Stepping Stones Montessori Ltd

Our daughter thrived here from age 3 to nearly 5 – growing friendships, learning maths, and building independence. She is confident and polite, which we owe in large part to her time at Stepping Stones. The headmistress/owner is a strict adherent to the Montessori program and has rigid expectations for the parents, but she always treated us fairly and the kids adore her.

My eldest daughter started the nursery at nine months, and stayed right through to school age. My youngest daughter also currently attends the nursery, having started at six months. We are incredibly happy with the care we have received. The staff and nursery really care for the wellbeing of each child. The approach is really considered to meet each child's indivual needs. I have seen my eldest daughter be inspired to learn, develop and form strong friendships which has made the transition to school easy. She is interested in the world and people around her, thanks to the many inspiring projects and activities the nursery provide. As we knew the staff and nursery so well, we had no hesitation enrolling our second daughter at six months. Again the staff provided a very caring environment to settle our youngest in. They actually also involved our eldest daughter very much in the settling in process, understanding and supporting our whole family. Our youngest is now in the Montessori classroom, she is engaged in the many new experiences and opportunities. We would highly recommend Stepping Stones to any parent wanting kind, caring, thoughtful care. The children's well being really is the most important focus at stepping stones.

Our eldest daughter started here at 11 months and is now about to turn three. We have had a wonderful experience with this nursery - so much so that we're starting our second in a month's time. The children are stimulated from the start of the day to the end. They form strong bonds with one another, and with the staff. I've seen elder students who've moved onto school come running back in while collecting a sibling, excited to see Penny and share what they've been up to. Activities include anything from making pizza dough to building a water slide to working with numbers, or learning how to use chopsticks (I have photographic evidence of this!) - and of course lots of reading. If you decide to come here, do not expect a 'kids will be kids' approach to negative behaviour. It will be picked up on and dealt with in a highly transparent and straightforward manner. As a result, there are few issues with the usual biting, kicking, hitting, tantrums of toddlerhood (of course they still happen, but in my experience, are rare and short-lived). The staff take the children's development and we'll-being very seriously, and once you learn that any comments have the best intentions behind them, you'll come to appreciate the advice and observations. Our daughter has definitely thrived here, made wonderful friends, and we've found a wonderful network of parents too.

We spent ages looking at a lot of nurseries in the Nunhead area and chose Stepping Stones even though it was a 20 minute walk away. We have always been really pleased with our choice and when we moved house one of the considerations was keeping within walking distance of the nursery. Our 3 year old daughter has been there a year and a half, and our 23m old son a bit less. They both love it. All the kids learn such independence and there is a really calm, happy vibe about the place. We really buy into the Montessori concept and Penny is a very thoughtful, committed nursery leader who continuously develops her pedagogical training and is keen to share her insight with those who are interested. She can sometimes be a bit 'strict' with the parents but always clearly has the interests of the kids first - we wouldnt want it any other way...

Our son went to Stepping Stone for a year and we were really impressed with the results of his development. I have to agree that the head teacher is strict and speaks straight to the point, she also is very pedantic and expects all kids to arrive in time , but I think this is a good example for children to respect the time and be punctual. We also were a bit surprised by her approach to us and at some point we felt like school pupils in front of the teacher and it's not a nice feeling when you are almost 40 years old :-) But after we left due to family circumstances we couldn't find another nursery that would be any close to the standards of Stepping Stone.