Kids Planet Shortwood Lodge

Former golf-club grounds give Kids Planet Shortwood Lodge its character: open-plan indoor spaces, broad gardens and room for children to run, dig and climb. This Mangotsfield nursery combines a substantial outdoor setting with an emphasis on communication, early literacy and physical activity. The practical attraction is space for both conversation and movement.

The nursery has capacity for 118 children, with an accepted age range starting at three months and extending to five years. At its August 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged it Good overall and found safeguarding effective. Two improvement priorities deserve equal attention: helping quieter children join their peers and allowing more time for children to manage everyday tasks themselves.

Attendance choices include mornings, afternoons and several day lengths, alongside a term-time option. That gives families more than one way to use the nursery, rather than requiring the same length of day for everyone.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care, with play and everyday experiences providing opportunities to practise language, movement and social skills. Shortwood Lodge's current educational emphasis is on communication, physical development and early literacy. These priorities connect the active outdoor setting with the conversations and stories that accompany children's play.

In August 2025, babies practised naming things and joined familiar songs, while older children explored spoken sounds by clapping syllables and matching sounds. Adults added vocabulary during play rather than keeping language work to a separate activity. For parents, these are concrete examples of what a communication emphasis looked like across different ages.

Number work also grew out of practical play in August 2025. Water play and construction gave children tangible ways to investigate number: containers prompted comparisons of size and quantity, while bricks offered counting and combining practice. Predictions became talking points with adults, encouraging children to put their reasoning into words. The activities brought mathematical language into things children were already handling and investigating.

Outdoor and Community Life

The grounds of the former Shortwood Lodge golf club are the strongest physical feature here. Natural play areas and expansive gardens provide space for climbing, running and digging, with outdoor play continuing across different weather conditions. This suits families who want movement and nature to have a substantial place in the nursery day.

In August 2025, outdoor experiences included walks into fields, gardening and coached sport. Movement activities used obstacles and climbing, while babies explored sponges and practised pulling themselves upright on equipment. Indoors, children handled play dough and experimented with scented paint containing spices. The mix gave children different materials and ways to move, rather than relying on one kind of activity.

Monthly stay and play sessions bring families into nursery life, alongside regular family events. Their value is practical: parents can share an activity with their child and build familiarity with the setting beyond routine handovers.

Relationships and Communication

In August 2025, settling began with close contact between babies and their key persons, supported by gentle singing and familiar soothing routines. Staff worked with families to keep care consistent between home and nursery. For a baby starting childcare, those repeated interactions are more meaningful than a general promise of a gentle start.

Communication has both digital and face-to-face routes. The group-wide Famly app, used here for updates during the day, sits alongside monthly stay-and-play sessions. In August 2025, families could also borrow learning resources and take home activity packs; a foyer question board provided a place for feedback, with responses shared back to parents. These were specific ways to connect home life with nursery learning.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the August 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children with speech delays received repeated language, prompts and encouragement, but that quieter children were not consistently helped to join other children during freely chosen play. The distinction matters: responding to a child during an adult-led activity did not always translate into support for making friends independently.

In August 2025, adults used stories and everyday conversations to explore feelings, demonstrated considerate behaviour and helped children work through small disagreements. There was also a weakness in everyday routines: adults sometimes moved too quickly, reducing children's chances to dress themselves or put their belongings away. Families should weigh the warm personal care alongside this need for more patient support for independence.

Fresh meals and snacks are provided, with dietary needs catered for. Their charging position depends on whether funding is applied to the day, so food belongs in the cost conversation as well as the care conversation.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Carsons Road, Mangotsfield, Bristol, BS16 9LW. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays, across 52 weeks of the year. A private on-site car park supports collection and drop-off by car.

The Full Day runs from 7.30am to 6pm, with Full Time using the same hours; Full Day (10hrs) runs from 8am to 6pm. Morning care is 8am to 1pm and Afternoon is 1pm to 6pm. Short Day runs from 8am to 5pm, and the term-time day is 9am to 4pm. An Early Bird period covers 7.30am to 8am, and ad-hoc hourly care is another charging option.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0117 957 2657 or by email to shortwoodlodge@kidsplanetdaynurseries.co.uk. Tour booking is also offered. The different session lengths allow parents to compare a shorter working day, a single morning or afternoon, and a longer attendance window on their own merits.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered alongside paid care. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The important cost distinction is between a private day and a day to which early years funding is applied.

The group-wide fee inclusion package used here covers food and snacks, plus nappies, formula, wipes and sun cream. On days with funding applied, meals, consumables and activities are charged separately; the charge category changes with the amount of funding used that day. A funded childcare arrangement therefore needs to be considered with these additional categories, rather than treating the childcare hours as the whole bill.

• Quieter children. In August 2025, some children stayed outside peer play rather than joining in. During a tour, ask how staff now help a hesitant child enter a game and develop friendships.
• Time for independence. August 2025 routines sometimes moved too quickly for children to dress themselves or tidy their own things. Ask for examples of how staff give children time to practise these tasks today.
• Funding and day length. The term-time day runs from 9am to 4pm, while mornings, afternoons and longer days offer different attendance choices; funded days also carry separate food, consumables and activity charges. Request a written quotation for the exact pattern you intend to use, with its funding allocation and extras set out together.

Shortwood Lodge suits families who value generous outdoor space and an emphasis on language and movement, whether they need a morning, an afternoon, a shorter day or a longer attendance window. Monthly stay-and-play sessions and updates through Famly add useful connections between nursery and home.

The August 2025 Good judgement supports a positive view, but the two improvement priorities remain relevant to choosing care for an individual child. The strongest decision is to weigh the gardens, communication emphasis and session choices against how well today's routines support a quieter child and give children time to do things for themselves.