Little Explorers
Every day is a new adventure
Swimming on one day, followed by a trip to Forest School on another. A short walk to the beach to enjoy the fresh sea air, or maybe cooking something delicious. There is a reason we are called Little Explorers.
A small day nursery in Beltinge, five minutes from the sea, for children from six months to five years. We are open all year round, with twenty-two places and eleven qualified staff.
You might have heard about us already.....
Exploring & Learning
- Swimming School Little Explorers have an amazing opportunity to start swimming at an early age, with one-to-one teaching from a qualified Swim England instructor.
- Forest School Our weekly adventure to Maypole Farm in Hoath is always exciting as we discover the wildlife, den building and learning about nature whilst having fun.
- Beach School Taking our Explorers to the beach is just a short walk away and with pockets full of shells, fresh sea air and warm sand, we all enjoy these weekly trips.
- Cooking School Children follow the recipes using our picture based writing programme making it easy to read the steps without an adult, and the best part is getting to eat the things we make!
- Community School Our weekly visit to the Miramar Care Home is equally rewarding for both residents and our children. We share stories, sing songs and celebrate birthdays together, with a warm welcome always guaranteed.
Our Story
Little Explorers was founded by Joanne and Amy with a shared vision: to provide something more than just a nursery setting. From the very beginning, we wanted to create a place where children feel happy, secure and genuinely known, while also giving them opportunities to experience as much of the world around them as possible.
As settings manager, Amy is now responsible for leading our team whilst I remain focused on running the day-to-day business operations, working closely together to ensure the values we started with continue to remain at the heart everything we do. With just 22 places and a qualified team of 11, we are able to offer a highly personal approach to childcare. We build strong relationships with families and before a child starts with us, we take the time to visit them at home, helping us to get to know them in a place where they feel most comfortable and making that important transition into nursery as positive as possible.
Little Explorers has grown, but our original vision remains the same: to offer children more than a place to spend their day and to give them an early childhood filled with experiences, opportunities and adventures.
Jo Hale, Co-Founder
Our Reviews
Ofsted inspected us on 14 August 2025, we were good in every area. Comments included "Children thrive at this inclusive and welcoming setting" "they bounce and skip through the gate"
"The trips and experiences they get here are the best we've ever seen. Swimming, the farm, the library, the care home, walks to the seafront." Hannah
"We love seeing the adventures the children get to go on, and how they understand from such a young age the value of a community." Maya
"Dominic started at ten months. He is nearly four now. He has wonderful bonds with his key workers and we know he is in safe hands." Janine
How places work
Day Care
For children aged 6 months to 5 years, our day care operates Mon-Fri with a healthy breakfast available from 07:30-9am. For working parents, we are open until 6pm and our current funded sessions run from 9am until 3pm.
Holiday Clubs
Little Explorers Holiday clubs offer you fun-filled and flexible childcare for children aged between 9 months to 7 years. We operate these during the school holidays from 7.30am - 6pm, Monday to Friday.
Places mostly become available in September as our children leave to start school but we are currently experiencing a high demand for all age groups. If you would like to register your interest, we happily invite you to subscribe to our waiting list and get in touch. To start your enquiry click below.
Little Explorers App
Launching September 2026 is our new Parent Portal App, available for iOS, Android, Tablet or Desktop. Designed to give parents easy access to updates such as news & events, the new app allows you to follow our learning plans, download cooking school recipes and view essential resources or forms. It is a great way to stay involved with your child's progress and the various activities we offer.
Created exclusively for Little Explorers by developers BearKoded, our app features enterprise grade security and meets GDPR data compliance standards, providing a safe, secure environment for parents to access confidential information whilst maintaining our absolute commitment to ensuring Child Protection comes first.
