Top Tots Day Nursery Fort Purbrook

A fort gives this nursery a setting with real character: substantial outdoor space, play in different weather and opportunities for children to test their judgement as well as their imagination. Top Tots Day Nursery Fort Purbrook combines that physical setting with creative play and care routines shaped around home life. The outdoor space is the main attraction.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its 26 May 2023 inspection. Its current age range is 3 to 60 months, with separate rooms for babies, toddlers and preschool children. Full days and morning or afternoon half days give families different ways to use the setting.

The strongest practical combination is outdoor exploration alongside individual support. Targeted plans and links with Portage and Speech and Language Therapy provide mechanisms for addressing developmental challenges, while handovers, software updates and parent evenings keep families involved.

Rooms and Ages

Three age-group rooms organise the nursery day: baby room, toddlers and preschool. Resources encourage children to investigate and invent, with creative, messy activities forming part of the experience. The room structure separates stages of development, while the setting’s play-based approach leaves space for children’s interests to shape activities.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children’s learning, development and care. In everyday terms, this brings learning and care together: play, communication, physical activity and growing independence all matter. Here, activities build on children’s interests rather than treating play as a break from learning.

Imaginative themes can move from space travel to a robot factory. Those examples give a useful sense of the approach: children’s ideas supply the starting point, and practitioners extend what they can explore through play. Craft and messy activities add another way for children to create and experiment.

In May 2023, children used tyres and substantial wooden blocks to construct a camper van together. They explained their design decisions, and adults joined the play to encourage problem-solving. It was an example of construction serving several purposes at once: cooperating, making choices and putting ideas into words.

Story-making offered a different kind of participation that month. Children used picture dice to invent a narrative, listened to one another and proposed what might happen next. The activity connected storytelling with taking turns, rather than leaving language work to an adult-led conversation alone.

Outdoor and Community Life

The large outdoor area supports exploration in different weather and opportunities to judge manageable risks. That matters for families seeking a nursery day with substantial physical play, rather than an outdoor space used only as an occasional change of scene. Imagination is part of the outdoor offer too.

In May 2023, children practised climbing and balancing outside. The garden was at the top of the fort, and children travelled to it in pairs, holding hands. They also helped assess the outdoor surroundings before play. The fort setting therefore brought practical routines around moving through the space, alongside opportunities to explore it.

Relationships and Communication

Home routines help shape care here, including support with potty training. Information passes between families and staff through handovers, early-years software and parent evenings. These offer different opportunities to discuss everyday care and development, rather than relying on a single conversation at the end of a session.

In May 2023, babies and toddlers had established relationships with their key person. Staff gathered information about children’s routines and development when they joined, giving activity planning a starting point grounded in the individual child. Parents also met their child’s key person each term to discuss progress and took part in craft afternoons.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Targeted plans and work with outside agencies, including Portage and Speech and Language Therapy, form part of the nursery’s support arrangements. These are practical mechanisms: children’s developmental challenges can inform individual planning and bring in specialist involvement.

At the May 2023 inspection, Ofsted found effective safeguarding arrangements and effective SEND strategies, with additional funding used to improve children’s outdoor experiences. These are dated findings, rather than a promise about every child’s experience now.

In May 2023, staff worked with families to learn words from children’s home languages and included those languages in songs and rhymes. Children also brushed their teeth daily, with conversations about oral health. Both examples show everyday routines being used for more than their immediate task: language could connect nursery with home, and toothbrushing included an explanation of why it mattered.

Sessions and Attendance

Full-day bookings run from 7.30am to 6pm. Half days are offered from 8am to 1pm or from 1pm to 6pm, giving families a choice between morning and afternoon attendance. These are separate booking patterns, so a half day has its own start and finish rather than simply being a shorter stay within a full-day booking.

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, for 51 weeks each year. The nursery closes on bank holidays and for one week at Christmas. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 07354846631.

Getting There

The address is Fort Purbrook, Peter Ashley Lane, Portsdown Hill Road, Portsmouth, PO6 1BJ. The nursery is inside the fort, close to QA hospital and Havant & Southdowns College, making its position relevant to families with work or study commitments nearby.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare arrangements include 15 hours TTO and 30 hours TTO, alongside 20 hours stretched all year and 30 hours stretched, described as 25 hours per week during the academic year from September to July. The distinction matters when matching childcare to the calendar: term-time and stretched arrangements spread attendance differently.

Breakfast and snacks are supplied without a separate charge. Nappies, wipes, sun cream and toothbrushing are also supplied without a separate charge, including within the funded-hours charge structure, reducing the everyday items families need to send from home.

Additional sessions are charged separately. Swimming and local outings are listed as voluntary additional services without a charge, rather than a promise of a recurring timetable. Families receive current prices in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Conversations that extend learning. In May 2023, less experienced staff did not consistently use conversations to develop children’s understanding further. Ask how coaching now helps practitioners build on children’s ideas during play.
• Using the fort’s outdoor space. Outdoor exploration and measured risk-taking are central to the offer. On a visit, ask how garden access and outdoor routines work for your child’s age group.
• Choosing a funding calendar. Both term-time and stretched arrangements are offered, with a September-to-July pattern included among them. Establish which arrangement fits your required attendance before agreeing a booking.

Top Tots Day Nursery Fort Purbrook suits families who value imaginative play and substantial outdoor exploration, whether they need full days or morning or afternoon half days. Its fort setting gives the experience a recognisable character, while home-based care routines, targeted support plans and several routes for parent communication add practical substance.

The Good judgement from May 2023 provides a positive inspection position, with a clear improvement point around less experienced staff’s conversations. The decision rests on both elements: an appealing outdoor and creative offer, and the quality of everyday interactions that helps children make more of it.