Children Of The World Montessori School

Buttoning, pouring and sandpaper letters give this Windsor nursery its character. Montessori learning puts practical materials within children's daily experience, while an enclosed garden, a climbing frame and space for bikes bring movement into the mix. Children can choose activities for themselves rather than spend the whole day following an adult's sequence.

Children Of The World Montessori School accepts children from 17 months to 5 years and has 40 places in total at St Mark's Hall, Dedworth Road. At its June 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good and found effective safeguarding, positive support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and good progress, including for children receiving that support.

Morning, afternoon and full-day sessions follow a term-time rhythm.

Rooms and Ages

Toddler Class combines individual time with the classroom leader and opportunities to explore materials independently, alongside adult-supported painting, colouring, water activities and sand play. Individual attention sits alongside independent choice.

The main hall contains classrooms and shared space, with an open layout that allows children to move between activities. Outside, an enclosed garden includes a climbing frame, while a separate gated area accommodates cars and bikes. These give children different ways to practise movement, from climbing to riding.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning, development and care, with play helping children build skills at their own pace. Montessori sits alongside that framework here: adults observe children's interests and needs, and children select suitable activities from an organised environment. Choice has a practical purpose, giving children opportunities to begin tasks and manage materials themselves.

Practical-life activities include setting a table, cutting, fastening buttons and pouring. These connect learning with things children can use outside the classroom. Sensory work explores touch, sound and the other senses, while sandpaper letters introduce the relationship between letter shapes and sounds. The Montessori curriculum makes these materials central to the approach.

Number work includes counting and recognising shapes; creative activities use paint, drawing and collage. Music brings singing, instruments and movement into group time. Children also have access to iPads with early-years learning software, so the materials extend beyond the practical objects associated with Montessori.

In June 2025, younger children explored water and play dough, while older children discussed honeycomb, its patterns and new vocabulary. These examples show how physical exploration and conversation can work together. The improvement priority was to make adult involvement in children's unplanned play more effective, so that an interesting discovery led to further exploration rather than stopping there.

Outdoor and Community Life

A free-flow area offers books, a chalkboard and gardening activities. Beyond it, the secret garden gives children somewhere to search for bugs or spend time beneath trees. The outdoor offer therefore includes quieter exploration as well as climbing and wheeled play.

Parents can take part in the summer sports day and Christmas carol concert, alongside trips and fundraising activities during the year.

Relationships and Communication

In June 2025, children had close relationships with their key person and with one another. Older children helped younger ones prepare fruit at snack time, and adults responded calmly when behaviour needed redirecting.

Positive Discipline, used in Toddler Class, combines firm boundaries with kindness, offering choices and helping children find solutions rather than using punishment. It gives the approach to behaviour a clear explanation: children are supported to communicate and work through what to do next.

Parents can request regular progress meetings and are encouraged to learn about Montessori so they can support development at home. The inclusion arrangements also provide for everyday conversations and additional meetings at a mutually suitable time.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO role coordinates additional support, helps staff with observations and planning, and liaises with other agencies. Individual education plans can be used where appropriate, with parents involved in decisions and outside-agency involvement requiring their consent. The arrangements include access to Speech and Language Therapy, health visitors and other specialist services according to the child's needs.

Settling arrangements involve staff working with parents, and sessions may be adjusted when an individual child's needs require it; any need for extra staffing is discussed with the family. Support can therefore affect the attendance pattern.

The inclusion policy allows activities and resources to be adapted for different learning, sensory and physical needs. It also provides for seeking additional support or funding where needed. At the June 2025 visit, Ofsted found that staff identified developmental concerns, discussed them with parents and worked effectively with professionals such as speech and language therapists.

For the move to primary education, staff aim to exchange information with local schools and support shared visits where appropriate. This is transition work: helping the next setting understand the child and making the change more familiar.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is St Mark's Hall, Dedworth Road, Windsor, SL4 4JS. Attendance is term-time only, Monday to Friday, with school holidays closed. A morning session runs from 8.30am to noon, an afternoon from 12.30pm to 3.30pm, and a full day from 8.30am to 3.30pm. The non-funded fee structure also identifies half-day bookings.

Early start runs from 8.15am to 9am on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Late collection at 4pm is offered on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. These additions have separate charges, and their days matter: families should plan around the actual weekly pattern rather than assume the same extension every day.

Fees are billed termly and rise annually in the autumn term. Current prices come in a personalised written quotation, with enquiries by telephone or email. That quotation needs to match the chosen sessions and any funded hours, since the ordinary session windows and funded windows differ.

Getting There

Parking is provided for collection and drop-off, and the grounds have a gated entrance. The nursery occupies the hall itself, with its outdoor play areas within the grounds.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funding is offered for under-twos and children aged two, three and four, including working parents entitlement. Funded attendance follows the term-time model, with up to 15 or 30 hours depending on eligibility and availability; funded windows are 8.30am to 11.30am, 11.30am to 2.30pm, or noon to 3pm. Private hours outside the entitlement carry a charge.

Parents provide packed lunches, excluding sweets, crisps and chocolate; water and session snacks are supplied. For funded hours, nursery-supplied snacks and non-food consumables (nappies, wipes and nappy sacks) carry separate charges, covered by Enhanced Provision for families choosing that package. Families can instead bring these items from home: snacks must meet the food and nutrition policy, and missing nappy supplies incur a charge when supplied by the nursery.

Enhanced Provision is a discretionary package of additional activities using specialist materials, speech and language work, outdoor learning and celebrations. It includes the additional time needed to match full session windows, as well as consumables and Playball, the separately charged sessions held on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Some activities and resources can be excluded when parents opt out of the relevant additional charges, making the package decision consequential rather than simply an invoice preference.

• Term-time coverage. School holidays are closed, and early starts and late collection operate on particular weekdays. Families needing coverage throughout the year should weigh those boundaries against the morning, afternoon and full-day options.
• Funded attendance and extras. Funded windows differ from ordinary sessions, and Enhanced Provision changes which extras are included. A private tour can be arranged during term; use it to discuss a written quotation showing the chosen hours, activities and consumables separately.
• Child-led exploration. The June 2025 improvement priority concerned extending curiosity during spontaneous play. During a visit, ask how adults now build on a child's unexpected discovery while preserving Montessori choice.

Children Of The World Montessori School suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as a term-time full day, with practical Montessori materials and several kinds of outdoor space. Toddler Class's individual work, the secret garden and clear additional-support mechanisms give parents concrete features to weigh.

The Good judgement in June 2025 provides a useful inspection anchor, with a specific improvement priority around adult interactions in spontaneous play. The main practical decisions are whether term-time attendance fits family life and which funded-hours extras belong in the chosen package.