Child playing with flowers

The Grove

  • School Location

    Westbourne Grove Church, Westbourne Grove,
    London, W11 2RW
    T: 020 7223 0123

    OFSTED Report
  • School Hours

    Mornings:
    8am – 1pm
    Afternoons:
    1pm – 6pm

    Parent Information
  • Nursery Manager

    Jessica Dilhe

    Designated Safeguarding Lead

    Jessica Dilhe

    About Our Teachers

About us

Paint Pots The Grove is our year round Montessori Nursery in the heart of Notting Hill.

Paint Pots

Located within Westbourne Grove Church, in the heart of Notting Hill. The nursery can be accessed through the main reception of this community building and is located in the west wing of the first floor. The Grove has been fully renovated internally into a modern space with period features.

From September 2021 children can join us from 2 years old until 5 years old. Our 2-5 year old classroom is divided into two areas. The larger area offers all areas of the curriculum including activities for both gross and fine motor skills. A windowed partition creates a smaller classroom that is designed for our older children to work with more advanced materials.

From September 2022 we will open our second classroom and offer a limited number of places to children from 12 months old. Our 1-2 year old classroom is a home from home. A calm room of sensorial experiences to interest your child’s natural curiosity as they grow and develop. Natural materials, aromatherapy and gentle music set the tone for this space. With changing facilities, sleeping coracles and supported seating this younger classroom contains everything your child needs.

Our environment is carefully designed so that all activities are displayed at the children’s level, encouraging freedom of movement and choice. The space allows the children to share a wide range of Montessori materials and enables them to discover, explore, learn and enhance their skills at their own pace. Every area of the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) is seamlessly blended with our Montessori curriculum and materials.

The teachers observe the children at work which enables them to have a strong understanding of each individual child so that they can plan to follow their interests and extend their learning. Presentations and materials are prepared to challenge children to increase their knowledge and abilities.

We continually assess and refresh our activities to ensure the environment is always fresh, enticing and relevant for our children. The children work and play independently, with their friends or with a teacher. Alongside the free choice of activities that the children have access to, we offer structured group activities such as rest your mind time, cooking, music and show & tell.

Paint Pots

At Paint Pots we like to bring the outdoors indoors. Nature tables display a wide range of natural seasonal treasures found by our children, families and staff. The children arrange the fresh cut flowers for our tables. Our classroom goldfish are a firm favourite and each year we usually have caterpillars growing into butterflies and frogspawn to further explore life cycles.

We encourage the children to grow seeds or plants of their own and care for them. Sometimes our cress or salad seeds grow into our lunch. Linking nature to what we eat as a learning experience.

Our planters create a natural green environment. Plants have been chosen specifically for air quality and to provide a rich visual representation of growth and natural diversity. We favour natural materials throughout our environment and our classrooms are designed to represent a calm, peaceful and natural environment.

London is renowned for its green spaces. As true Londoners we take advantage of local parks and gardens as our playground. Our school minibus delivers the children directly to local gardens, playgrounds and city parks that provide a varied outdoor experience. From manicured gardens with colourful flowers to wild grassland filled with grasshoppers, we explore everything London has to offer.

Outdoors is a valued part of our classroom and our curriculum and we will use it for a wide variety of activities. This could be observing nature on a mindfulness walk, going on a scavenger hunt, art in the park, learning about plants, trees and flowers and of course lots of play and exercise!

We use our trips outdoors to extend the learning we do in the classroom. Extending mathematics through counting leaves or measuring sticks; expanding language through naming trees, animals and weather; or practicing skills that relate to our knowledge and understanding of our local environment such as following a familiar route and practicing our left and right. We believe that learning can be practiced in any environment, whether at home, at nursery or outdoors.

Paint Pots

We believe in serving food that is fresh, varied and healthy. Our meals are freshly prepared by trained chefs who are passionate about the ingredients they work with. Our varied seasonal menus include a range of options to make healthy eating easier for everyone. Our menus are nutritionally well balanced to ensure we meet all children’s dietary and cultural needs, as well as exploring different tastes at mealtimes.

