Walthamstow Montessori School is a popular nursery and independent school for boys and girls aged 2–6 years. Established in northeast London since 2001, we use genuine Montessori and Forest Schooling methods in a broad and exciting curriculum. Our teachers have excellent experience in their subject areas and are passionate about their practice.

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"Children benefit from a wonderfully calm and nurturing atmosphere to play and learn. Their independence is fostered extremely well, as they enjoy making choices about their learning". "Children’s happiness and welfare is at the heart of their practice".

– Ofsted July 2022

Montessori + Forest Schooling

Montessori is an approach that focuses on the immense capacity of children to absorb information when given the freedom and independence to learn at their own pace. Forest Schooling is a child-led approach to learning, incorporating children’s right to play, to access the outdoor environment and to feel success. Our school combines these related methods for early education.

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Term Dates 2023/2024

term dates 23/24

Makaton Friendly Programme

Makaton is a language programme designed to provide functional communication and encourage and develop language and literacy skills through the combined use of signs and symbols with speech. WMS is incorporating its use further in the classroom.

About Makaton

Testimonials

ME

My daughter spent her nursery years at WMS. She had a brilliant time there, and I always thought the school had a fantastic energy about it. The activities varied each day – painting, making, stories and music – and the learning is absolutely embedded in play. You can’t ask for a better start than that, and I feel very fortunate that our daughter began her education in such a wonderfully nurturing school.

JS

Lovely dedicated teachers and other staff, great space. Our daughter loves it!

EL

My son and daughter went to Walthamstow Montessori School from the age of two. We wanted our children to be in a nurturing, safe environment and we found it here. We always found the teachers to be very enthusiastic, encouraging the children to choose the sequence of their activities throughout the day.

CW

Staff genuinely care, the biggest factor when exploring nursery options. All teachers have been warm and attentive, which made settling in for my daughter a doddle. She loves the variety of activities including the weekly ‘out and about’ exploration.

Our second most important factor when considering nurseries was how calm the environment was. Peaceful yet industrious, with choice and flexibility of both guided and independent activities was crucial as our daughter had not been in any other kind of daycare until she started at WMS (2 months off 3 years old) and had been visibly overwhelmed during visits to other nurseries.

We enjoy reading the weekly newsletters to find out what our daughter has been up to as she rarely tells us and look forward to events throughout the academic calendar such as Christmas and summer concerts, sports day, carol services. Not forgetting the ‘birthday walk’, a beautiful marker to celebrate being another year older.