Nursery FAQs
All Year Round FAQs – Initial Enquiry
All our nursery provisions are registered with Ofsted. Our Ofsted registration numbers are 106951 for the Southville Centre and EY554662 for the Chessel Centre.
You can view our most recent reports on the Ofsted website.
We hold visits to the Southville Centre and Chessel Centre on a one-to-one basis at either 9.45am or 10.45am most days. We offer tours at this time as it is the most suitable for the children in our care. These visits are designed to give you the opportunity to ask any further questions and view a typical day at nursery. If you would like to make an appointment to come and have a look around the nursery, please email us stating which Centre you would like to view.
Please email us to request nursery information and an application form. If you would like to register your child on the waiting list, please complete and return the form (either via email or dropped into Reception at the Southville Centre) along with the non-refundable administration fee of £50 paid via BACS (please email for payment details).
Please note that joining the waiting list does not guarantee a place.
For more information please visit our Waiting List FAQs.
Absolutely! If you need help with filling out application forms or anything else, please give us a call or email us and a member of the Family Services team will be more than happy to provide assistance. We strive to make our service as inclusive and accessible as possible. If English is an additional language for you, we have many bilingual members of staff.
Day to Day
Yes. We pre-book your child’s sessions in the toddler and preschool Rooms from their birthday so your booking carries on through with us until your child leaves us for school.
Once your booking with us has been confirmed and nearer to your start date, a member of the team based in your child’s room will contact you to arrange settling in sessions 2/3 weeks prior to your child’s start date, free of charge.
Parents are able to attend the first meeting, giving you the opportunity to get to know your key person, and your child the opportunity to settle in at their own pace. These settling in sessions are structured dependent on your child’s needs.
In the Southville Centre, we have a maximum of 15 babies in the Beauley Room (nine months to two years), 24 toddlers in the Leighton Room (two to three years) and 35 preschoolers in the Stackpool Room (3 years and above).
In the Chessel Centre, we have a maximum of 15 babies in the Pearl Room (nine months to two years), 17 toddlers in the Garnet Room (two to three years) and 32 preschoolers in the Ruby Room (3 years and above).
For under two year olds, the ratio is 1:3. For two year olds, the ratio is 1:4. For three year olds and up, the ratio is 1:8.
Our main philosophy is to encourage child-led play. We set out activities based on what the children have been playing with and are most interested in. The practitioners will then further that play and deepen their learning.
The children participate in two small group times every day, one in the morning and the afternoon.
There is also a larger group activity, circle time, where the children can share stories, sing, or hold discussion.
Garden time allows the children to run free and explore nature, whether that is playing in the mud kitchen or scooting around!
Depending on the room, the children across both nurseries have the opportunity to play outside at least twice a day. Some of the rooms also have access to a smaller garden which the children can play in throughout the day.
The children go out into the garden in all weathers. We like to say there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing!
Meals are provided by Early Years Catering. The children enjoy a hot lunch, light tea, and snacks throughout the day. In each room, the children will sit at the table to eat their meals as a group, which really encourages a sense of community within the rooms. The practitioners sit at the tables with the children to model good eating and encourage children to be adventurous with food.
We use four seasonal menus with a three weekly rotation on meals. So, even if your little one is only with us one day a week, they can still experience a variety of foods with us.
Most of our babies and many of our toddlers have a nap in the afternoon after lunchtime. We lay sleep mats with blankets on the floor, make the rooms cosy and play gentle music to make the room lovely and peaceful for their nap time. We will care for you child in whatever way they need to help get them to sleep so, if they need soothing, rocking back and forth or being pushed around in their buggy we can do this.
We go by the individual child schedule for a morning nap, so we’ll create a quiet and calm area for their nap time if they require one.
We find as the children move into preschool, many of them drop their naps but if your child still needs one, we will make sure they are rested.
We ask our parents and carers to provide enough nappies and wipes for their child. If you are using reusable nappies, we are happy to accommodate this and ask that you also bring a wet sack for us to return your used nappies in.
