Blossom Tree Nursery School

An allotment, a garden for babies and a purpose-built toddler climbing frame give Blossom Tree Nursery School a clear outdoor identity. Sensory learning sits alongside it: each room has a sensory or sleep room, giving children space for quieter moments as well as active play. This Portishead setting combines practical experiences with connections beyond the nursery, including regular outings to shops, parks and care homes.

At its May 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children made good progress, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Blossom Tree accepts children aged 4 months to 5 years and has 69 places in total. Full days, mornings and afternoons are offered, with an early-start option.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, bringing communication, physical development and early learning into everyday play. At Blossom Tree, practical experiences give that learning something concrete to work with. Cookery sessions involve handling ingredients and developing skills through participation, while growing food links the nursery's allotment to questions about where meals come from.

In May 2024, staff used children's interests and what they already understood to plan their next learning steps. Conversation ran through play, supported by basic signs used in daily exchanges. Counting also happened in ordinary activities, with comparisons of quantities and sizes and discussion of shapes and colours.

Songs, rhymes and stories were part of the day in May 2024. Preschool children explored poetry; younger children joined singing through movement and clapping. There was a limitation alongside this: interruptions sometimes broke staff's attention during freely chosen literacy activities, reducing the opportunity for children to stay absorbed.

Outdoor and Community Life

Different outdoor features serve different stages. Babies have their own garden area, toddlers have a climbing frame built for them, and the allotment makes growing a tangible part of learning. In May 2024, children planted vegetable seeds and explored how food is produced. Outdoor activities also extended across areas of learning, giving children who preferred being outside another way to participate.

Regular trips to local care homes, parks and shops take children beyond the nursery's own spaces. These everyday destinations connect children with their surrounding community.

Mind in Somerset is the nursery's chosen charity. Fundraising plans across the year include sponsored challenges, bake sales and dress-up days.

Relationships and Communication

In May 2024, settling arrangements were adapted to individual children, and key workers learnt about children's lives at home through conversations with parents. That connection helped staff carry familiar care routines into the nursery.

Parents also received ideas for extending learning at home in May 2024. School preparation included practical dressing practice using school uniforms, making independence something children could rehearse.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The free-flow layout encourages independence and friendships, while each room's sensory or sleep room makes space for quieter activity.

Emotional support had a specific development point in May 2024. Staff comforted children who struggled with their feelings, but did not consistently help them learn the words needed to express those feelings independently.

Meals are cooked on site by the nursery chef, using locally sourced ingredients where possible. Menus accommodate different dietary requirements, and cookery activities give children a chance to explore ingredients themselves.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 13 Stoke Road, Portishead, BS20 6BQ. Enquiries can be made through the nursery's enquiry form or by telephone on 01275 843752.

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.

Attendance operates across the year, with funding stretched over 51 weeks. Closures include Christmas week, bank holidays and two staff-training days each year. Planned closures are already taken into account when fees are set, so the monthly charge does not change simply because one of those closures falls in that month.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers the Government's 15 Hours and 30 Hours funding for eligible children aged 9 months and above. The stretched arrangement provides up to 11.18 or 22.35 funded hours a week respectively, with up to 10 funded hours usable in a day. For families using the larger entitlement, the first 20 hours can cover two full-day sessions, with the remaining 2.35 hours applied to another full or half day. The smaller entitlement can be used across a mixture of full and half days.

Private fees include meals and snacks, milk and infant formula, plus nappies, wipes, nappy cream and sun cream. Funded sessions have separate food and health and hygiene consumables charges. Activity charges are listed for over-2s, with no activity charge for under-2s; extra unfunded hours are also charged.

A non-refundable registration charge applies, and the deposit is credited against the first invoice. Monthly billing spreads charges evenly through the year. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, including the charges attached to the chosen pattern and funding entitlement.

• Time for stories. In May 2024, interruptions sometimes weakened staff interaction during freely chosen literacy activities. During a visit, ask how practitioners now protect time for sustained stories and singing.
• Words for feelings. Teaching emotional vocabulary was a development point in May 2024. Ask how staff help children name feelings as well as comforting them when they are upset.
• Rest and individual care. Every room has a sensory or sleep room, and menus accommodate dietary requirements. Explore how those spaces fit your child's routine and, where allergies are relevant, confirm current food-handling practice.
• The funded bill. Meals and consumables attract separate charges during funded sessions; activity charges are listed for over-2s, with no activity charge for under-2s. Request a written quotation for your intended full-day or shorter-session pattern, with those categories itemised.

Blossom Tree suits families looking for full-day attendance or shorter morning and afternoon sessions, with practical learning and outdoor experiences woven into the offer. The baby garden, toddler climbing frame and allotment give its environment substance; regular community outings and support for Mind in Somerset extend the nursery's connections beyond its own rooms.

The May 2024 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, alongside specific development points around emotional language and uninterrupted literacy interactions. Families should weigh those points with the session choice and the separate charges on funded attendance.