Little Deers Day Nursery
GoodTakes funded hoursBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Ringwood for babies from 3 months up to school age, open 08:00 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They take the funded hours. They do not publish prices, so ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in July 2025. Open since 1996, with 26 places.
What it costs
Prices change without notice. Treat these as what to ask about, not a quote.
Funded hours
Early Years Education (EYE) Funding from the start of the term after their third birthday, up to 15 funded hours childcare per week (570 per year); Working Families Entitlement funding provides up to 30 hours of childcare per week (for 38 weeks of the year) for eligible families from the term after their little one turns nine months old.
Worth knowing. Quality charge of 55p per funded hour is voluntary; parents can opt out. Meals are charged for children in receipt of funding: Breakfast £1.36, Snack £1.36, High Tea £2.04. Funding can be stretched over the year, reducing 15 hours to a maximum of 11 hours a week over more weeks of the year (570 per year).
What childcare usually costs in Hampshire
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Hampshire from the Department for Education's 2025 provider survey. No national data holds what an individual nursery charges, so ring and ask.
Places, hours and the day
Who they take, when they are open, and what a day there includes.
Where it is
BH24 4BUWhat the inspector found
One grade is one visit. A run of them tells you whether it has been good for years or has only just got there.
Ofsted inspector, 11 July 2025 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children benefit from staff support to challenge and extend their physical skills during play at this lively nursery. Staff help babies develop hand-eye coordination as they reach for picture books and learn to crawl. Staff build obstacle courses that challenge older children to balance and jump independently. In addition, staff take children on local walks through the forest to explore nature and climb logs. This develops children's physical skills and love of the outdoors while keeping them active throughout the day.
Staff follow children's interests closely. They encourage children's curiosity, such as when pre-school children investigate tree bark in search of minibeasts. Staff help children to describe and identify the insects they collect, which helps to extend their knowledge. Children engage well with activities, with staff linking learning to fun experiences that they can relate to. For instance, staff support toddlers to prepare and 'cook' pretend birthday cakes. Staff also use this task to help young children apply their emerging understanding of number. For example, children count the cakes on their baking trays and observe that a cupcake can be split into two halves.
Nurturing staff set clear expectations for children's behaviour. Children show their understanding by giving their peers a 'thumbs up' to congratulate them when they follow the rules. Consequently, children learn to play well together and keep each other safe.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- enhance staff's understanding and teaching of the curriculum to consistently build on what children know and can do.
- 11 July 2025Good Safeguarding: Yes
- 31 January 2019Good
- 11 April 2016Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Little Deers Day Nursery
- What it costs
- Nappies
No dataset holds any of this. Two parents telling us the same thing puts it on the page for whoever looks next.
What to ask them
Some of this is above, from the setting or from parents, and it can go out of date. The rest is in no dataset anywhere. Either way it is worth ten minutes on the phone.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- How do you apply my funded hours? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Do you have a place for a child of my age now? Baby rooms fill first and waiting lists are common.
- Who would my child's key person be? And how long have the staff been there. No dataset holds this and it matters more than anything above.
- Can I visit at a busy time? Mid-morning on a weekday tells you far more than an empty room after hours.