Bertie's Nursery

A baby garden, an indoor bridge and woodland exploration give Bertie's Nursery a character that changes as children grow. Set within the grounds of The Downs Preparatory School in Wraxall, on the former Tyntesfield Estate, it combines small-scale baby provision with increasingly independent play and preparation for school. The youngest room takes a maximum of nine babies. That is a more useful starting point for a baby’s parent than the whole nursery’s capacity of 83 children.

At its 28 May 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated Bertie's Nursery Good overall, with the same judgement across education, behaviour, personal development and leadership. Children attend from six months to school age, progressing through named rooms with different physical spaces and learning emphases.

Attendance can follow an all-year or term-time pattern, with a Standard Day and shorter sessions as well as optional extensions.

Rooms and Ages

Mini Movers, for babies aged 6 to 16 months, has a maximum of nine babies, a comfortably equipped room, access to a baby garden and opportunities for walks to see farmyard animals. The room’s combination of familiar surroundings and outdoor exploration gives babies different ways to investigate their world. Photos and records of special moments go to parents through the parent portal.

Twinkle Toes, for children aged 16 to 28 months, emphasises language, physical challenges and activities shaped by individual interests, with an indoor bridge, daily outdoor play and walks to see donkeys and explore nearby woods. Being mobile opens up a different day here. Movement and conversation develop alongside early habits of consideration for other children.

For Tweenies, aged two to three years, adult-led activities sit alongside children’s own play, with stories, circle time and growing independence in dressing and toileting; double doors lead directly to a playground with a sheltered, covered part. Putting on wellies and coats belongs to the learning, rather than simply being preparation for it.

Jumping Beans, for three- to four-year-olds, combines daily group routines with listening, turn-taking, phonics and numeracy, alongside weekly Classical Music, Forest School and Spanish sessions. These are recurring music, outdoor-learning and language sessions, rather than occasional additions to the preschool day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the common framework for children’s learning and care: play and planned experiences develop communication, movement, relationships and early knowledge, with observations helping staff decide what comes next. Bertie's organises its curriculum around 12 goals, covering independence and emotional understanding as well as storytelling, construction, early mathematics and physical development.

The detail is practical. Children explore counting and shapes through play and snack-time experiences, build with blocks and loose parts, and move from marks and drawings towards purposeful writing. Songs, rhymes and pretend play support language and imagination. This gives families a clearer picture of learning than a list of developmental headings alone.

In May 2025, babies practised using spoons by transferring rice between containers, while staff responded to children’s interest in banging pans by introducing musical instruments. Older children explored how the position of a shape could look different to someone sitting opposite. These examples connect learning to actions children can try for themselves.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School is on site, with nature crafts, searching for bugs and building dens among its activities. The gardens, woodland and outdoor spaces suitable for different weather conditions make nature a substantial part of the setting’s offer. For preschool children, the weekly Forest School session gives that exploration a recurring place in their timetable.

In May 2025, children went outdoors daily: toddlers practised movement on climbing equipment, and older children examined a newt with magnifying glasses. Outdoor learning involved physical challenge and close observation. The setting also offers countryside walks and encounters with nearby farmyard animals, extending children’s experiences beyond their room.

Relationships and Communication

The Key Carer system gives each child and family a consistent practitioner relationship. Parent zone, the online communication system, shares photographs, observations and care information, so parents can follow experiences that their child may be too young to describe. Regular progress updates and parent meetings sit alongside the portal, and families can arrange further meetings with staff.

Settling is planned around the child and parents spending time in the nursery before attendance begins. Families complete care and medical information, including dietary needs, allergies and collection arrangements. Where a child already attends another nursery, Bertie's seeks parental permission to contact that setting to support the change. The purpose is continuity: useful information can travel with the child.

In May 2025, moves between rooms included conversations involving parents and the outgoing and incoming key persons. Staff also worked with families over changes to sleep and diet. These are important points of contact for babies and toddlers whose routines may change quickly.

Communication about learning needs closer attention. In May 2025, parents did not consistently receive information about their child’s next developmental steps. Sharing activities and care updates is useful, but parents also need to understand what staff are helping their child work towards. The other improvement priority concerned drawing quieter children into discussions.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

An Inclusion Coordinator works with Key Carers and parents to plan additional support. Individual Progress Plans set short-term targets, teaching strategies, intended outcomes and review dates; reviews usually take place every six weeks. Parents contribute to writing and reviewing the plans, with external services involved following consultation where further support is needed.

