Chives Nursery opened in 1989 in a family house in Coddenham Green. There were 8 children registered and as the nursery grew it moved to Crowfield when Carolyn McNeill purchased and registered it as a Chives Montessori School.
In 2004 it moved to its present beautiful location – a self contained school set in its own grounds on a working farm in the hamlet of Akenham. It is a fully Accredited Montessori School (June 2017) and registered as Good by Ofsted (March 2018).
Particular emphasis is placed on Kindness and Respect and every opportunity is provided for each child to strengthen positive attitudes towards themselves, others and to the joy of learning.
Our aim is to encourage every child to develop their full potential by encouraging independence and confidence.
All the wonderful staff hold at least a level 2 Childcare or Montessori qualifications. We also employ two fully qualified teachers. They are selected for their passion and love for children and their commitment to the Montessori Approach.
Being set on a working farm, we have an excellent outdoor area and make full use of this to plant and grow flowers, bulbs and vegetables. We have hatched tadpoles into frogs and we have planted apple, plum and oak trees in our garden. We also have a wonderful mud kitchen, sand and water trays and Wendy houses. We use the wider farm for pond dipping, river walks, birthday picnics and for studying science and biology.
We aim to help each child develop their natural curiosity by offering challenges to develop their physical, social, emotional and intellectual skills.
To encourage kindness and respect at all times.
To provide a safe and stimulating Montessori learning environment both indoors and outdoors.
To provide every opportunity for children to strengthen positive attitudes towards themselves, others and towards learning.
To encourage open, honest and supportive communication with all families and carers.
To encourage confidence, independence and a love of learning.
To develop understanding of what is right and wrong.
To listen to and to value what children say.
To encourage a positive attitude to health and exercise at all times
To have high expectations of what children can achieve.
To ensure learning through the Early Learning Goals as part of the Foundation Stage.