URN 2811148 · Inspected 2026-02-16 · Published 2026-04-22 · Inspector: Sonia Panchal
The Montessori House Ltd Unique reference number (URN): 2811148 Address: The Old School, School Road, Ardington, Wantage, Oxfordshire, OX12 8PN Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 02/10/2024 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: The Montessori House Wantage Ltd Inspection report: 16 February 2026 Exceptional Strong standard Expected standard Needs attention Urgent improvement Safeguarding standards met The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe. How we evaluate safeguarding When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes: Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met. Expected standard Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard Leaders and staff are effective role models. They typically set and implement high expectations for children's behaviour and attitudes to learning. Babies readily explore their indoor environment, particularly enjoying when staff interact with them when sharing books. Older children respond positively to sharing toys and taking turns, with guidance and age- appropriate support from staff if needed. Children show great pride when they are praised by staff for showing resilience as they practise a task independently, such as taking off their outdoor clothes and washing their hands after being outdoors. In general, these interactions promote children's self-esteem and give them a clear understanding of what is expected of them. Leaders ensure that positive relationships with families are in place. This helps to secure children's regular attendance and to respond suitably to their individual care needs. This is particularly evident for those children who face barriers to their learning. Thoughtfully planned settling-in sessions and a gradual start help children to feel safe, secure and confident. This fosters children's positive attitudes to their learning and their time at the nursery. Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard The staff team's strengths lie in demonstrating a thorough understanding of each child's individual care needs. Typically, children's family backgrounds, home experiences and the broader context are taken into account. Leaders share these details within the team to provide consistent and personalised support. This ensures that every child receives the guidance they need to thrive in their wellbeing. This approach is especially valuable for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or those facing additional barriers to their learning. In this way, children feel welcomed, valued and supported in their care needs. Children have safe opportunities to take manageable risks, such as climbing large equipment in the garden. In the main, these experiences help them to develop confidence, resilience and coordination, while they learn to assess and manage challenges by themselves. When children become upset or unsettled, staff are always on hand to quickly respond with reassurance. This helps children to regulate their emotions and feel secure. During mealtimes, children talk about their likes and dislikes around food. In general, staff use these opportunities to promote healthy eating habits. Children learn to identify foods higher in sugar and those that contribute to positive oral health. Staff encourage regular handwashing throughout the day. Parents state that children share their knowledge of washing away the germs at home, demonstrating the positive impact these routines have on children's learning and wellbeing. Needs attention Inclusion Expected standard Leaders and staff work closely with parents and carers to support the needs of children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Managers recognise the importance of children's regular attendance and punctuality. They prioritise building positive and effective partnerships with families to ensure that they make adaptations in a timely way so that children are able to access the provision. Leaders ensure that decisions about spending additional funding are closely linked to benefiting each child's individual needs. Individual staff who specifically support children with SEND receive training to help these children minimise gaps in their learning. Staff quickly identify when children need extra help. With the guidance of external professionals, they put effective strategies in place for these children to thrive from their starting points. Staff create focused support plans in partnership with parents and carers. This allows parents the opportunity to share their insights and keep informed about their children's ongoing progress. This collaborative way of working ensures consistency between the home and nursery, supporting children's abilities to learn and demonstrate their positive wellbeing. Achievement Needs attention Children, except those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not consistently build on their prior learning over time to achieve their full potential. That said, leaders and staff value children's ongoing strengths in their personal, social and emotional development through play and everyday experiences. For instance, children serve their own meals at lunchtime, use available cutlery according to their age and stage of development and afterwards tend to the crockery appropriately. Children build their communication skills as they interact with others and explore resources available to them, such as when older children paint a picture and describe the features well. These children show imagination and effective use of vocabulary, and they build control and coordination that supports their future learning. Children develop early mathematical skills, such as identifying numerals and counting a small number of objects correctly. They begin to use mathematical language when they pour water from a jug into their glasses, such as 'empty' and 'full'. Older children and those with SEND gain skills that help prepare them for their next stage in education. Curriculum and teaching Needs attention The curriculum is largely activity-led and does not consistently build enough on what children already know and can do. Consequently, staff do not plan consistently for children's learning in a clear enough sequence to help them to secure new learning effectively. For example, babies show they know the sounds of some farm animals, but staff do not use this knowledge to introduce new farm animals that babies are still unsure of. Instead, they sing the song 'Old Macdonald Had a Farm' very quickly, which does not help babies to fully hear the names of farm animals or the corresponding sounds they make. This hinders children's ability to make sustained progress in their communication and language skills. Older children receive better teaching that is specific to their needs and abilities. They talk proudly about their previous learning, such as the stages in the life cycle of a frog. Although leaders recognise some