Bee Curious Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are extremely happy and settled at this highly nurturing and caring nursery. The inspirational leaders and staff are dedicated to their roles. They work tirelessly to provide the very best care and education for children. Leaders and staff are passionate about their whole nursery community. They aim to do the very best they can for all children, families and staff.

Children are highly engaged with their play, which is underpinned by a carefully sequenced and ambitious curriculum. Leaders and staff meticulously plan the curriculum and the superb environment to inspire children's curiosity and promote child-led learning. Staff support children expertly to identify and solve problems and to explore and develop their own ideas. They listen to children and value their views. This supports all children to quickly become confident and resilient learners.

There are consistently highly positive and warm relationships between staff and children. Staff and children clearly enjoy their time together, and there is lots of shared laughter throughout the day. Staff are wonderful role models and treat children with kindness, patience and respect. Children reflect this behaviour in their relationships with each other. Children consistently work cooperatively with their peers. They are kind, friendly and polite towards others.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• Staff use every possible opportunity to use children's interests and independent play to support their learning. For example, staff have identified that the next steps for some children are to count groups of objects accurately. They support children to play a game hiding dinosaurs under a scarf. Children carefully count the dinosaurs, and then staff cover the dinosaurs and take some away. Children accurately count how many remain. Staff extend children's knowledge by encouraging them to work out how many have been taken away. This highly focused approach ensures that all children make rapid progress.
• Leaders and staff are passionate about encouraging children to develop an early love of reading and books. They display books beautifully, along with resources thoughtfully chosen to bring them to life. For example, staff surround a book about a witch with interesting bottles of 'magic potion' and toy bats. They place an information book about birds alongside models of different breeds of owls. This enticing display encourages children to pick up and read a book. Babies enjoy touching the textured pages of board books thoughtfully placed at their level. Outside, children cuddle up with staff and enjoy listening to a book about sunflowers near their growing area. This supports children to make the best possible progress with their early reading skills.
• Children take part in an amazing array of thoughtfully planned trips, visits and experiences, which staff use to enhance and extend their learning. Staff make the most of the nursery's location on a farm to ensure that children learn first hand about the natural world around them. Children enjoy visiting the animals on the farm and point excitedly as staff teach them the specific names of the animals, such as the highland cattle or alpacas. They splash in puddles on the paths around the farm and enjoy sharing a snack in a shelter watched over by a Shetland pony.
• Children learn about celebrations and a variety of cultures. For example, they celebrated World Book Day with a themed tea linked to the story 'The Tiger who Came to Tea' and learned about Diwali by tasting food and trying on special clothes brought into the nursery by parents. Staff arranged a visit from the fire service and a talk from local vicars at Easter. This supports children to appreciate their differences and similarities and prepares them for life in modern Britain.
• The quality of education provided is of a consistently high standard because professional development for all staff is a priority. Supportive peer-on-peer observations and lots of discussion between the whole staff team help to ensure the frequent sharing of excellent practice. Staff report that they are well supported by leaders and are proud to be part of such a wonderful nursery community. Staff and leaders are highly reflective and always looking for ways to make the nursery even better. For example, they have increased the number of non-fiction books available to children as a result of the focus on reading. This reflection ensures that the nursery continues to raise its already extremely high standards even further.
• Staff have excellent relationships with children and their families. They share lots of information on an ongoing basis, which enables them to meet children's individual learning and care needs effectively. Parents and carers are highly appreciative of staff and leaders, saying that their children are 'confident, thriving and love going to this very special nursery'.