Treehouse Nursery School

Natural wooden playhouses and generous outdoor spaces give Treehouse Nursery School its clearest character: a place where imaginative play has room to spread. Based at Orchard School in Horfield, Bristol, it combines bright indoor spaces for different stages of childhood with Forest School, outdoor learning through exploration of nature, and yoga.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its September 2023 inspection. That judgement comes with useful detail and two practical reservations: mathematics activities needed to follow children's interests more closely, and key-person arrangements needed better coordination with attendance and staff working days.

Treehouse takes children from four months to five years. Full days, mornings and afternoons provide different ways to organise attendance, with an early-start option alongside them.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the foundation for children's learning and care, bringing language, movement, relationships and early understanding into their play and routines. At Treehouse, natural resources and outdoor spaces sit alongside creative experiences rather than confining learning to a table.

Large, light rooms have areas and resources intended for babies, toddlers and preschool children. Outdoors, wooden playhouses give imaginative games a physical setting. For families choosing between nurseries, this combination matters: children have indoor resources for their stage of development alongside outdoor space to move.

In September 2023, babies investigated moving balls and joined songs accompanied by scarves. Toddlers chose books for themselves and explored pictures, while older children tackled practical problems. One example involved working out how to reach toy cars placed beyond their reach, using blocks to gain height. These were small challenges with a clear purpose: children could try an idea and see whether it worked.

Language also threaded through the day in September 2023. Songs helped babies connect sounds with meaning, stories invited toddlers to participate, and dough-making introduced older children to unfamiliar vocabulary. Learning was attached to something children were doing, giving new words a useful context.

Mathematics was less consistent. In September 2023, exploring balls and tubes introduced size and fit, and older children recognised numbers and counted, but some adult-directed activities lost their interest. The improvement priority was to build mathematical learning more effectively around children's chosen play.

Outdoor and Community Life

In September 2023, children practised balance on steppingstones and moved wheelbarrows carrying foam bricks around the outdoor space. Ladders and a slide added climbing opportunities. These experiences brought coordination and movement into play rather than treating physical development as a separate lesson.

Today's community connection has a specific name: North Bristol & South Glos Foodbank. Treehouse supports its work supplying essentials to people facing hardship, with fundraising planned throughout the year through bake sales, dress-up days and sponsored challenges.

Cookery sessions give children opportunities to handle ingredients and learn about how food grows. Alongside nature-inspired play, this offers another practical route into learning: children can explore materials and processes that relate to everyday life.

In September 2023, settling sessions were adjusted around individual children, and staff worked with parents to understand familiar routines, favourite toys and preferred activities. Those details made settling personal. However, children's attendance days and their key person's working pattern were not consistently considered together, which could weaken continuity during the transition into nursery.

At the September 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged that children with SEND and those learning English as an additional language made good progress from their starting points. Staff monitored what children needed to learn next, giving the positive judgement a basis in individual learning rather than a blanket promise about support today.

Family involvement had tangible forms in September 2023. A lending library allowed books and games to go home, while grandparent days let grandparents spend time with children and see their learning. These examples connected nursery experiences with family life; they remain dated examples of how that relationship worked at the inspection.

Food is prepared by an on-site chef, using local ingredients where possible, and menus cater for different dietary requirements. That arrangement puts meal preparation within the nursery and allows food to form part of the daily experience.

Sessions and Attendance

Three main booking patterns have clear boundaries: Full days run from 8am to 6pm, Mornings from 8am to 1pm, and Afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. Early Starts cover 7.30am to 8am. A morning or afternoon is therefore a genuine alternative to booking the whole day.

Treehouse operates throughout the year, with Christmas-week closure and two annual team-training days; planned bank-holiday closures are also accounted for in fees. Enquiries can be made through the nursery's own enquiry form or by telephone on 01179 314650.

Getting There

The address is Orchard School, Filton Road, Horfield, Bristol, BS7 0XY. Nursery attendance on a school site does not guarantee a Reception place: families applying to a state school still use the local authority admissions process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible children aged nine months and above can access the 15 Hours or 30 Hours funding offers. Treehouse stretches these across 51 weeks, providing up to 11.18 or 22.35 funded hours each week respectively, within its regular sessions and with a limit of 10 funded hours per day. This spreads the entitlement across the year rather than restricting it to school terms.

Private fees include meals and snacks, formula and milk, plus nappies, wipes, nappy cream and sun cream. Funded sessions have separate food, health-and-hygiene and activity charges, while additional private hours are charged separately; activity charges apply only to children over two, with no activity charge for under-twos. Alternative arrangements to the integrated offering can be discussed with the nursery.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. A non-refundable registration charge reserves a place, and the deposit is credited against the first invoice. Fees remain payable during illness or other absences, so the cost of a booked pattern continues even when a child misses nursery.

• Continuity while settling. September 2023 highlighted the need to align key-person working days with children's attendance. During a visit, ask how that match will work for your proposed mornings, afternoons or full days.
• Mathematics through play. Some adult-directed mathematics activities lost older children's interest in September 2023. Ask for examples of how counting and number work now develop from children's own games.
• The funded-session total. Private fees include food and hygiene consumables; funded-session totals include additional charges for food, consumables and activities. Request a written quotation for your intended pattern, including any alternative arrangements you want to use.
• Dietary needs. An on-site chef and menus for different requirements support individual meal planning. Families managing allergies should confirm current preparation and serving arrangements before joining.

Treehouse suits families who want outdoor imaginative play and practical activities alongside a choice of full days, mornings or afternoons. Wooden playhouses, cookery and the North Bristol & South Glos Foodbank connection give that offer a recognisable shape.

The September 2023 Good judgement supports a positive view, with specific questions to pursue about key-person continuity and mathematics. For funded attendance, the separate charges deserve as much attention as the session times when comparing the overall fit.