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The best nurseries in Bristol are inundated with applications, and with waiting lists lasting a year or longer in some cases, expectant parents are advised to research and secure places at the earliest possible opportunity. For young families exploring their options, we offer advice and guidance in our article Choosing a nursery.
There is the usual mixture of corporate (eg Daisy Chain), small local providers (eg Clifton Tots, Christ Church Pre-school), family-run (eg Woodland House, affiliated to the university and priority given to parents working there) and those attached to the independent schools (Clifton College Prep, Clifton High).
Demand is high and availability low. Waiting lists can last for up to a year. We suspect there are parents who use the ‘first come first served’ policy of independent school nurseries to get small children through the door before they have to face any kind of entrance assessment: transfer up the school is usually automatic unless the child is patently unsuited for the school setting.
Best state secondary schools in Clifton
Best private schools in Clifton
Best primary schools in Clifton
Private family-owned nurseries predominate in this part of Bristol (Green Door, Pooh Corner, Tin Drum, Moonriver, Zebedees, Clyde House, Ashgrove Park and Archfield House) plus one local chain, Snapdragons. All tell the same story of little, if any, availability for babies and year long waiting lists.
Some spaces for pre-schoolers at the start of the academic year, when four-year-olds move on to school. Just one attached to a school – Torwood House, a tiny (fewer than 20 pupils!) standalone prep - and a place on their list is greatly in-demand.
Best state secondary schools in Redland
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Best primary schools in Redland
Younger children have a choice of nurseries, mostly privately owned; demand is high with year-long waits very possible. Toybox is in Henleaze; Once upon a Time, Lake House, Daisy Chain (with a sister nursery in Clifton) and Manor House all in Westbury. The last of these claims to have a slightly different way of going about things, offering the children more autonomy in their day.
Badminton Junior School has its own nursery, taking girls from the age of three and much more a preparation for school: term-time only, uniform and academic in its approach eg early introduction to phonics.
Best state secondary schools in Henleaze
Best private schools in Henleaze
Best primary schools in Henleaze
Three private nursery options in the city centre, perhaps more likely to be near to parents’ place of work than the family home. Becket Hall will take babies from eight weeks of age and operates year-round. King Street Nursery right in theatreland is part of growing (60+ nurseries) national chain Just Childcare.
Co-op Nurseries, a national provider with 48 nurseries, have one site in a historic vaulted building right next to Bristol Temple Meads, the city’s main station, an area which has been massively developed in recent years and which now gleams with shiny office blocks. Redcliffe Nursery and Children’s Centre is a local authority setting, intended to provide affordable childcare for lower income families in Bristol and the admissions policy reflects this.
Best state secondary schools in Bristol City Centre
Best private schools in Bristol City Centre
Best primary schools in Bristol City Centre
Quite a few nurseries in this part of Bristol to reflect growing demand but a new setting due to open in autumn 2022, to ease the long waiting list at North St Nursery. London chain Magic Roundabout Nurseries has a branch here with a waiting list of a year; 18 month waiting lists and stricter admissions criteria for the two sites run by local not-for-profit BS3 Community, Southville Centre and Chessel Centre. National chain Bright Horizons nurseries has one branch here with a greener setting than the others.
Best state secondary schools in Southville
Best private schools in Southville
Need help? Perhaps you suspect your child has some learning difficulty and you would like advice on what you should do. Or perhaps it is becoming clear that your child's current school is not working for him or her, and you need help to find a mainstream school which has better SEN provision, or to find a special school which will best cater for your child's area of need. Our SEN consultancy team advises on both special schools, and the mainstream schools with good SEN support, from reception through to the specialist colleges for 19+. Special Educational Needs Index
Find top international, British, IB and American schools in over 40 countries. The Good Schools Guide International publishes impartial and forthright reviews of international schools across the world.
We examined the value-added from KS2 to GCSE for 2022 to see which state selective grammar schools added the most value to their offspring. A note of caution - the more highly selective a grammar school, the less scope there will be to add value.
Grammar schools are state-funded, academically selective senior schools. The education a child receives at grammar school is paid for by the state unlike at private schools which provide education for a fee. There are currently around 163 located in 36 English local authorities, with around 167,000 pupils between them. Northern Ireland has a further 67 grammar schools, but there are none in Wales or Scotland. A word of caution: there are private schools that have the word 'grammar' in their name but this is purely for historical reasons.
At specialist music, dance or performing arts schools, the arts aren't optional extras. They’re intrinsic to the school curriculum. Students are expected to fit in high level training and hours of practice alongside a full academic provision. It's a lot to ask any child to take on, but for those with exceptional performing ability this kind of education can be transformative.