Opinions please on a montessori in Havering

Milky_Mocha

I've been debating whether to post this or not but I seem to have no other sources of information. Please feel free to PM me instead if you don't want to discuss this particular school openly.

Basically I'm looking for a nursery for my 2 year old. I found an 'outstanding' rated one about 10 minutes drive from my home and have made a few visits with my daughter. Although I have confidence in the staff and the structure I am less impressed with the children themselves as they seem to be less interactive. My daughter is outgoing and has been told, very polite. She is quick with her please, thank yous, sorry, etc and mindful when playing. Her speech is also well advanced and she is fully coherent in conversation. The other children appear unable to speak even though of the same age and seem a bit clumsy, bumping into each other with bikes, etc during play whereas my daughter is careful to navigate around objects and other children. When she talks to them they just stare blankly.

Anyway, a number of friends recommended Oakfields Montessori in upminster but they don't take children until age 3 and there is a waiting list for the next couple of years or so. Their nursery branch does take from 2 years and is located another 10 mins from upminster (Romford) but there appears to be no fully informative website or ofsted report on that branch unless the upminster one covers it as well. (not very obvious from reading it) I don't know if it has similar standards. I would value the opinions of word of mouth more than ofsted reports anyway unless the report showed a less than 'good' rating.

Does anyone know oakfields montessori nursery in Romford?

I will pay them a visit but I usully prefer to have some ideas beforehand.

Thanks a lot.

Sagaris

Have PM'd you.

onlyroz

Don't know the particular nursery, but my boy attends a Montessori nursery and it's excellent.

Nicki

onlyroz wrote: »

Don't know the particular nursery, but my boy attends a Montessori nursery and it's excellent.

I think OP's complaint is that the other two year olds at that particular one aren't sufficiently highly achieving to mix with her little prodigy :rolleyes:

Milky_Mocha

Nicki wrote: »

I think OP's complaint is that the other two year olds at that particular one aren't sufficiently highly achieving to mix with her little prodigy :rolleyes:

Alright Nicky, I knew someone would post something like that! Actually I don't think my daughter is a prodigy at all. I think she is an average, curious, bubbly, happy two year old but there's something about the kids in that nursery that does not instil much confidence in me. I believe that peers play a large role in a child's development and am worried that if she stays among kids who don't talk, she'll ultimately talk less.

Milky_Mocha

Nicki wrote: »

I think OP's complaint is that the other two year olds at that particular one aren't sufficiently highly achieving to mix with her little prodigy :rolleyes:

Just thought I'd point out that the nursery I tried out initially is not a montessori. Its a friend who recommended I try a montessori instead, hence my interest in oakfields.

milliebear00001

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

Just thought I'd point out that the nursery I tried out initially is not a montessori. Its a friend who recommended I try a montessori instead, hence my interest in oakfields.

Hi there

I'm a primary teacher in the state sector but am a big fan of Montessoris too! I don't think you can get a really good picture of what they're like without visiting. Is it quite far from you or are you just wanting to get some opinion on that specific one before visiting? If not, then just ask them if you can pop in and have a chat and a look round.

It's hard to get a real feel for what a place is like unless you've spent a lot of time there though - often children are not forthcoming with strangers - even other children - so don't write off the nursery you visited completely. The children you met there sound pretty normal to me, and you are likely to find most children of this age are like this in all settings - Montessori or not. In terms of her speech development, most of the good work in producing articulate, language-skilled children is done outside the classroom by parents. I doubt very much that having less articulate children around her will impact on her development at all.

Woby_Tide

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

I believe that peers play a large role in a child's development and am worried that if she stays among kids who don't talk, she'll ultimately talk less.

If anyone can successfully create a device to make a 2 or 3 year old talk less than they want to then I think they would be a billionnaire very quickly

jay11_2

Nicki wrote: »

I think OP's complaint is that the other two year olds at that particular one aren't sufficiently highly achieving to mix with her little prodigy :rolleyes:

Or maybe she's just concerned that the atmosphere, staff, or running of the nursery isn't sufficiently supportive of the children's development and socal skills. I certainly would be if I met what she's described when visiting a nursery.

Nicki

jay11 wrote: »

Or maybe she's just concerned that the atmosphere, staff, or running of the nursery isn't sufficiently supportive of the children's development and socal skills. I certainly would be if I met what she's described when visiting a nursery.

Perhaps, though if that were the case, I wouldn't expect to have read this:

Although I have confidence in the staff and the structure I am less impressed with the children themselves as they seem to be less interactive.

in her OP. It did seem that she was making a judgment on the children and their abilities relative to her own child rather than the nursery itself! As others have said there is a wide range of ability at that age group, and children tend to make a lot of progress over a very short period of time. Unless there was something about the nursery itself which worried me, I would just assume as a parent that the other children were slightly behind my child in terms of development (maybe even a few months younger than my child?) and that if the staff and structure were good then my child would still benefit.

Spendless

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

Alright Nicky, I knew someone would post something like that! Actually I don't think my daughter is a prodigy at all. I think she is an average, curious, bubbly, happy two year old but there's something about the kids in that nursery that does not instil much confidence in me. I believe that peers play a large role in a child's development and am worried that if she stays among kids who don't talk, she'll ultimately talk less.

Not ness and I do know this from experience as both mine originally attended a private nursery that was for both hearing and deaf children, and I had people telling me that it would make them not talk or only do sign language it wasn't true. That doesn't mean I think you should send her to a nursery you don't seem to be comfortable with and I also agree with you about outstanding ofsteds. The infant school mine attend is outstanding- still doesn't mean I've never had an issue over something.
good luck in finding a suitable place.