Hi lillyputt
Long Post! I hope OP has not disappeared!
I have twins (not gifted or talented as far as one can discern at an early stage!) and live in Bristol.
You would need to contact the individual private schools to find out their scholarship/bursary arrangements. I would be surprised if they would give scholarship/bursary to 2 children from the same family and most arrangements like those don't start till about age 11 - you may find some that start earlier. There are a lot of private schools in Bristol - most have details on their websites or contact admissions office for scholarship/bursary info.
To get an idea of state schools and nurseries near you - put your postcode into the ofsted website. it will generate a list of the nurseries/schools and you can view their ofsted reports. the link another poster has given you re league tables is also useful. Obviously though, bear in mind a lot can change between now and when your dcs start school. Also don't just go by ofsted, visit the schools/speak to parents etc
For state schools, there are some good ones in Bristol but they tend to be very over subscribed. In some cases this means that you need to live right next to the school. But be very very careful if you think about moving as the distances that you need to live from the school can vary year to year. If you go on the council website they have all the information there about how many children were admitted, under which category and how far away from the school the furthest child lived who was admitted (but this could still be a sibling so be careful). Don't assume that just because children living in x road attend a particular school that means you would get a place if you bought a house in that street (estate agents love to indicate that you would - be wary!).
Re nurseries:
-I don't believe that receiving wtc affects what nursery you can go to
-pre school nurseries (i.e nurseries in schools, normally called pre-schools) start from the september after a child turns 3
-private nurseries usually start from 3 months onwards.
-I pay £50 per child per day for nursery. For working 3 days per week I therefore pay £300 per week = £1200 per 4 week month but I get 10% discount on one so that makes £1080 . so you need to do the sums on whether it makes sense to work.
-i use childcare vouchers - these are vouchers from your employer (instead of salary - its a salary sacrifice arrangement) but you don't pay tax on them and that comes to around £400 per month vouchers that we don't pay tax on for me and DH
-from age 3 you get 15 hours per week free education (in term time, or often annualised in a private nursery)
What I suggest you do is a lot of research:
-childcare vouchers - does your employer offer them - they can affect other tax credits - check hmrc website
-local nurseries - private ones - what do they charge - can you afford it (NB you don't normally have to live near a nursery to have a place there for private ones, theres no catchment area as such) - check waiting lists as well, its 11 months at mine at the moment - people register as soon as they are pg!
-schools - ones near you - what are they like (ofsted, league tables, council re distances)
-private schools, what scholarships/bursaries they offer, what these are worth in £ terms, for what age, what are the criteria for application
Good luck!