inconsistencies in individual staff's practice, they do not effectively reflect on the quality of the curriculum and teaching or support staff to improve their knowledge and skills precisely enough. That said, staff work diligently to ensure those children who face barriers to their learning benefit from a supportive indoor learning environment, and outdoors for those who have been identified as needing to develop their gross motor skills. Priority is given to supporting children's self-care, social skills and self- regulation. However, the planning of stimulating activities that reflect other curriculum areas to promote children's learning needs outdoors is still in its infancy. For example, younger children wander around unsure of what to do when they enter the garden, as very few activities are available to them apart from the static large equipment. The outdoor curriculum does not reflect children's interests, needs or abilities effectively enough. Leadership and governance Needs attention It is evident that leaders have made some headway to address actions from the last inspection. However, progress towards embedding these is not yet fully established. For instance, there is insufficient supervision of staff and monitoring of staff's delivery of the curriculum. Leaders do not accurately identify areas for individual staff's development or suitably coach or mentor them to improve their teaching skills. There are times when staff take a step back and are unsure what their roles are, instead of interacting with children to address their next steps in learning or development. This inhibits children's ongoing progress. Leaders have a broad understanding of the setting's strengths and areas for improvement. Leaders are generally reflective and try hard to work collaboratively as a team. However, due to them being deployed in running rooms, they have fewer opportunities to address areas of development, such as creating an outdoor curriculum that ignites children's imagination and creativity across the areas of learning. Despite providing some training to individual staff to implement an outdoor curriculum, this has not had the strongest possible impact on children. Staff clearly enjoy their jobs, feel highly valued and supported by leaders. Leaders work together with local authority advisers to develop the curriculum for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This has proved successful. However, they are yet to strive to deliver the best experiences for children, particularly outdoors. Leaders engage with parents and carers and other professionals thoughtfully and in a way that supports children, particularly those with SEND. Parents comment positively on the effective support they receive from leaders. They find the advice and guidance useful to prepare their children for school and younger children for toilet training. Compulsory Childcare Register requirements This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Compulsory Childcare Register When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes: Met Not met Voluntary Childcare Register requirements This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register. How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Voluntary Childcare Register When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes: Met Not met What it's like to be a child at this setting There are weaknesses in how leaders ensure that staff understand how to deliver a sequenced curriculum to a consistently high standard. In addition, the outdoor environment does not provide enough stimulating opportunities for children to achieve in all areas of learning, except their physical development. The curriculum does not ensure that every child, except those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, learns in a step-by- step way that builds on what they already know and can do. While children enjoy the activities on offer, staff do not consistently plan learning or target teaching that builds on children's knowledge and skills over time. This means children do not achieve to their full potential. Children are happy, confident and well cared for in the nurturing environment. Leaders and staff greet children and families warmly, providing reassurance and helping them to feel valued. All children follow the nursery's routines, knowing where to hang up their belongings. They eagerly join their friends for the morning activities, which helps to build their independent play skills. Children particularly enjoy sharing stories, read by enthusiastic staff, and generally learn to sing songs as they get older. These routines help children to feel comfortable, fostering a keen sense of belonging and readiness for learning. Staff take time to get to know children well. There is a supportive key-person system in place to help children build loving and secure bonds. Regular assessments of children's progress help leaders and staff to swiftly identify any barriers to children's learning. Leaders and staff work closely with parents and carers, as well as external agencies, to provide effective targeted support. They recognise the different experiences children arrive with and use this knowledge to create first-hand opportunities, such as going on regular walks in the local area, to gain a better understanding of the world around them. Next steps To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the provider must take the following actions by the assigned date: Action Completion Date ensure that all staff receive coaching and training opportunities to improve their teaching skills 20/03/2026 strengthen the sequencing of the indoor and outdoor curriculum to enable staff to target teaching effectively, to embed and build on children's learning securely. 20/03/2026 About this inspection The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator, parents, carers and children during the inspection. We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage. Inspector: Sonia Panchal About this setting Unique reference number (URN): 2811148 Address: The Old School, School Road Ardington Wantage Oxfordshire OX12 8PN Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 02/10/2024 Registered person: The Montessori House Wantage Ltd Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00 Local authority: Oxfordshire Facts and figures used on inspection This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. This data is from 16 February 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection 0 to 4 Total number of places 42 Our grades explained Exceptional Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it. Strong standard The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them. Expected standard The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them. Needs attention The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements. Urgent improvement The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. 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