Montessori Infant Community
MONTESSORI INFANT COMMUNITY
Our Montessori Infant Community welcomes children from 14 to 36 months, offering a calm, ordered and beautifully prepared environment in which very young children can take their first steps into the wider world.
Joining Us
Children are welcome to join the Infant Community from around 14 months, once they are walking steadily, up to the age of 36 months, after which many children go on to join Clapham Montessori or Clapham Park Montessori.
Children are expected to attend all three weekly sessions — Monday, Tuesday and Thursday — as regular attendance ensures continuity and stability, and children benefit greatly from becoming a familiar and valued part of their community.
The Environment
The Infant Community takes place in the main hall at the Contact Centre, Hambalt Road, SW4 9EH. We provide an attractive and appealing environment, carefully prepared to aid development and promote independence within a calm and ordered space.
Equipment and resources are scaled down to be easily used and manipulated by small pairs of hands, and children are able to select activities which appeal to them from easily accessible open shelving.
Supporting Your Child's Development
From birth to 3 years of age, children are engaged in a process of self-construction, developing their gross and fine motor coordination, language and social skills at a rapid pace. The Infant Community supports this process by providing plenty of space in which to move freely, and opportunities to engage in purposeful activity through hands-on exploration of the Montessori materials.
By the time they begin to walk, children are also ready to engage in social interactions outside the home. At the Infant Community they are supported and guided by a team of dedicated and experienced adults, and by the prepared environment itself, as they begin to find their place in the wider world.
Fees and Funding
Our current fees and fee structure can be found here. We accept the 15-hour universal offer as well as other funding schemes for eligible families, including working parents’ entitlement for 2-year-olds and 30-hour funding for 3 and 4-year-olds.
We also offer a limited number of funded-only places for families in receipt of government support. For further information, please contact us.
Admissions and Settling In
Early registration is recommended due to limited places. We warmly invite you to visit us during one of our open days Book a Visit to see the environment and meet the team. Following your visit, you can find out more about our admissions process and register your child via our Admissions page. Information about our settling-in process can be found here.
Our Team
All our Lead Teachers are fully qualified in Montessori education, and some of our staff also hold Qualified Teacher Status. All staff hold Paediatric First Aid, Safeguarding and Food Hygiene certificates, as well as other relevant Early Years qualifications. Staff are supported and encouraged to continue to develop their personal and professional skills. Find out more about our team here.
Sessions
Sessions run on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 12:00 during term time. Please see our Term Dates below.
What to Bring
Information about what to bring on your child’s first day can be found here.
Term Dates 2025–26
Autumn Term: Thursday 4 September – Thursday 4 December, with half-term 27–31 October.
Spring Term: Tuesday 6 January – Thursday 26 March, with half-term 16–20 February.
Summer Term: Tuesday 14 April – Thursday 9 July, with half-term 25–29 May.
Please note that we are closed on Bank Holiday Monday 4 May.
Infant Community
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The Contact Centre
60 Hambalt Road
Clapham
London SW4 9EH - 07757 317 179
- info@montessoriclapham.co.uk
Montessori Infant Community - Fees from April 2025
9:30 – 12:00 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (7 ½ hours per week)
Cost per session: £36.00.
THESE FEES APPLY TO NON-FUNDED HOURS
Government Nursery Education Fund (NEF)
- 9 months to 2- year- olds: 15 hours per week of funded nursery education for working families
- 2-year-olds: 15 hours per week of funded nursery education for:
- 2-year-olds in families receiving certain forms of government support
- 2-year-olds in working families (from April 2024).
Please visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk for more details
Montessori Supplement Charge
£1.00 per funded hour for children under 2 years-old
£1.60 per funded hour for 2-year-olds**
**Please contact us if you have a six-digit code from the Local Authority
PLEASE NOTE: THIS CHARGE APPLIES ONLY TO CHILDREN IN RECEIPT OF NEF
The Montessori Supplement Charge is applied to the funded hours, to cover some of the actual costs of what we offer in addition to the basic EYFS requirements, such as:
- Full Montessori curriculum and materials
- A highly qualified and experienced Montessori Leadership team, some of whom have worked in our environments for 20 years
- Montessori Coaching scheme, an in-house programme which promotes and facilitates further in-depth study of Montessori principles across our teams
- Our online platform, Transparent Classroom, which enables us to follow and record each child’s progress through detailed observations and photos, and to share these with parents on a regular basis.
- All our Montessori Teachers/keyworkers are employed for additional time each week for preparation and packing up of the environment, and to allow time for planning activities for each individual child, to meet their specific learning needs, and based on recorded observations.
- Comprehensive written reports and one-to-one meetings to discuss your child’s progress, at least twice every year.
- Parent Evening talks to support and inform parents about different aspects of child development, from a Montessori perspective. Offered free of charge for existing and prospective parents.
- Delivering the Montessori curriculum relies, in great part, in offering real experiences with everyday fragile/breakable items such as glass and china bowls, cups, jugs, etc. not only within the Practical Life area of the environment, but also throughout the morning, e.g. during snack time.
- Fresh fruit or alternative snacks for each child.