Daisy Tree Montessori Nursery

Practical independence gives Daisy Tree Montessori Nursery its character: choosing a task, working with materials and learning to do things for oneself. Its group-wide Montessori approach puts children's individual pace and hands-on exploration first. For parents, the appeal is a day built around participation, rather than simply being kept occupied.

The nursery is at 30 Bowden Lane in Marple, Stockport. At its August 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged provision Good, found safeguarding effective and identified support for children with SEND through specialist assessment and individual learning programmes. Those are dated findings, with useful detail beneath the headline grade.

In August 2023, children aged 0 to 4 attended, with babies, toddlers and preschool children taking part in different stages of learning. Full-day, morning and afternoon bookings now give families more than one attendance pattern. Funding is stretched across the year, with separate arrangements for food and hygiene supplies on funded days.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play, conversation and everyday experiences help children build skills and understand the world. Montessori sits alongside that framework. The group-wide approach gives children choices about their work, encourages investigation and treats mistakes as part of learning. That distinction matters: the approach shapes how activities happen, while the EYFS remains the common foundation.

Activities of Everyday Living is the group's practical-life strand. Pouring and transferring materials sit alongside threading and polishing, giving ordinary actions a learning purpose. These tasks are intended to develop concentration, coordination and independence. The attraction for a family is concrete: children practise managing a task themselves, rather than having every step done for them.

Sensorial, another group-wide curriculum area, uses equipment to explore properties such as temperature, colour and dimensions. Language activities include letters traced by touch and shapes used for drawing practice; mathematics connects number symbols with quantities before moving towards more complex ideas. These are specific resources and sequences, rather than an unexplained curriculum label.

In August 2023, books supplied another route into learning. Toddlers asked about sea creatures pictured in a book, while preschool children spent sustained periods exploring favourites. Staff answered questions during children's chosen play, helping conversations move beyond naming an object. The role-play area also gave children opportunities to reproduce everyday actions, including ironing clothes.

At the August 2023 inspection, Ofsted identified two weaknesses: staff needed clearer intended learning for adult-led activities and a better understanding of how reading develops, so literacy tasks matched children's development. These are meaningful qualifications to the Good judgement. A plentiful selection of activities is only part of the picture; what an individual child is meant to gain from one matters too.

Outdoor and Community Life

In August 2023, the garden offered more than room to exercise. Younger children explored mint through smell and touch, with herbs positioned within reach; older children watched ants and discussed how some develop wings. Small discoveries became opportunities for questions and explanations. The physical detail is appealing: plants were accessible to children, rather than merely decorative.

During that same month, staff also took children into the community and to activities beyond the nursery. Conversations drew on children's siblings and holidays as well as shared experiences. This connected learning with lives outside the setting, giving children familiar subjects to talk about and reasons to listen to one another.

Relationships and Communication

In August 2023, staff knew about children's family experiences and parents had positive relationships with the team and key persons. Familiar adults and conversations about home life formed part of daily care. For a young child, that offers continuity between nursery experiences and the people and events that matter at home.

Communication also had practical content at that time. Families received the title of the book being explored that week, allowing them to find a copy or an online version and continue conversations at home. Staff shared sleep timings too. These are useful examples of communication because they give parents something specific to use, rather than simply a general account of the day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A designated safeguarding lead and a SENDCO role form part of the current team structure. These identify responsibilities within the nursery; they do not replace the dated inspection judgement. Families considering additional support have a clear role to discuss their child's needs with.

In August 2023, medication procedures included records completed with parents, and sleeping children were supervised and checked. Staff also knew individual dietary needs. These care routines deserve attention alongside learning activities, especially for families whose children need medication or have an established sleep routine.

Meals are cooked at the nursery, with menus changing between summer and winter and food offered across breakfast, lunch, tea and snack times. The food policy excludes nut products, and menus are adapted with parents for allergies; older children are encouraged to serve themselves, making mealtimes another opportunity to practise independence.

Sessions and Attendance

Full Day Session runs from 8am to 6pm. Half Day Morning Session is 8am to 1pm, while Half Day Afternoon Session is 1pm to 6pm. These are different booking choices, allowing families to choose a complete day or either half. Additional ad hoc days can be booked ahead.

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, throughout the year apart from bank holidays. The earlier opening is separate from the standard full-day session, and an early-start charge falls outside funded hours. Registration enquiries can be made through the enquiry form, by telephone on 0161 426 0054 or by email to stockport@daisy-tree.uk.

Leaving requires four weeks' paid notice. Reducing attendance also requires at least four weeks' notice, with reductions taking effect on the first of the following month after that notice period. The timing matters when work patterns change: giving notice does not mean a reduced booking begins immediately. Holiday absence does not reduce the bill.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers the universal 15-hour entitlement and the extended 30-hour entitlement, with the latter covering eligible working families from the term after children reach 9 months. Hours are stretched across the full year: the nursery offers 11 funded hours a week under the universal entitlement and 22 under the extended entitlement. Attendance beyond those hours is privately charged.

On funded days, an optional separate charge covers meals, hygiene supplies and outings. Families can instead provide food and hygiene supplies under the funded-only arrangement on Mondays and Fridays, subject to the consumables policy. Parents supply nappies, nappy cream and formula milk. For private or mixed funded/private bookings, the nursery supplies meals, snacks and hygiene consumables, with its consumables charge applied per funded day.

Changing who supplies food and hygiene items for Monday or Friday funded-only sessions requires a term's notice, with the change beginning the following term. Funded attendance patterns are also agreed through a termly declaration, and changes within the term require exceptional circumstances and local-authority agreement. These conditions make the funding arrangement a planning decision, as well as a payment decision.

Additional activities can carry separate charges. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and registration page sets out payment and booking terms.

• Learning intentions and early reading. The August 2023 improvement points concerned the purpose of adult-led activities and the developmental sequence for literacy. On a visit, ask how staff choose the next learning step for an individual child and how that informs reading activities.
• Your child's room. Babies and toddlers have their own room provision, while the August 2023 visit also included preschool children. Ask which room would accommodate your child's current age and what its usual group size is.
• Funded-day choices. Providing your own food and hygiene supplies is tied to Monday and Friday funded-only attendance, and changing that arrangement takes a term's notice. Consider whether those days and that notice period fit your working pattern.
• Allergies and menus. The food policy excludes nut products and includes menu adaptation with parents. Families managing allergies should confirm current preparation and serving arrangements for their child's specific needs.

Daisy Tree suits families interested in Montessori's practical tasks and child-chosen exploration, whether they need full days or morning or afternoon sessions. The garden observations and book-based conversations from August 2023 give substance to that appeal. They also remain a dated picture of nursery life.

The decision needs equal attention to learning and logistics. Adult-led learning and early reading were the two improvement priorities, while stretched funding, funded-only days and notice rules shape how attendance works. For families whose preferred pattern fits those terms, there is a concrete combination of practical learning, freshly prepared food and several session choices to weigh.