Good nutrition is essential during childhood, as it is a time of rapid growth, development and activity. This is also a vital time for healthy tooth development and prevention of decay. General eating habits and patterns are formed in the first few years of life. A nutritious diet, together with good hydration, provides your child with good eating habits for life, healthy skin, a healthy weight, secure emotional well-being, and improved behaviour. The nursery staff have a key role in introducing young children to a wide variety of foods and establishing a pattern of regular meals and healthy snacks.
Eating is about more than food, it is a social event too, and nursery staff join your child’s mealtimes. Mealtimes are a relaxed and social part of the day where we all sit down and eat together. Staff encourage interaction between the children, good table manners and the development of social skills.

From 2 years old, children participate in setting tables and clearing away at the end of a meal. This enhances the development of social skills by helping to increase children’s confidence, self-esteem, independence, and decision-making skills, and is the next step for school readiness.

A seasonal and fresh variety of snacks will be available throughout the morning and afternoon sessions. A snack table is available for the older children throughout the day with water, fruit, vegetables and some healthy snacks created by our chef. The older children can choose and prepare their own healthy snack and our teachers are on hand to assist if needed. We frequently discuss what foods are healthy and how they help our body.

  • It’s such a comfort to know that R is having such a fantastic start to life. So much fun, imaginative learning, support and love all mixed together. We couldn’t be happier.

    Jess, mother of R aged 4 years
  • We have been extremely happy with Paints Pots and would like to thank everyone for making it such a wonderful experience for D and us. D has loved going to Paints Pots every day and will miss it a lot.

    Tehmina, mother of D aged 3 years 8 months
  • What can I say it feels like the end of an era! All three of my boys have absolutely loved Paint Pots and each boy is totally different from his brothers! I think the staff manage to tune into each individual child and nurture them and their CREATIVITY. That is why the children are always so happy, and it has been the case with each of our boys that they do not always want to come home.

    Suzanne, mother of J, T & N
  • Through every step of the way, the team at Paint Pots (both admin and teachers) have been warm, welcoming and understanding with me. The teachers at Paint Pots have done their utmost to ensure my child; who has additional needs, gets as great an experience as every other child. As a parent, I am glad my child is in the hands of a team that genuinely cares for my child's overall development and wellbeing.

    Nadia, mother of M aged 3 years 4 months
  • Paint Pots is the real deal. When you arrive at Paint Pots, the teacher will be at eye level with your child, rather than you, to greet him or her and shake hands. As a fly on the wall during the day, you would see children busily "working" for prolonged, uninterrupted periods at activities which have been set out with their individual developmental needs in mind.

    Daphne mother of C age 4 years 6 months
  • Thank you for a wonderful start at Paint Pots! Despite the challenges of lockdown, G’s experience at school has been magical and we have never seen him so happy.

    Catherine, mother of G aged 3 years
  • Paint Pots was a nurturing and encouraging environment in which my shy son was able to develop socially at his own pace. He is now more outgoing and confident, and loves going to school. We will all miss Paint Pots.

    Juliana, mother of M aged 4 years 2 months
  • Many thanks from us to the lovely teachers at Paint Pots who have made a made an immense contribution to S’s confidence and development over the last year. We could not be happier and neither can S, who talks about the fun he is having at the nursery.

    Nathalie, mother of S aged 3 years 6 months
  • Thank you for two wonderful years in which we watched our daughter flourish at nursery school. She loved her experience at Paint Pots and we could not be more grateful to the team there.

    Lisa, mother of M aged 4 years 2 months
  • C’s time at Paint Pots has been entirely enriching for my whole family. You and your wonderful team have truly given our little girl the best possible start to her academic journey and I cannot thank you enough. I know that we will have fond memories of our happy days at Paint Pots, from those first wonderful classes, to the cheerful daily school life Celeste enjoys now.

    Hannah, mother of C aged 3 years
  • Thank you again and as you know I will never forget the amazing support I was given from Paint Pots. It was a challenging time and L was so little that he really needed all that care and attention, and luckily I had you guys who really provided him with everything he needed! You are really an amazing team and you have planted a beautiful seed in L, which will never leave him. Quite amazing really when you think about what an influence you had on him :) thank you, thank you thank you!!!

    Gudrun, mother L aged 3 years 8 months
  • Paint Pots has been my son’s home away from home for two years. Everything about this wonderful Montessori nursery and its fantastic staff is faultless to the point where I was concerned that school life won’t ever match the caring involvement and unique atmosphere D has experienced here.

    Romana, mother of D aged 5 years

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