show different uses of outside space: physical effort, construction and creative expression, rather than outdoor time serving only as a break from indoor learning.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person and starts with an individual settling programme. That gives families a consistent relationship through which to share routines and concerns, rather than treating settling as a single handover. The key person's role includes sensitive communication with both the child and their parents.

My Montessori Child is the nursery's software for recording observations and connecting them with developmental stages. If observations indicate an individual need, the key person discusses it privately with parents and plans support with them. This makes communication part of deciding what happens next, rather than simply a record of completed activities.

In May 2022, practitioners gathered information about babies' feeding, tiredness and other daily routines when they started. Comfort included cuddles and time on an adult's lap, while achievements were recorded online for parents to access. These are dated examples of care and communication, distinct from the current key-person and settling arrangements.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The nursery has a SENCO role, including support for key people and liaison with other professionals. Parents can share reports from health visitors or speech and language therapists to help plan care and learning. With parental permission, advice can also be sought from an Area SENCO or an Early Years advisory Teacher. This gives families a specific route for discussing additional needs.

At the May 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that links with health visitors, local authority advisers and other professionals helped staff tailor support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. That finding describes practice at the inspection, while the current arrangements explain how concerns can be discussed and professional advice brought into planning.

Room leadership is identified for both the baby and toddler provision, and the baby-room leadership role also includes deputy management and SENCO responsibilities. An area and day-nursery manager provides another layer of leadership. These roles give parents useful points of contact for discussing room routines, development or a concern that needs to go beyond the key person.

The afternoon includes a quieter period for stories and rest for younger children. Breakfast and high tea are included with the relevant sessions, while families supply fresh fruit and a packed lunch for an all-day booking. Bread is baked by the children, adding food preparation to the practical learning described above.

Sessions and Attendance

The morning session runs from 8am to 1pm and includes breakfast. Afternoon bookings run from 1pm to 6pm, with high tea included; the nursery day spans 8am to 6pm and includes both. These are different attendance patterns, with the afternoon changeover allowing some children to leave while others begin their session.

Current opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 50 weeks of the year. The morning combines play, learning and rest with a snack break; afternoons include a snack and the quieter story period. Outdoor clothing matters too: the nursery asks children to bring waterproof outerwear, boots and a fleece for time outside.

Getting There

The address is Catholic Church of St. Pius X, Southend Road, Hockley, SS5 4QH. Enquiries can be made on 01702 200209 or through the contact form, and a visit-request form includes a specific Southend Road nursery option.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered for children aged three and four. Private session bookings are also offered, and families obtain current prices in a written quotation from the nursery. The attendance pattern and the funding arrangement need to be considered together when comparing the cost of a chosen week.

Food has a mixed charging arrangement: breakfast and high tea are included in the relevant session fee, while parents provide fruit and the all-day packed lunch. That distinction matters when comparing what a session includes and what needs to come from home.

• Baby independence. The May 2022 teaching priorities included allowing babies to complete more tasks themselves and adjusting conversations to their developmental stage. During a visit, ask how practitioners now give babies time to attempt bread-making and other practical activities.
• Age and room progression. The Baby Room covers ages 0–2 and the Toddler Room ages 2–3, within a nursery whose wider recorded age range extends to under five. Discuss the intended next step as your child approaches three and how that fits your childcare plans.
• Your weekly quotation. Morning, afternoon and nursery-day bookings include different meals, and parents provide lunch for all-day attendance. Request a written quotation for your chosen pattern that separates funded hours, private hours, food and non-food consumables.

Jelly Beans suits families seeking either morning or afternoon sessions as well as a nursery-day booking, with a particular emphasis on babies and toddlers. Its strongest practical appeal is the connection between Montessori learning and ordinary life: fastening clothes, preparing food, sorting materials and gradually managing more for yourself.

Separate age-based rooms, a key person and individual settling arrangements give that approach a clear care structure. The May 2022 teaching priorities remain a useful test of fit: families should look for adults who allow a child to attempt a task and wait for a response. That is where the promise of independence becomes an everyday experience.