Toybox Day Nursery

A Perspex curiosity cube lets children investigate objects brought from home, while visits to Katherine’s House bring generations together. Toybox combines these experiences with play in a detached Henleaze house, where a veranda forms part of the preschool classroom.

Toybox Day Nursery has capacity for 39 children aged 3 to 60 months at 11 The Drive, Bristol. At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good and found safeguarding effective, with support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities involving progress targets, parents and outside professionals. That is a dated judgement, rather than a description of everything happening today.

Babies have separate sleeping and changing spaces; older children practise independence through everyday tasks. Full days run from 8am to 6pm, and families can also request term-time attendance.

Rooms and Ages

The Babies Room, for ages 0 to 2, combines a protected area for children who are not yet mobile with adjacent sleeping and changing rooms, a reading den and opportunities for garden play and community walks. Separating sleep from active play is a useful practical feature for families comparing baby care.

The Two's Room, for ages 2 to 3, brings together craft, construction and reading spaces, sand and water play, and practice with handwashing, shoes and coats. Here, becoming more independent means doing ordinary things for oneself, alongside making, building and exploring.

The "BIG" Room, for ages 3 to 5, has separate activity zones, a home corner, a reading sofa and a large veranda incorporated into the classroom, with cooperation and independence running through its play. That gives older children settings for both shared activity and quieter time, rather than expecting every part of the day to happen in one undivided space.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets requirements for learning, development and care, including language, movement and relationships developed through play and everyday experiences. Toybox adds exploration, sensory activity and learning with friends, with an emphasis on kindness, boundaries and sharing.

Inside the curiosity cube, an object is visible through Perspex but cannot be touched. Children discuss its identity and possible uses, sometimes contributing objects from home. Weekly topics give them new starting points; stories, songs and Makaton support language development.

Diwali and VE day introduce religious and historical occasions. Cooking, shopping trips and library visits connect learning to everyday life beyond the nursery.

Outdoor and Community Life

A large tree shades the garden, used throughout the year for digging, bikes, scooters and giant construction blocks. In the mud kitchen, utensils help children make imaginary food. Each room also has a reading area for quieter activity.

In September 2022, outdoor learning included beams, climbing and natural materials. A caterpillar discovery led to research through books, while shopping outings provided produce for activities: ordinary encounters became starting points for learning.

Intergenerational visits to Katherine’s House extend children's social experiences. Graduation and a Christmas Play also feature among events across the year.

Relationships and Communication

Close relationships support settling, alongside the baby room's reading den and separate sleeping space. Children receive help with naming emotions, friendships and self-feeding, building skills they use each day.

In September 2022, key people used interests shared by parents to shape activities. Children sought reassurance from adults, who helped calmly with disagreements; questionnaires gathered parental feedback.

Current communication includes daily conversations, telephone calls and email when face-to-face contact is impractical. Parents' evenings allow fuller discussions of learning and development, giving families time beyond the everyday exchange.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In September 2022, routine changes needed clearer organisation, and activities needed to develop children's existing abilities further. Some children lost interest while waiting to wash their hands before snack, and successful engagement in play did not consistently lead to a well-planned next learning step. These are specific points to explore, alongside the positive judgement.

Current safeguarding arrangements include child-protection training and procedures for responding to concerns, while recruitment involves vetting applicants before employment. The team includes practitioners with early years educator training and supports apprenticeships. Those arrangements describe how staff are prepared and recruited; safeguarding effectiveness remains the dated inspection judgement above.

School preparation centres on communication, friendships, managing feelings and doing simple tasks independently. Library visits, cooking and community experiences support that work. The emphasis is on skills children can use, rather than an admissions advantage at a named school.

Sessions and Attendance

Toybox opens Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, throughout the year apart from bank holidays. Its full-day booking pattern uses that same window. Admissions priorities include families seeking full days across the year, existing siblings and returning families seeking that attendance pattern; start dates and the nursery's operational needs also influence admissions.

Families can request term-time or all-year attendance, though year-round full days receive admissions priority. The requested pattern matters alongside opening hours.

The nursery is at 11 The Drive, Henleaze, Bristol BS9 4LD, just off the high street. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0117 962 3010 or through the contact form. After-school care also includes collection from St Ursula and Henleaze infant school; this is a collection arrangement, not a claim about onward admission.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded provision covers working families with children under 2, working families with two-year-olds, eligible two-year-olds, and universal and working-parent entitlements for three- and four-year-olds. The funding timetable stretches universal hours across 47.5 weeks, with up to 12 hours a week and 6 in a day; extended funding permits up to 24 hours a week and 8 in a day. Eligibility codes for working-parent funding must be reconfirmed every 3 months.

Funding does not cover bank holidays, and a funded booking falling on one is not moved to another day. Funded hours carry no additional charges. For privately paid childcare, meals, snacks, wipes and creams are included, while families supply nappies; the funded-hours terms also leave nappies with parents.

Mini Meals Catering prepares lunches for daily delivery, with a menu refreshed each term and provision for dietary and religious requirements. Afternoon tea is made at the nursery. These arrangements distinguish the delivered lunch from food prepared on site.

For privately paid hours, a deposit is credited back through the first month's invoice if the place is taken up, but is not refunded if it is declined; a separate registration charge is non-refundable. Neither charge applies to funded-only places. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the charge structure explained in its admissions and funding policy.

Private-hours notice is one month, ending with the final attended session at month-end. Funded attendance normally involves a termly commitment, with funding transfers not always taking effect until the next term; eligible two-year-olds can give one month's notice. This matters if a family expects to change arrangements part-way through a term.

• Learning beyond an engaging activity. The September 2022 improvement points concerned clearer transitions and better planning of children's next learning steps. At a visit, ask how staff now use an individual child's progress to shape activities and organise changes in the day.
• Funding timetable. The funding calculations use 47.5 weeks, but the operational description also specifies 52 weeks, and the session table includes weekend rows despite weekday opening hours. Ask for a written funded attendance schedule that resolves those differences before committing.
• Your baby's daily group. The Babies Room has separate sleeping and changing spaces and a protected area for non-mobile children. At a visit, ask how settling is arranged and what the baby's usual group looks like on the proposed attendance days.
• Attendance commitment. Full-day, year-round requests receive admissions priority, while funded attendance normally involves a termly commitment. Families seeking term-time care or anticipating a change during a term should weigh those terms against their intended pattern.

Toybox suits families seeking imaginative play and practical independence, with separate baby sleeping space and community experiences adding substance to the offer.

Attendance choices encompass full days and requests for term-time care, with year-round full-day bookings prioritised. The September 2022 Good judgement provides context; its learning and routine improvement points, together with the conflicting funded timetable, are the main considerations when choosing an attendance pattern.