Ladybird Montessori offers full and part time places: 8am-6pm, Monday - Friday, closed on bank holidays.

Ladybird Nurseries have been established since 1990.

Our Montessori Nursery School is situated a few doors along from the baby and toddler nursery. The nursery is housed in a large and airy building and is equipped with age appropriate materials.

The nursery provides a large main room and a smaller arts and crafts room. We are also fortunate enough to have a large gymnasium which we utilise for music and movement, dance, sports and play etc. It is a wonderful asset in bad weather.

Our self contained garden offers a safe and secure area of play, discovery conservation. The children have access to digging and planting area and they have the opportunity to take part in outdoor science activities.

We are situated 100 metres from Ravenscourt Park and the children enjoy regular outings to the park and local library. Montessori Education Montessori education is based upon the work of Maria Montessori and her discovery that children learn directly from the environment and relatively little from a teacher addressing a class.

Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870; she quickly set herself away from the other girls at school by her determination to have a good education. Despite opposition from her father she studied engineering and later switched to medicine. She later became Italy’s first woman Physician. In 1901 she was appointed Director for a centre which hosted children with severe mental health problem in Rome; it was during her time here that she became appalled at the lack of respect shown to these children. The application of a systematic, scientific approach combined with a loving maternal relationship with the children allowed her to tailor programmes of education, specific to their needs.

In 1907 she opened “Casa dei Bambini” (Children’s house) and provided the children with a range of materials made from natural resources, which were both didactic and pleasing to the eye. She believed in putting the children first and fostering their individual needs.

We use our Montessori theory here at Ladybird alongside the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. The children have open access to all the materials and can be shown how to use them by the staff. Montessori materials are also presented during small group play sessions or at circle time. The materials are broken down into different areas, practical life e.g. spooning, threading, pouring and pegging. Sensorial e.g. shape, colour, size, dimension, sound and touch. We also use Maths and Language materials to bring about a clearer awareness of letters and numbers.