Wildhearts Early Years Education and Childcare

Connected to nature, our community, each other and ourselves.

What is Wildhearts?

At Wildhearts we promote a holistic approach to childcare.

We believe that every child is unique, with their own interests and strengths, and they develop best when given the freedom to take charge of their own learning. Our environment provides natural, open-ended resources along with caring, trained professionals who nurture and extend play to help children grow into the confident, curious individuals they naturally are.

We have low adult to child ratios, a home and place-based approach to childcare through:

– Wildhearts Early Years Education

– Wildhearts Childcare (for school holidays)

– Wildhearts Woodland Group (for carers and young children)

“Free the child’s potential, and you will transform them into the world”

Maria Montessori

Our approach has been guided by philosophies such as Montessori, Steiner, RIE and Reggio to name a few. We are on a continual journey of personal and professional development, engaging with other professionals around the world to ensure we are delivering the highest quality of care for our children.

Learning Environment

Early Years Foundation Stage

The E.Y.F.S. sets standards for the learning, development and care of your child from birth to five years old.

Outdoor Learning

Learning in the outdoors has a positive impact on children’s well-being and development. Children are at the centre of the experience, along with attentive and enthusiastic adults.

Planning In The Moment

Highly-trained educators create a rich environment, then observe and interact with children allowing them to see the ‘Teachable Moment’ and support the child’s development.

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What Our Families are Saying

“Nate has been lucky enough to attend Wildhearts with Tracy for the last 5 years. Nate started as a pre-schooler and relished the focus on outdoor learning with many a day spent at the beach, in the woods, around a camp fire or out on a bear hunt. Nate loved the time spent outdoors but also enjoyed the carefully planned, relevant activities in Tracy’s warm and caring home environment. I don’t think there are many Early Years Educators that provide such a thoughtful and varied day to day experience. Since starting school Nate has regularly attended after school and holiday care and not only enjoyed the activities but also the nutritious home cooked meals. Nate’s childhood memories will always include the time he has spent at Wildhearts. ”

Hannah, parent to 2020

“My son attended Wildhearts from the age of 1 until the point of going to school. It truly was one of the best experiences I could have asked for, for his early years education. My son had his own medical needs when he was really small that were handled amazingly well and left me feeling very confident with the care he was given. Wildhearts helped my son to grow and with that we also grew with them and they became part of our family. He was always cared for in a very safe and loving and stimulating environment. The amount of trips and activities they did together was astonishing and Dexter loved every single day of being with them. Wildhearts helped him to become school ready when it was time and we were very very sad when it was time to move onto the next chapter of his life. Wildhearts was and remains to be a big chapter and part of our lives and I cannot thank the ladies enough for being second mummies to my little man when I had no choice but to return to work full time.”

Laura, parent until 2019

“Promoting a love of outdoor learning, exploration and discovery, come rain or shine, there was never a dull day at Wildhearts! My pre-school age daughter was always thrilled when she came home to reveal the treasures that she’d found or collected in the forest, or to tell us about discovery walks that she’d been on, full of description of the places she’d explored. Inspiring activities ranged from painting with natural materials and dyes, playing in mud-kitchens, bug hunts, outdoor cooking, whittling and sawing, making butterfly feeders – the list is endless. Each inspiring activity was purposefully designed to develop fine motor skills, stimulate enquiry, stretch the imagination and encourage a love of learning, with both entertainment and enjoyment as the key. We couldn’t have been happier that our daughter was exceeding her early years’ objectives within a safe, happy and fun-filled environment, whilst benefitting from Tracy’s lovely warmth, attention and enthusiasm. To this day, she still treasures the bright blue jay’s feather she found with Tracy and is full of memories she made!”

G Thomson (parent to 2018)