Bee Happy Nursery & Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children smile and laugh as they learn at the nursery. Staff form close relationships with children. For example, staff offer babies cuddles and favourite toys to help them to settle. This helps children to feel happy and secure. Children have positive attitudes towards learning. They eagerly explore their environments, showing curiosity. Indoor and outdoor spaces are tailored for each age group. Staff use the resources and environments well to support the progression of children's skills. Children make friends and work to solve problems together. For example, pre-school children help each other to gather equipment to build tall towers in the garden. Children pretend a tower is a rocket or a lighthouse. Children are enthusiastic and have high levels of engagement in their learning. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress in their learning.

Children explore planting and growing. Staff help them to think about where their food comes from and where waste food goes once they have finished their meals. Children learn about other cultures. For example, staff invite parents into the nursery to share baking and songs from their own heritage with children. This helps all children to feel welcome. Behaviour is good. Staff demonstrate excellent manners, which children copy. Children show consideration and empathy towards each other.

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

• Leaders have adopted an ambitious curriculum for all children. This ambition is shared by all staff. Learning is tailored by staff to meet children's individual needs, which helps children to gain a broad range of knowledge and skills.
• Pre-school children learn the skills they need before they move on to school. They have a good understanding of emotions and how to empathise with others. Children listen attentively and join in group times. They understand that during group times, they need to put their hands up before answering a question. Children are well prepared for the next step in their education.
• Support for children's communication skills is a strength. Staff introduce lots of new vocabulary and continually narrate activities for younger children. Signing is a key part of the nursery's curriculum for communication and language. This helps children to develop their understanding and ability to express themselves. Children become expressive and confident communicators.
• A strong curriculum for mathematics supports children's learning across all ages. Younger children count with rhymes and songs. Older children are taught to compare quantities and sizes as they engage in water play. This helps children to become young mathematicians.
• Children's physical development is well supported from a young age. For example, children balance on beams and climb on towers that they have built for themselves. The curriculum for physical development develops as children grow so that they are challenged as their skills progress.
• Staff support children to take manageable risks in their play. They encourage children to test out their own ideas and to have a go. For example, younger children climb challenging apparatus with reassurance from staff. This helps children to develop a good understanding of their own strengths and abilities.
• Children persevere when they face challenges. For example, as children move bikes from one area to another, they keep going even when they face barriers. Children practise overcoming difficulties, which helps them to develop resilience.
• Staff support children to develop their independence skills. Younger children wash their hands with a little help from staff. Older children put away their chairs after lunch. They hang their bags up and put on and take off their own coats. This helps children to develop confidence in doing things for themselves.
• Occasionally, activities do not match children's level of development. For example, toddlers lose focus during large-group activities. Children become distracted and stop listening to staff. This means that children do not engage fully in their learning at these times.
• Parent partnerships contribute significantly to children's success. Staff regularly talk to parents about children's progress. They share ideas to support children's development at home and at nursery. This promotes a high level of consistency in children's learning.
• Staff share information with parents about how to keep children safe online. However, they have not shared these key messages with children. This means that children's learning about online safety is not consistent between nursery and home.
• Additional funding is used well to support children. For example, resources are used that are known to highly engage children in their learning. This helps to ensure that all children, including the most disadvantaged, can access the curriculum.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• plan activities that closely match children's level of development consistently to build on what they already know
• share information with children about how to keep themselves safe online so that this learning is consistent between nursery and home.