River house Montessori/ st Olave's/ black health - any experiences with these schools?

[Mummyec]

Hi, I started searching for next year nursery class for my son, but then I found that I am too late in the game and a few of the schools are full already!!!!
Now I am calling different schools and see if I can get on to their list, any experiences with river house Montessori? The hours are very good for working parents, but a lot of people warned about the Montessori method being not 'formal' and could be a problem when the child needs to start preparing for the 11+ exam. Blackheath prep looks very corporate, st Olave's looks friendly but commute is difficult from where I live.... Any more schools you would recommend? Thanks!

I hear good things about St Olaves - and their results are stellar with lots of kids going onto Grammars?

BP - never heard it described as corporate - interesting! It certainly is more of a machine than St O's because it's at least twice the size with 2 classes of up to 24 kids per year. The facilities are amazing, and there are a lot of excellent teachers. My kids were very happy there.

There are downside to BP - as there are to any school - but if you have an enthusiastic, outgoing all-rounder then it can be a lot of fun.

I would like to know about Riverhouse Montessori as well - its local to us but I have not heard very good things.