Holly Tree Montessori

Independence starts with small, useful tasks at Holly Tree Montessori: pouring, threading and moving objects carefully. Its Montessori approach gives children a choice of activities, with staff guiding hands-on discovery rather than directing every step. This is a nursery for parents who want everyday self-care to count as learning.

At its February 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated Holly Tree Outstanding and judged safeguarding effective. The setting has capacity for 42 children aged 6 to 60 months, at 108 Edgeley Road in Edgeley, Stockport. Full days and separate morning and afternoon sessions give families different ways to use it.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the foundation for children's learning, including understanding other people, expressing feelings and exploring the world. Montessori adds a particular way of working: children select tasks, investigate materials and collaborate on larger projects. Staff help them pursue discoveries, and mistakes are treated as part of learning. The emphasis is on doing something worthwhile rather than earning a reward.

Activities of Everyday Living makes that approach concrete. Pouring, polishing and threading give children practice in caring for themselves and their surroundings. Sensorial equipment introduces differences in temperature, colour and dimensions through the senses. These are purposeful tasks that children can repeat and refine, rather than simply watch an adult demonstrate.

Language work connects a letter's appearance with its sound. Sandpaper letters add touch to that process, while colouring shapes drawn with insets prepares children for writing. Mathematics similarly connects number symbols with quantities before moving towards sums, sets and time. Storybooks and reference books support both imaginative reading and finding things out. The curriculum description explains how these activities fit together.

For younger children, treasure baskets provide materials to explore; toddlers also take part in heuristic play sessions. Jo-Jingles adds visiting music and rhythm sessions, with a separate charge. Its value is a different opportunity for children to express themselves alongside their self-chosen work.

Outdoor and Community Life

Children use the garden daily. Indoor and outdoor block play gives small groups opportunities to build together, solve problems and talk through their ideas. Mark-making materials are accessible through the day, so creative activity can begin with a child's own interest rather than wait for a scheduled task.

In February 2024, children investigated magnets and melting, and made artwork inspired by artists they had learnt about. Physical activity included yoga, football, scooters and obstacle challenges. Visits to the local library brought books into the wider nursery experience.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person to support settling and development. Settling sessions are arranged around the needs of the family, child and nursery, rather than following one fixed pattern. That gives the adults a chance to build familiarity before ordinary attendance begins.

In February 2024, babies helped with tidying and handwashing, toddlers practised putting on slippers and pouring drinks, and older children managed wetsuits and wrote their names. A peace table gave children somewhere to think about feelings, while a sensory room supported mindfulness activities. These were concrete ways of making independence and emotional development part of daily care.

Parents also met staff to discuss the educational philosophy in February 2024, and a barbecue brought families together. Family events gave children opportunities to share their cultural and religious backgrounds.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its February 2024 inspection, Ofsted found highly effective support for children with SEND and children learning English as an additional language, alongside exceptional progress. The current group-wide SEND policy sets out the mechanisms behind support: a designated SENDCO coordinates staff, families and outside professionals, using the Graduated Approach, a cycle of assessment, planning, action and review.

Parents are included throughout that process. Additional settling sessions can support a child with an identified or suspected need, and referrals to outside professionals require parental consent. Team Around the Child meetings bring the people involved together to agree support; when a child moves on, information sharing requires written consent and the SENDCO can arrange a handover meeting with the next setting. The practical benefit is continuity between adults and settings.

Breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks are supplied, with meals cooked on site; the food policy excludes nut products and provides for adapting menus with parents where allergies require it. Safeguarding lead roles are part of the staff structure, and staff suitability checks, safeguarding training and paediatric first aid are also part of the arrangements.

Sessions and Attendance

Full Day Session runs from 8am to 6pm. Half Day Morning Session runs from 8am to 1pm, and Half Day Afternoon Session from 1pm to 6pm. Earlier starts at 7.30am or 7.45am must be arranged through the office in advance and carry an additional charge. Extra ad hoc days can also be booked ahead, but ordinary weekly sessions cannot simply be swapped.

Attendance runs across the year, Monday to Friday. Closures include bank holidays and the period between Christmas and New Year; Christmas Eve may involve an early or complete closure, and refurbishment can account for up to four working days. Families therefore need to plan around more than bank holidays alone.

Leaving requires four weeks' paid notice. Reducing sessions also requires at least four weeks' notice, with the change taking effect on the first of the following month under the policy introduced on 20 April 2026. Ad hoc sessions require a week's cancellation notice to avoid the charge. These terms matter if a working pattern is likely to change.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the working-parent 30-hour offer, universal 15-hour funding and early education for eligible two-year-olds. Holly Tree stretches funding across the year: the 30-hour entitlement becomes 22 funded hours a week, while universal funding becomes 11. Additional attendance is privately paid. Parents complete and return the funding agreement, after which the nursery checks the eligibility code.

For funded days, an optional separate consumables charge covers food, hygiene items and outings. Meals and snacks are supplied for private and mixed funded/private bookings; hygiene consumables are also supplied, while parents bring nappies, nappy cream and formula. Families choosing to provide food and hygiene consumables themselves use the fully funded Monday or Friday arrangements and must follow the consumables policy. Changing that choice requires a term's notice, with the change beginning in the next term.

A non-refundable registration charge and a refundable deposit apply at registration. The deposit's return depends on four weeks' written cancellation notice and accounts being up to date. Payments are due in advance, and holidays or other absences do not reduce charges. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and registration page sets out the booking terms.

Getting There

The address is 108 Edgeley Road, Stockport, SK3 0TT. Registration enquiries can be made through the enquiry form, by email to stockport@holly-tree.uk or by telephone on 0161 477 5388.

• Funding and half days. Morning and afternoon bookings are offered, but funded-only attendance and opting out of supplied consumables have specific day and policy conditions. Ask for a written breakdown for the attendance pattern you intend to use.
• Changing a booking. Reductions require four weeks' notice and a month-boundary start. Work through the effective date before committing to a pattern that may change.
• Your child's daily group. Treasure baskets, heuristic play and independent tasks serve different stages of development. At a visit, ask how the youngest children's groups are organised and how settling sessions would work for your child.
• Allergy arrangements. Food is prepared on site and menus can be adapted with parents. Allergy-affected families should confirm the current preparation and serving arrangements before starting.

Holly Tree suits families looking for hands-on Montessori learning through either full days or separate morning and afternoon sessions. Practical tasks, tactile letters and daily garden access give the educational approach substance. The February 2024 Outstanding judgement adds a strong inspection position.

The decision needs a careful match between the child's attendance pattern and the family's funding arrangements. Separate extras, funded-only day conditions and notice rules shape the cost and flexibility of the place. Parents who value child-led discovery and are comfortable with those booking terms have clear reasons to consider Holly Tree.