Beehive Daycare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and are eager to come to nursery. All children develop strong bonds with staff, which helps them to develop a real sense of security. Leaders and staff establish robust settling-in processes. From the start, staff work closely with parents to gather a detailed understanding of children's early experiences. This allows them to provide children with opportunities and support that they may not otherwise receive. For example, they bring animals into the setting to support children to learn about other living things.

Staff are good role models. They are open and honest with children, supporting them in sensitively understanding the needs of others. For example, staff teach older children to recognise when their peers may need specific resources, such as a spinning chair to help regulate their emotions when they become overwhelmed.

Leaders and staff implement an ambitious and flexible curriculum that takes into account children's individual needs and interests well. Staff have a good understanding of the curriculum and what they want children to learn next. Staff complete observations and assessments to monitor children's progress and plan next steps. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress and are prepared for their next stage in learning.

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

• The nursery notified Ofsted regarding a recent incident that happened at the nursery. Leaders took swift action to ensure this does not happen again. For example, the nursery has updated their sun policy and risk assessment and have introduced further safety measures. Furthermore, all staff have attended a meeting to ensure policies and risk assessments inform staff practice.
• Staff feel well supported in their roles and morale is high. Leaders prioritise staff supervision and mandatory training as required. In addition, they provide good opportunities for staff's professional development. For example, recent training on communication and language and forest school has supported staff to improve their teaching skills.
• Parent partnership is a strength. Parents say that staff support their children, especially those in receipt of additional funding. They say that staff truly care about their children. Parents comment that children are excellently supported in their emotional well-being and make very good progress.
• Partnership working with external professionals is effective. For example, staff have good links with professionals who work for the local authority. The support for children with SEND is secure. Leaders and staff act promptly when they have concerns about children's development. Staff work closely with other professionals to identify and implement interventions to help support children, when required. Additional funding is used effectively to enhance children's learning experiences. All children make good progress from their starting points.
• Children of all ages show positive attitudes to learning. They excitedly explore the well-thought-out environment and have an array of learning opportunities to choose from. Babies excitedly share musical instruments and delight as they dance to the sounds they create. Older children spend extended periods of time highly engaged as they search the garden for snails. They take turns and work together as they share different tools, such as trowels and a magnifying glass.
• The curriculum for physical development is good. Staff arrange the environment to support and encourage babies to climb, crawl and pull themselves up. Older children develop their small muscles and dexterity as they use their fingers to manipulate shapes with play dough. This helps them to develop skills in preparation for early writing.
• Overall, the curriculum for communication and language is good. Babies demonstrate a love of books as staff encourage them to make animal noises that link to pictures in their favourite book. However, at times, staff do not recognise when increasing noise levels impact on what children can hear. This does not fully support children's listening and attention skills.
• In the main, staff support children to develop healthy lifestyle habits. For example, children know to wash their hands before meals and after using the toilet. However, on occasion, some staff do not consistently carry out good handwashing practices after carrying out self-care tasks, such as blowing noses. Consequently, at times, children are not fully supported to develop an understanding of healthy lifestyles.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to minimise noise levels in the rooms to fully enable all children to hear what is being said and concentrate on their learning
• consider ways to improve hygiene routines so that they are consistently embedded to promote children's understanding of good hygiene practices.