We do not provide breakfast so if your child will need something to eat before they come to us in the morning.
We also ask parents and carers to provide lots of spare clothes and underwear for their children in case they get messy during their time with us.
Learning, Development and Communication
Our practitioners also provide a comprehensive handover when picking up from nursery and are on hand for you to inform them of anything they need to know.
Any observations or room specific updates will be uploaded on to Famly normally once a week. Famly is an online journal used to document your child’s time with us.
For a more formal opportunity to discuss your child’s development, we hold parents’ evenings three times a year. Practitioners are also available for ad hoc appointments should you wish to discuss anything with them.
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage, which is a national framework developed for children’s early years in care and education. This provides us with a structure as well as specific areas of learning such as numeracy and literacy.
Each child is allocated a key person, who will organise activities with their key group to promote learning whilst they are playing. This gives the practitioner the chance to observe how well your child is doing and how they might be able to assist them further in their development.
Your child’s key person will also upload observations to your child’s Famly journal so you can see how well they are doing, and what they get up to whilst they are with us at nursery. You can expect these around once per week.
Funding & Special Educational Needs
We accept Working Family Funding, Two Year Entitlement Funding and Universal Funding at both the Southville and Chessel Centre nurseries. Please note that sessions offered to you are subject to availability and funding eligibility may not guarantee you sessions. Families with funding will still be asked to join our waiting list and follow this process. For more information about funding, please visit our Funding FAQs.
As with all the children in our care, we like to work on an individual need basis. We have a dedicated Special Educational Needs and Development Team based across both our Centres who are there to support our children with additional needs. If your child needs, or you suspect they may need, SEND support please email us with details of your child’s specific requirements.
Learn about how our nursery reflects the needs of all children as they journey through our spaces – BS3 Community Nurseries SEND offer.
Term Time Preschool – Initial Enquiry
All our nursery provisions are registered with Ofsted. Our Term Time Preschool Ofsted registration number is 106951.
You can view our most recent report on the Ofsted website.
We hold visits to the Term Time Preschool based at the Southville Centre on a one-to-one basis at either 9.45am or 10.45am most days. We offer tours at this time as it is the most suitable for the children in our care. These visits are designed to give you the opportunity to ask any further questions and view a typical day at nursery. If you would like to make an appointment to come and have a look around the nursery please email us.
Please email us to request Term Time Preschool information and a Waiting List Form. Once you have completed and returned your Waiting List Form, we will add your child to our waiting list for the relevant term.
Children can attend our Term Time Preschool from the first full term after they turn two years and nine months, using Working Family Funding, Universal or Extended Funding. Terms begin in January, April and September.
There are options to pay for core sessions if you are not eligible for funding but these are subject to availability. Further information about private fees are listed on the Term Time Preschool webpage, and you can email us to request information about availability.
Please note that joining the waiting list does not guarantee a place.
Absolutely! If you need help with filling out application forms or anything else, please give us a call or email us and a member of the Family Services team will be more than happy to provide assistance. We strive to make our service as inclusive and accessible as possible. If English is an additional language for you, we have many bilingual members of staff.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any stats on the length of our term time waiting list. This is due to the nature of the room; some parents apply when their child is a new born so wait three years whereas others apply the term before their child turns three and will wait less. The number of spaces available are dependent on how many children accept a place and leave our service term by term.
If you would like an update on where your child is sitting on the waiting list, please email us, and we will gladly provide you with an update.
We have three termly intakes in the Term Time Preschool. These are in September, January and April.
If you applied for the September intake you will hear from us in the previous May, if you applied for January you will hear from us in October, and if you applied for April you will hear from us in February. If you are unsuccessful, we will be in contact to let you know and ask if you would like to be added to our waiting list for the next term’s intake.
Any information that we need to communicate and share with parents and carers on our waiting list will come from Family Services via email. If you are going on maternity or paternity leave, please make sure the email address we have for you is not a work one. We may also call you if need be.
