About Us
Smith's Children Montessori is an independent day nursery and Montessori School located in the historic city of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. The nursery school provides authentic Montessori education and care for children aged 6 months to 5 years.
The nursery is 20 minutes walk or 9 minutes by car from the city centre and close to the river Cam, Jesus Green and Midsummer Common. We are a bicycle friendly nursery and have plenty of space for parents to park their bicycles and trailers throughout the day. Car parking is also readily available for parents to drop off and collect each day.
Montessori colour tablets, teach children to discriminate between colours, visual order, fine motor skills and vocabulary.
We are open Monday to Friday for 51 weeks of the year. We are closed during all bank holidays and from 25th December to 1st January (inclusive) each year for the Christmas holiday period. Our setting has been graded 'Good' by Ofsted.
At Smiths Children Montessori we recognise the importance of having highly qualified, skilled and caring staff who build strong relationships with families as being paramount to children's happiness and wellbeing. We provide opportunities for our staff to further their professional development through training and workshops and constantly strive to improve our practice through regular self-evaluation and sharing of new ideas and good practice.
At the core of our daily practice we recognise the vital importance that Nutrition, Education & Environment have upon the overall wellbeing and development of your children in these important early years. Our ethos of 'Nurturing Wonderful minds' encompasses all these core belief elements.
Education
Authentic Montessori approach to learning. Our nursery was founded on the principles of Dr Maria Montessori.
We encourage children of all ages in our care to understand the importance of caring for themselves and each other and for the environment they belong. We encourage traditional values of behaviour including kindness & respect to others, good manners, responsibility for ones actions, tolerance & independence.
To provide opportunity to all children in our care.
Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage
“Practical Life” is a very important element of the Montessori environment. It's about providing children with opportunities to engage in real life everyday activities such as taking care of themselves and their surroundings, preparing delicous meals, cleaning and tidying up etc
Environment
Care – To provide a friendly and loving environment in which all children feel safe and secure, that provides a strong platform from which children can develop and learn with confidence.
A Prepared Montessori Environment, - independence within limits. Children have freedom of independence to make their own decisions and learn at their own pace guided by strong role models. Children are free to choose, try and do for themselves, this leads to an enormously powerful confidence building approach to learning.
Parent Partnership – Building strong relationships with families, so that information important to the wellbeing of children and a balanced routine is maintained. Encourage daily, morning and afternoon communication with parents, supported by the blossom app that the nursery uses to provide messaging, feedback, reporting and learning records.
Self care activities promote independence by allowing chidlren to take an active role in dressing themselves, grooming and personal hygeine.
Nutrition
Freshly prepared meals each day, consisting of healthy natural ingredients including free range and organic. Our catering menu's
Fruit based snacks that children prepare themselves each day.