Tops Bretonside
Tops Bretonside is a day nursery in Plymouth for children aged 0 to 4, with 53 registered places. Ofsted report card, 12 May 2026: Expected standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met.
30 Looe Street, Plymouth, PL4 0EA
Key facts
- Type
- Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Ages
- 0 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered places
- 53 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered
- 17 August 2018 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Opening hours
Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00
Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 12 May 2026
Who runs it
Tops Bretonside is run by Tops Day Nursery Limited (Ofsted register).
Latest inspection
- Inclusion: Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
- Achievement: Expected standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
- Leadership and governance: Expected standard
- Safeguarding standards met
Source: Ofsted, inspection on 12 May 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children are happy and enjoy coming to this nursery. They settle quickly and achieve well. They enjoy learning and feel confident exploring a curriculum that provokes curiosity and responds to their interests and needs. For example, older children independently apply their creativity to a mathematical sorting activity by creating a rainbow with the colourful resources. Staff interact skilfully with children while they play, celebrating their achievements and validating their unique strengths. This helps children understand themselves as capable learners who make steady progress from their different starting points.
Children benefit from well established yet flexible routines that help them feel confident, eager to learn and secure in their sense of belonging. They learn how to keep themselves safe and are supported to develop an understanding of healthy lifestyle choices. All children, including those who face barriers to their learning, show that they feel safe, valued and emotionally secure. They confidently seek comfort and reassurance from warm, caring staff, who respond sensitively, soothe them and support them to settle. Children and their families feel welcomed into the nursery community. Staff work closely with parents, recognising the barriers families may face and adapting provision to meet the needs of each child. This flexible and supportive approach helps children to thrive and ensures families feel understood, valued and well supported.
Children's uniqueness is celebrated every day, and practitioners embrace their interests to deepen learning and spark joy. Whether encouraging babies to walk, or helping toddlers to balance in the garden, staff nurture confidence and independence that allow every child to flourish.
What Ofsted found in each area
Inclusion: Expected standard
Leaders recognise the different needs of children and families in their community and have high expectations for children's learning and development. They use individual-inclusion funding to increase adult support and improve ratios because they understand how high-quality interactions benefit all children and particularly those that face barriers to their learning. They make effective use of additional funding, such as disability access funding, to provide resources that support children at a targeted and individual level.
Staff assess children's progress regularly, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), those who speak English as an additional language, and those facing other barriers to learning. As a result, staff identify gaps in learning promptly. Staff show a clear understanding of the graduated approach. They use assessment effectively to identify children's needs and plan targeted interventions. However, some strategies to support children with SEND, such as the consistent use of visual prompts, are not yet fully developed or embedded across the setting. This means that not all children benefit from these approaches.
Leaders work closely with a wide range of professionals and organisations. They ensure staff access tailored training that reflects the needs of their community, strengthening their knowledge and expertise. For example, staff take part in targeted speech and language groups, delivered by a speech and language therapist; this enhances staff adult child interaction skills and supports the development of vocabulary. Leaders work with parents, other professionals and local schools to ensure that all children have a positive transition to full-time education, including those with SEND and EAL and those facing other barriers to their learning.
Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
Leaders have an accurate understanding of the curriculum's quality. They have acted since the last inspection to build staff confidence to recognise and embrace mathematical learning opportunities as they occur in play. For example, staff in all rooms consistently take opportunities to count and say number names in order. They use their fingers to show quantity and children copy this, helping them to secure early number knowledge.
The curriculum is clearly sequenced and offers children opportunities to develop skills across all seven areas of learning. There is a sharp focus on developing children's communication and language. Staff skilfully adapt their language to meet the needs of different ages and stages, helping children make good progress in understanding and using vocabulary. Children of all ages demonstrate a love of books. Babies take books to adults to share. Toddlers use familiar story language as they select and stick pictures from 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. Older children incorporate favourite stories into their imaginative play.
Children's physical development is prioritised through access to well-resourced indoor and outdoor areas, and by using the local environment to extend learning about the community and wider world. Leaders and staff adapt the curriculum for children who face barriers to learning, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and children who speak English as an additional language. This ensures all children can play and learn alongside their peers.
Achievement: Expected standard
Children make steady progress from their starting points, including those who face barriers to their learning. They gain important skills in areas such as their personal, social and emotional development and their communication and language. They learn to take turns and develop early negotiation skills that are vital for collaborative learning. Children build confidence in their play and can use appropriate vocabulary that allows them to socially interact with each other and make friends.
Children build on their physical development in a variety of ways. They develop gross motor strength outdoors, balancing, running and climbing. Older children particularly enjoy weekly football sessions. Younger children refine their fine motor skills while mixing flour and water, and older children pretend to write shopping lists.