Family Services are available via email and phone from 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Day to Day
We offer wraparound care in the morning and in the afternoon at an additional charge. Once your child has been offered a place with us, you will be able to book any wraparounds sessions when confirming your place. If you require a one off, you can also book wraparound sessions on an ad hoc basis. All wraparound sessions are subject to availability. Please see our main Term Time Preschool webpage for our current prices.
Our morning wraparound is 8am-9am and includes breakfast (toast, fruit etc.). If your child doesn’t require breakfast, we offer wraparound at a reduced rate from 8:30am-9am.
Our afternoon wraparound runs from 3pm-5pm and includes a light tea.
After we have been able to offer you a place in the Term Time Preschool, we will contact with you with the dates for our settling in sessions, including offering you a home visit. These sessions will happen with the other children joining the Term Time Preschool so your child get to know their new friends as well as the Room and the team.
Parents are able to attend the first settling in session, giving you the opportunity to get to know your key person, and your child the opportunity to settle in at their own pace.
Ratios are 1:4 for children aged two, and 1:8 for children aged three and older.
Our main philosophy is to encourage child-led play. We set out activities based on what the children have been playing with and are most interested in. The practitioners will then further that play and deepen their learning.
The children participate in two small group times every day, one in the morning and the afternoon.
There is also a larger group activity, circle time, where the children can share stories, sing, or hold discussion.
Garden time allows the children to run free and explore nature, whether that is playing in the mud kitchen or scooting around!
We do not provide meals during core sessions in the Term Time Preschool, instead asking parents and carers to provide a fruit snack and a healthy packed lunch for your child to enjoy during their day will us.
There is the option for your child to enjoy breakfast and a light tea with us in our wraparound sessions. These sessions come at an additional charge.
We find the children tend to have dropped their naps when they come to us in the Term Time Preschool. However, if your child still needs one, we can create a cosy space in our Sensory Room or have comfy chairs they have nap time on.
The children have the opportunity to play outside every day. The Term Time Preschool has its own little garden that the children can extend their play into during the day and they all enjoy our big garden at least once a day.
The children go out into the garden in all weathers. We like to say there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing!
If your child is using nappies or pull ups, we ask our parents and carers to provide enough nappies/ pull ups and wipes for their child. If you are using reusable nappies, we are happy to accommodate this and ask that you also bring a wet sack for us to return your used nappies in.
We ask parents and carers to provide a fruit snack and a healthy packed lunch for your child to enjoy during their day will us.
We also ask parents and carers to provide lots of spare clothes and underwear for their children in case they get messy during their time with us.
Learning, Development and Communication
Our practitioners provide a comprehensive handover when picking up from Preschool and are on hand for you to inform them of anything they need to know when you drop off in the morning.
Any observations or room specific updates will be uploaded on to Famly normally once a week. Famly is an online journal used to document your child’s time with us.
For a more formal opportunity to discuss your child’s development, we hold parents’ evenings three times a year. Practitioners are also available for ad hoc appointments should you wish to discuss anything with them.
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage, which is a national framework developed for children’s early years in care and education. This provides us with a structure as well as specific areas of learning such as numeracy and literacy.
Each child is allocated a key person, who will organise activities with their key group to promote learning whilst they are playing. This gives the practitioner the chance to observe how well your child is doing and how they might be able to assist them further in their development.
Your child’s key person will also upload observations to your child’s Famly journal so you can see how well they are doing, and what they get up to whilst they are with us at Preschool. You can expect these around once per week.
Special Educational Needs
As with all the children in our care, we like to work on an individual need basis. We have dedicated Special Educational Needs and Development Team based across both our Centres who are there to support children with additional needs. If your child needs, or you suspect they may need, SEND support please email us with details of your child’s specific requirements.
Learn about how our nursery reflects the needs of all children as they journey through our spaces – BS3 Community Nurseries SEND offer.