Bertie's may seek SEN Top-Up Funding from North Somerset Council with parental permission. Its inclusion arrangements also involve the Area SENCO, connecting nursery support with outside professionals. For families, the useful distinction is between identifying a need and agreeing the actual support: the policy gives a route for assessment, planning and review rather than a general promise.

At the May 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged that staff supporting children with SEND were deployed successfully to help children progress. Those are dated judgements about practice.

Everyday personal care uses the Key Carer relationship where possible. The nappy-changing policy calls for staff to explain what they are about to do and prepare the child for it; changing facilities are separate from food and play areas, with privacy while staff remain visible to colleagues. Parents work with staff on toileting routines and supply alternative nappies, wipes or creams when they prefer products different from the nursery’s provision.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is The Downs School, Charlton Drive, Wraxall, Bristol BS48 1PD. The Standard Day runs from 8.30am to 4.30pm, and families can choose all-year attendance or, subject to availability, a term-time option broadly aligned with the North Somerset school calendar. Closures cover bank holidays and the interval between Christmas and New Year.

Shorter bookings are divided into a Morning Session, 8.30am to 11.30am; a Lunchtime Session, 11.30am to 2.30pm; and an Afternoon Session, 2.30pm to 4.30pm. This creates several attendance patterns within the day. Funding applies to the morning and lunchtime sessions, rather than the afternoon session.

Optional extensions are Early bird, 7.30am to 8am; Breakfast and care, 8am to 8.30am; Wrap around care and tea, 4.30pm to 5.30pm; and End of day care, 5.30pm to 6pm. Breakfast and tea therefore belong to particular booked extensions. They should be considered alongside the core sessions when matching attendance to a working day.

Registration involves a non-refundable entry charge, followed by a contract and care forms before the child starts. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. The admissions policy includes priorities for children with particular care or support needs and for specified sibling and school-registration connections, while the FAQ describes first-come allocation; this difference deserves a direct discussion before registration.

Getting There

Bertie's sits on the B3128, the Bristol to Clevedon road, and has on-site parking. Its setting within The Downs Preparatory School grounds is part of the practical and educational context, but nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place; families seeking that school must use its own admissions process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered to eligible families on a term-time basis. The nursery’s funded booking allowance is up to 18 hours a week (six hours per day), across 38 weeks; this is its attendance offer, rather than a promise of eligibility for every family. The session charges distinguish funded bookings from privately paid attendance.

Morning-session enrichment, snacks and consumables carry a separate charge, as do the hot lunch and lunchtime consumables, including alongside funded sessions. Afternoon snacks and consumables are included in the afternoon session price, while families provide preferred alternative personal-care products; the overall position therefore varies by session and item. Optional early and late care has its own charges, and holiday rates are restricted to children attending all year; term-time children booking holidays pay the standard rate.

Food is prepared daily on the premises, with hot lunches, tea and snacks following a three-week menu rotation that changes with seasons and ingredient availability. Dietary requirements can be accommodated through discussion with the nursery.

• Quieter voices and learning updates. The May 2025 improvement priorities concerned participation in discussion and consistent sharing of children’s next steps. During a visit, ask how staff involve reserved children and show parents the learning priorities behind portal updates.
• Room moves. Twinkle Toes is described with an upper age of 28 months in the room information and 30 months in the nursery overview. Ask how mobility, development and age determine a move, especially where the next room’s age band overlaps.
• Admissions order. The admissions policy sets out priority categories, whereas the FAQ describes first-come allocation. Clarify how those rules work together before paying the non-refundable entry charge.
• The whole attendance bill. Funded morning and lunchtime bookings still have separately charged food, enrichment and consumables. A written quotation should match the chosen sessions, extensions and preferred care products; families managing allergies should also discuss current meal arrangements.

Bertie's suits families who want outdoor exploration woven into early learning, with a small capped baby room and a clear progression towards preschool routines. The baby garden, Twinkle Toes bridge, sheltered Tweenies playground and weekly preschool sessions give the offer substance at different ages.

The attendance model serves families seeking shorter morning or afternoon sessions as well as a Standard Day with optional extensions, and accommodates term-time and all-year patterns. Its Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, balanced by concrete improvement priorities around quieter children and communication about learning. Admissions rules and the session-by-session charge structure are the practical decisions to settle carefully.