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Little Cakes Montessori School

Ofsted: Strong standard·
4.9(26 parent reviews) ·Chorleywood House Estate, Rickmansworth Road, Chorelywood, WD3 5SL · Hertfordshire
Number of places
37 places
Age range
0–4 yrs
Last inspected
Dec 2025
Local authority
Hertfordshire

About this day nursery

Little Cakes Montessori School, established in 2011, is a childcare setting on non-domestic premises in Chorelywood, Hertfordshire, offering a 'Good' rated learning environment for children aged 0-4 years. Open Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 18:00 all year round, the school blends Montessori and EYFS approaches to education.

The curriculum is meticulously designed and refined to build on children's existing knowledge, ensuring all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make rapid progress. Leaders are committed to continuous improvement and high standards, particularly focusing on the outcomes for disadvantaged children.

The school prides itself on fostering independent, confident learners through a well-sequenced and ambitious curriculum and robust routines. Staff excel in their understanding of child development and emotional learning, offering a flexible settling-in process to build strong relationships with families.

The outdoor environment is thoughtfully utilised, with babies enjoying walks and older children exploring fields and forests, promoting physical development and curiosity. Parents consistently express high satisfaction with the setting, praising the settling-in process, the open-door culture, and the strong relationships staff build with their children.

Our ethos

Little Cakes Montessori School integrates the Montessori approach with Forest School principles, emphasising child-led learning, independence, and confidence. They are committed to fostering a love of learning, developing life skills, and promoting environmental awareness as an Eco Nursery.

What it's like

Children arrive excited and ready to learn, greeted warmly by caring staff who help them feel safe and understood. The curriculum fosters independent, confident, and happy children, building on their curiosity through well-sequenced and ambitious learning opportunities. Children are regularly offered choices, take care of their environment, and are confident, curious, and independent learners due to established routines and skilled staff who adapt activities for diverse ages and developmental stages.

Confident LearnersAmbitious CurriculumStrong SafeguardingDedicated StaffOutdoor LearningPositive Partnerships

Pricing & funding

Pricing on request

This nursery doesn't publish its fees online. Contact them directly for an up-to-date price list and availability.

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Key facts

Opening hours

Monday - Friday, 8am to 6pm

Age range

9 months to 5 years

Term time / All Year

All_year

Established

2011

Ofsted Inspection — new report card

Strong standard

Last inspected Dec 2025

Headline: Strong standard

Grade summary

Exceptional
—
Strong standard
Expected standard
—
Needs attention
—
Urgent improvement
—

Each dot represents one of the six inspection categories. Headline is the average of the six grades, rounded up.

Category grades

AchievementStrong standard
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routinesStrong standard
Children's welfare and wellbeingStrong standard
Curriculum and teachingStrong standard
InclusionStrong standard
Leadership and governanceStrong standard
Age range
0 to 4
Registers
Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register
Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted rating for Little Cakes Montessori School

Last inspected 9 December 2025 · Lorraine Terris

Safeguarding effective

Actions the provider must take

  • Leaders and those responsible for governance should sustain their work to ensure continued improvement and high standards. They should focus on creating a transformational impact on the outcomes and experiences of disadvantaged children, those with SEND, those who are known or previously known to children's social care, and those who may face other barriers to their learning and/or well-being.

What it's like to attend

Children arrive excited and ready to learn, greeted warmly by caring staff who help them feel safe and understood. The curriculum fosters independent, confident, and happy children, building on their curiosity through well-sequenced and ambitious learning opportunities. Children are regularly offered choices, take care of their environment, and are confident, curious, and independent learners due to established routines and skilled staff who adapt activities for diverse ages and developmental stages.

Inspector highlights

  • Children develop into confident, independent and respectful learners who are ready for the next step in their educational journey.
  • Children demonstrate a secure understanding of, and follow, the daily practices that are embedded in the day-to-day routines. There is an established culture of respect and kindness in the setting.
  • Staff have extensive knowledge of the children and they use their detailed understanding of them to plan what they need to learn next. Staff prioritise the children's emotional learning and support them to understand their feelings and regulate their emotions.
  • Leaders have designed and refined a clear, well-sequenced and ambitious curriculum that builds precisely on what children already know and can do. Staff know and understand exactly what the children need.
  • Leaders inspire the staff team to consistently offer high-quality experiences that support the children to thrive in all areas of learning and development. Leaders value and support staff on their career pathway and provide regular opportunities for further training and development.

Areas to develop

  • 1Leaders and those responsible for governance should sustain their work to ensure continued improvement and high standards. They should focus on creating a transformational impact on the outcomes and experiences of disadvantaged children, those with SEND, those who are known or previously known to children's social care, and those who may face other barriers to their learning and/or well-being.
Inspection #10063626 · Source: OfstedView full Ofsted report

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

SEND provision

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those with other barriers to learning, make rapid progress from their starting points. Staff quickly identify when children need more support and plan appropriate support to meet those needs. Leaders and staff work alongside parents and other professionals to ensure children with SEND access the curriculum effectively.

Outdoor space

Leaders are skilled in using the outdoors to enhance learning and physical development. Babies go for walks, while older children spend time on the field or in the forest, supporting core muscles and stamina and fostering curiosity about the natural world.

Parent Reviews of Little Cakes Montessori School

4.9
(26)
SR R
8 months ago

Fantastic nursery. Our daughter has been in the baby room for just over a year and loves it. She has had the same key worker all the time she has been there so they have a lovely relationship. Our experience is that the staff are excellent, the children do a good range of activities, with a nice mix of education and fun/free play. Children are taken outside a lot, in outside play area and/or exploring Chorleywood house grounds. We are very happy with our experience and have signed up our newborn to go to start at little cakes in a year’s time.

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sabrina parmar
7 months ago

Little Cakes Montessori was wonderful for my eldest daughter and now my youngest is there too. My daughters have been nurtured and taught independence, confidence and the eldest ready and confident to start school. From teaching the early years curriculum to basic life skills like getting dressed, cookery, outdoor play and time in nature the environment- this is a great start for children. The other factor that draws us to this nursery is the consistent, long standing staff who have got to know the families and the children appreciate familiar and kind faces.

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Holly Baker
8 months ago

The staff here work incredibly hard to provide a safe, educational, loving and fun environment for the babies and children who attend. We have seen so much development in our little one since starting. A huge thank you to everyone involved!!

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Mrs Sandhu
3 years ago

My twin daughters have been here for 9 months now and joined when they were 1. The nursery setting is within the lovely ground of Chorleywood Estate. The older children regularly go for walks. There is a great outdoor play area for the children which they go every day. My girls absolutely love coming here and love their wonderful key worker Mrs Shah. The staff are very nurturing and experienced, has a very family feel to the place. I really like the daily updates from the blossoms app of how their day has been. The nursery offers term time dates.

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Omoyele Davey
2 years ago

My daughter just started in September after being on the waiting list for a while. I cannot tell you how happy she is and how warm and welcoming the staff are at Little Cakes. She settled in almost immediately and comes home with so many stories about her day. She loves the forest walks, songs and crafts especially and her recognition of numbers and letters has improved greatly. I could not recommend this nursery highly enough and appreciate all the staff and how well they look after my little girl.

Read on Google

Reviews from Google for Little Cakes Montessori School. See all on Google Maps

Inspection history

Date: October 2011

The most recent inspection point has been hidden because the parsed entry didn't match the headline Ofsted rating (Good). We're re-checking it against the original report.

  • February 2020Good
  • October 2015Good
  • October 2011Good

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