Playhood Montessori nursery & co-work space

My youngest son attended Playhood for two years, and I cannot say enough wonderful things about our time there. It is a REAL Montessori, warm and caring, with real Montessori trained teachers in a stunning, super-inspiring garden landscape. Our little man is a better dude, because of his time here; empathetic, communicative, inquisitive, creative, fun! MAN I love this place! I love the staff. I love the teachers. I loved everything we did together! It was hard to say goodbye. I only wish this place was around sooner, and hope I can find something like it again. Never knew it could be so easy/simple to participate in my child's education and build this type of community. THANK YOU! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

My son attends Playhood, the quality of early years Montessori education he gets is superb - small classes, calm, spacious,well-equipped environment and engaged teachers who care about his outcomes. My partner and I have made great friends through the workspace and really value the community.

The team at Playhood have created a workspace that is fresh, comfortable and tackles the issue of disconnect many of us have between work and family life. It's an excellent concept managed with thought and consideration. Bright, spacious rooms to work in and the cosiest little nursery at the bottom of a beautiful garden. Not to mention a delicious lunchtime food offering! Highly recommend!

I have worked as a Montessori teacher at Playhood for 2 years. This has been a transformational experience for me, from day one I realised that Playhood's educational model incorporates perfectly the 3 aspects of the Montessori philosophy (child, educator, environment) plus the 1 aspect missing in most nurseries, the collaboration and input of the parents on a daily basis. All added together, Playhood is unique in this holistic approach of each child's development. Together with Laura's unimaginable energetic force and teaching knowledge and Karen's gentle and powerful managing skills, this team is truly placing each child and each family at the centre of attention. I feel so proud, fortunate and privileged to have been part of Playhood and witness all this magic happening in front of my eyes!

Our daughter joined Playhood just over a year ago and her development since then has blown us away. Her language skills, increasing independence and growing ‘can-do’ confidence evolves daily, and much of this has been testament to the Playhood team working with her at an individual level, following her interests and needs. We feel so lucky that she is part of such a focused and intimate setting that not just allows her to flourish at her own pace and level, but actively encourages it.It has also been eye opening for us as parents to be so involved in her education, the Montessori process and work with Laura and the team to help us navigate big life stages like the arrival of a new baby both this year! It is such a unique setting and I truly believe she would never have achieved as much in a more ‘traditional’ nursery setting. The fact it also offers a beautiful workspace for parents is the icing on the cake.

I'm proud to say I worked at Playhood for 1 year and it was an incredible experience. You couldn't wish for a better employer, the team is absolutely lovely and the group of families are beyond amazing. Playhood created a magical place for children to grow and explore and in my many years of childcare I have never experienced anything like it. Playhood is incomparable to any other nursery and as a childcare professional I advise all the families I work with to get their names down ASAP. Hands down a truly magnificent place and I can not recommend it enough!

We feel so grateful to have enjoyed two years at Playhood - a totally unique and special place. But more than a gorgeous, well-equipped workspace for parents and a fantastic Montessori garden nursery for the under 5s in the family, it’s actually a loving community of friends where staff and members share so much. We have learned from and been inspired by others, built professional networks, had the best days out and playdates and come away with the feeling that our youngest couldn’t have had a better start in life, at the same time as our careers flourished. Oh and this all during a global pandemic! Highly recommend to families looking for less compromise and more community. We found Playhood to be exceptionally good value for money compared to other local offerings: we all loved the chef-prepared food, appreciated the highly-trained and warm Montessori guides, enjoyed the design of the spaces and materials. Conscientiously and collaboratively-run co-working and nursery school that work in harmony.

As any parent concerned about their child's care, we were keen to find a small setting with a progressive Montessori approach. Our timing for finding Playhood in the middle of Covid was incredibly lucky. Our current nursery was closed and so we made the jump to a newly opened Playhood. As a family we have gained so much from the community there - my wife loved working on site with the other parents, making friends for life. I felt so reassured by the quality of teaching and could see for myself how our daughter's language, empathy and resilience grew by the day under their care. Sadly we moved too far away to continue attending after a year but we still use many of the parenting tools we learned there. Playhood is the most wholesome and child development informed setting we've come across.

Our daughter joined Playhood in September, aged 18 months. She is thriving and we are constantly delighted, seeing her putting her learning into practice. For example, she showed us unprompted how she had learnt to put her coat on (over her head, the Montessori way.) We’ve also noticed how much her English language skills have exploded since joining. As a bilingual child, this was a surprise to us as we had expected her to speak later, as bilingual children often do. It is clear that the small, nurturing environment really suits her. Likewise, it is wonderful seeing the strong bond she has with her teachers. Using the co-working space has been an amazing experience for me too. I’ve made friends and found people whose parenting philosophy chimes with my own. This community is so valuable to us, particularly as Londoners without family nearby. It has been one of the best parenting / work decisions we ever made.

I was fortunate enough to visit Playhood last summer having heard and seen so many amazing things about it previously. The model they have here is little short of ideal, children have the most beautiful well cared for playspace kept fresh and engaging by their wonderful montessoi teacher. Adults hot desk in the main house and reagularly meet for lunch or a coffee in the beautiful open plan kitchen or on the outdoor patio. it is no surprise that playhood has gained the reputability it has, this is the future of childcare for working parents in my opinion and I very much hope Karen and her team inspire others to lead the way.