Colourbox Montessori School, Newmarket

NGUYEN TIEN

11 months ago

We sent our prematurely born twins since they were 4 months old to Colourbox Newmarket. Our twins have been looked after extremely well here. Top class nursery place for child well-being and development!

Phillip Whatling

5 years ago

An excellent choice…..Our son attended Colourbox nursery from 2013 to 2015. The staff were caring, incredibly knowledgeable and genuinely interested in supporting our son’s development. His confidence and independence grew greatly in his time with Colourbox and the Montessori approach gave him an excellent foundation and developed in him an academic curiosity that has never left. Most importantly, this is a nursery that we could trust to do the best for our son. Our experience was so positive that we are still in contact with some of the staff over 5 years later. Highly recommended!

Jenny

a year ago

We had sent our first child to Colourbox in 2018 and had a great experience, so it was a no brainer for us to pick the same nursery the second time around. Unfortunately, it seems that they have made a number of changes that ultimately meant we felt it would be better to take our child elsewhere. - it was a surprisingly rare occurrence for our child to come home with all her possessions. We accept that sometimes things get misplaced, but virtually every week? It felt like a lot! - only around 50% of handovers were with a staff member who had spent time with our child or knew what happened with her day; - we were told that "everything is on Blossom" (the app used by the nursery) but it rarely had more than a single nappy change and a generic statement about the room - nothing about food or sleep. It was also usually sent to parents 24-48 hours after the session was over, if it was sent at all, and detailed updates on development/progress were weeks to months delayed; - the intercom system at drop-off/pick-up was broken more often than it worked; - only half the rooms seemed to have reliable access to the internet, to be able to update the Blossom app; - when our child was injured, staff rang an old number we'd asked to have removed years prior, instead of either of us, because the system was so outdated; - basic information about our child's needs wasn't recorded in a place that could be accessed by new staff in her room, or so we were told by the staff. To give credit where it's due, the room leaders were excellent and often found workarounds to problems. The issues seem to be with insufficient provision and planning from management, in general. As our child has allergies, we felt that it would ultimately be safer to move her somewhere we could trust that the information about her needs would be passed along reliably to all staff. The problems we had getting any kind of explanation or apology, following their phonecall to an outdated number that was supposed to alert us to an injury, meant that it was best to move on to a safer environment. Overall, I would absolutely not recommend Colourbox under its current management structure and say that the Ofsted rating is sadly outdated.

Sarah Warner

5 years ago

We couldn't be happier to send our 3 year old to Colourbox. She is always excited to go and forgets to say goodbye to us! She often asks when she is next going. The staff are well organised, engaging and compassionate to what she needs, and most importantly keep her busy. The daily updates are great and we get weekly menu's sent out too. Country club (or forest school) is fantastic. It's a huge open space with so much for the children to engage in. It's amazing to have a space so large in the middle of Newmarket. It really is a place for them to explore, learn and have fun. The children get a choice whether they go on the day and my daughter goes at least once a week. I don't know any other nurseries in the area that offer such an excellent place so regularly to children and give them a choice to go or not. My daughter's independence has grown so much since she has been attending, she came from another nursery that closed and it has been a great change. If you're looking at Colourbox on google reviews because you're considering bringing your child here - please book to look around.

Emilie H

5 years ago

As soon as I walked in to Colourbox, I knew it was special and for me it was head and shoulders above any other nursery I had seen. The staff are warm, caring and fun and the rooms are beautifully set out and inviting for children. The atmosphere always seems full of excitement, yet calm and peaceful. The forest school (Country Club) is amazing. Having looked for similar nurseries in other areas and found nothing that comes close to Colourbox, I can honestly say this place is a gem and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to send my child here