Curious Explorers Day Nursery and Pre-School Fleet

An apple tree, a vegetable patch and a former family home give Curious Explorers Fleet a recognisable character. Children have a garden for growing, climbing and wheeled play, alongside indoor rooms with large windows and original features. The appeal is practical: outdoor activity has several different settings, rather than depending on one open play space.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 26 November 2024, with communication and language, children's emotional security and relationships with parents among its strengths. There were also two clear areas for improvement: involving quieter children in group learning and reinforcing hygiene habits consistently. Those points deserve attention alongside the positive judgement.

The nursery accepts children aged three to 60 months. Full days, shorter daytime bookings and morning or afternoon attendance provide different ways to fit childcare around family routines; funded hours are stretched across the year.

Rooms and Ages

Five indoor rooms retain the character of the building's former domestic use. Large windows and original features sit alongside freedom for children to move between the rooms. Babies, Toddlers and Pre-school are the named stages of provision, each with its own room leader role.

Babies have care and resources organised around their individual development, Toddlers have child-centred play supporting their development, and Pre-school combines those interests with planned daily activities and preparation for school. Personal care areas serve the younger stages, while Pre-school has a toilet area. These are different stages of the nursery day, rather than a single programme applied identically to every age.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning, development and care: children build skills through play, conversation, relationships and activities matched to their stage. Alongside that common foundation, Fleet adds a timetable of sessions and outings. Preschool Forest School runs twice a week, with morning and afternoon sessions; this approach brings learning outdoors, with opportunities to explore and practise judging manageable risks.

Boogie Beats has Wednesday sessions for babies and toddlers and for preschool children. French is scheduled on Thursdays for preschool children. These bookings give the week recurring points of interest, although the content of Boogie Beats is a useful subject for a visit discussion rather than something to assume from its name.

In November 2024, books were accessible both outside and indoors. Staff introduced words to babies during stories, linked toddlers' story recall with messy play, and invited preschool children to predict what might happen next and act out events. The progression matters: the same interest in books supported different kinds of participation as children developed.

Mathematical experiences were similarly practical in November 2024. Babies explored number through skittles, toddlers compared the weight and fullness of sand-filled buckets, and older children sorted objects and connected groups with written numerals. This gave counting and comparison a purpose within play, rather than leaving them as isolated exercises.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden provides a mud kitchen, climbing frame and trampoline, with separate opportunities for water and sand play. Bikes and cars use a tiled patio. An apple tree supplies shade, while the vegetable patch gives children a place to explore how food grows. All ages can use the garden, with activities and equipment adapted to their needs.

Outings to the park and library take place throughout the week for babies, toddlers and preschool children. They broaden the day beyond the nursery's rooms and garden. In November 2024, children also talked about their community visits and Forest School experiences afterwards, connecting activity outside the nursery with conversation back in the setting.

Relationships and Communication

In November 2024, settling arrangements helped children build relationships with their key person and other staff. The emphasis was on feeling secure before expecting children to participate confidently in learning. For a family starting childcare, that relationship is as relevant as the activity timetable.

The group-wide Tapestry online learning journal tracks development and gives parents access through an app or the internet. Fleet also uses a day care app to maintain contact during the day, while preschool parents receive spoken daily feedback. These serve different purposes: a learning journal records development over time, whereas day-to-day communication helps families follow their child's immediate experience.

Daily exchanges with parents were a strength in November 2024. Information moved in both directions, supporting continuity between home and nursery. At that time, the team comprised 18 staff, eight holding childcare qualifications at level 3 or above; these are dated staffing figures, rather than a measure of present room size or deployment.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the November 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described prompt identification of developmental difficulties, targeted help with speech and language, and effective work with external professionals. This is useful detail about how support operated at that visit, rather than a blanket promise about every child's needs.

Current care procedures provide for individual plans agreed with parents when children with SEND need additional help with personal care. Toilet training is coordinated with families, and being untrained does not exclude a child from attending. That makes the care arrangement relevant to children whose development or support needs do not follow a fixed timetable.

Fleet's safeguarding procedures include designated lead and deputy roles, recruitment checks and staff training. These are arrangements families can discuss, alongside the dated safeguarding judgement. They do not replace the need to understand how staff respond to a particular concern.

Meals are prepared by in-house cooks, with seasonal menus considering different textures, tastes and colours. Food therefore forms part of the daily routine as well as meeting the practical need for meals during childcare.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 194 Clarence Road, Fleet, GU51 3XP. Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with attendance across the year and closures for bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

Booking windows include 7am to 6pm, 7am to 5pm and 8am to 6pm, alongside a shorter 9am to 3pm day. Morning attendance runs from 8am to 1pm; afternoon attendance is 1pm to 6pm. The choice matters for families who need different lengths of care, rather than simply access to the same long opening window.

Additional sessions are arranged directly with the manager or deputy. Agreed days cannot be exchanged casually, and sickness or holidays do not reduce the fee. Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone on 01252 613 609 or by email to fleet@curiousexplorers.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Supported Two-year-old funding, Universal Three-and-Four-year-old Funding and Working Families Funding are offered. The stretched arrangements allocate 11 or 22 hours each week over 51 weeks, according to entitlement. Families pay for care beyond their funded hours; eligibility does not make every booked hour funded.

Funded time is allocated in blocks of 10 hours beginning at opening or the selected 7am or 8am start. Where an 11-hour entitlement accompanies at least two full days, the remaining hour goes on the second day; with 22 hours and at least three full days, the remaining two hours go on the third day. This makes the distribution of funding as important as the weekly total when comparing attendance patterns.

Breakfast, snacks, lunch and tea are included in private fees until a child qualifies for funding or a discount, when additional food charges apply separately. Funded attendance has a separate meal and snack charge described as non-mandatory, with a packed-meal alternative governed by the Packed Lunch policy and requiring meals and snacks to be delivered at specified times because the nursery has insufficient food storage; parents provide nappies, wipes and sun cream.

Fees are paid monthly in advance, with annual charges spread into equal monthly payments. A non-refundable registration charge applies, and the deposit is credited to the first childcare invoice. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page explains the charge structure.

Families taking the 11- or 22-hour funded arrangement sign up for 12 months, and losing eligibility can leave them liable for fees at standard rates. Permanent funded booking changes cannot be made within a term and require at least a month's notice before the next term. Working Families Funding also requires parents to revalidate their eligibility code every three months, while the funding declaration must be signed and returned before funding begins.

• Quieter children in groups. In November 2024, more vocal children sometimes received more attention, leaving quieter children less involved and less challenged. During a visit, ask how practitioners now include children who are reluctant to speak.
• Everyday hygiene. In November 2024, reminders after coughing and sneezing were inconsistent. Ask how staff reinforce these habits throughout the day, alongside handwashing before meals.
• Funding commitments. The stretched 11- and 22-hour arrangements carry a 12-month commitment and restrictions on changing attendance. Compare the full written quotation with the days you expect to need, including the consequences of losing eligibility.
• The activity timetable. Preschool Forest School runs twice weekly, and Boogie Beats is scheduled on Wednesdays. A visit is the opportunity to discuss what Boogie Beats involves and how the sessions fit your child's booked days.

Curious Explorers Fleet suits families seeking either full-day attendance or shorter daytime, morning and afternoon patterns, with garden play and outings forming substantial parts of the offer. The converted home, growing space and preschool Forest School give it a clear identity. The November 2024 judgement provides a positive foundation, but the questions about quieter children's participation and hygiene remain relevant when choosing it. Funding also needs careful attention: the stretched offer can support year-round attendance, while its booking commitment demands planning.