Children's confidence and willingness to try new tasks is boosted by the praise and encouragement they receive at appropriate times. This means children are suitably prepared for their next stage of learning.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
The nursery provides a happy environment where warm, respectful relationships help children feel secure. Children demonstrate kindness and respect for others, showing the impact of leader's focus on nurturing positive relationships and building self-confidence. Staff frequently praise children for both their effort and achievement; this helps children to be resilient and motivated to learn.
Expectations for behaviour are high. Staff model positive interactions and encourage turn taking and cooperative play. They take opportunities as they arise during children's play to actively teach these skills. For example, at lunch time, staff support children to have back and forth conversations, making sure each child is heard and their thoughts and ideas acknowledged.
Children generally follow the routines of the setting, and transitions between activities are well managed and usually calm. At times, routines could be further strengthened by the consistent use of strategies that support all children to understand expectations and the next part of their day. Leaders and staff work closely with parents and carers to promote regular, punctual attendance. They take time to understand each family's context and put tailored plans in place to remove barriers. Their proactive approach ensures children benefit fully from the curriculum and daily routines.
Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
Leaders and staff create a 'home-from-home' environment where children feel emotionally safe and relationships are respectful and warm. They have designed flexible and robust settling-in procedures tailored to individual needs. Settle sessions are carefully planned, meaning trusting relationships between staff, children and families develop swiftly.
There is an effective key-person system in place. Staff know their key children well and respond to their changing needs. For example, in the baby room, staff work closely with parents to support weaning to ensure babies in their care have a positive experience when trying new foods. Sleep and hygiene routines are well planned and organised for all children. Leaders understand current nutritional guidance and recognise how a healthy diet strengthens children's learning and wellbeing. They work closely with parents to identify practical changes that improve the quality of children's diets. This has had a positive impact on the food children choose and enjoy eating and builds healthy habits for the future. Leaders actively promote good oral health, and children brush their teeth every day at nursery. They also benefit from a local initiative identified by leaders that provides each child with a toothbrush and toothpaste to take home.
Leaders and staff focus on helping children become independent from an early age. Staff regularly take children out in the local environment, including walks to the nearby lighthouse. This not only supports physical development, but also gives children opportunities to learn about road safety and to understand risks in the wider community.
Leadership and governance: Expected standard
Leaders demonstrate a professional and reflective approach. They know their staff, families and children well and have an excellent understanding of the setting context and how it serves the local community. They have an accurate assessment of the setting's strengths and areas for development. Action taken since the last inspection has had a positive impact on children's mathematical learning. As a leadership team, leaders are still seeking to further embed and evolve their curriculum to meet the changing needs of their children and families.
Leaders have robust systems in place for staff wellbeing and staff comment positively about working in the setting. Leaders actively encourage them to engage in professional development opportunities that both link to their interests and the needs of children. Leaders have high expectations for all children, particularly those who face barriers to their learning.
Communication with parents is effective. Leaders have implemented systems for sharing information which ensures children's learning and development are prioritised and celebrated in the setting and at home. This helps parents and carers feel confident about their children's development and fosters their sense of belonging at the nursery.
What the setting must and should do next
The provider should:
- Leaders should ensure that all staff consistently use effective strategies to support every child to communicate, interact and understand the setting's daily routines. This will further promote engagement and enjoyment in learning all children.
Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 12 May 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Inspection history
Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)
Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.
The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.
Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.
Source: Ofsted reports
Funded childcare hours in England
All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.
Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.
Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.
The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.
Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)
Other nurseries nearby
- Margaret McMillan Nursery School - Day nursery, Plymouth PL1 2JA, ages 0 to 4, 62 places, 0.2 milesOfsted, 20 May 2022: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Freshlings Nursery - Day nursery, Plymouth PL4 8AA, ages 0 to 4, 86 places, 0.4 milesOfsted, 29 November 2024: Outstanding overall; safeguarding is effective
- Nomony Nursery - Day nursery, Plymouth PL4 0PA, ages 1 to 4, 59 places, 0.5 milesOfsted, 25 April 2025: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Bambinos Childcare Centre - Day nursery, Plymouth PL4 6EU, ages 1 to 4, 92 places, 0.7 milesOfsted report card, 20 February 2026: Strong standard in 1 area, Expected standard in 5 areas; safeguarding standards met
- Little Stars Nursery - Stonehouse - Day nursery, Plymouth PL1 1TL, ages 2 to 4, 33 places, 0.8 milesOfsted, 6 November 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
Schools nearby
- ACE Schools Plymouth - All-through, under 0.1 miles
- Holy Cross Catholic Primary School - Primary, 0.3 miles
- Arts University Plymouth, 0.3 miles
- Mount Street Primary School - Primary, 0.4 miles
- University of Plymouth, 0.4 miles