Busy Bees at Leicester Wigston Magna

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children benefit from a range of physical play opportunities provided by staff. They use their large muscles and core strength to climb, squat and jump on and off stone mushrooms in the garden. Children practise their hand-eye coordination as they use wooden spoons to mix pretend foods. They scoop sand with large spoons before transporting it to containers. Children safely steady themselves as they walk across balancing beams, with staff standing by to offer assistance. Staff offer praise as they encourage children's attempts. Children's self-esteem is boosted as they successfully get to the other end of the beams, and staff say, 'You did it, I'm so proud of you'.

Children learn to identify and manage risks. For example, staff involve children in carrying out a risk assessment of the outdoor environment. They select different children each day to assist them with this task. This helps children to understand how to keep themselves and others safe. Children enjoy this responsibility and eagerly inspect the area for hazards. They check that the gates are secure, the area is clean, free from litter, and there are no broken toys or equipment. Children enthusiastically tell staff that the area is safe and ready for playtime.

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

• Babies and children build secure attachments with staff. These relationships support them to settle and help them to feel comfortable at the nursery. Staff observe who babies and children are drawn to when deciding who will be their key person. This helps children to build close and positive relationships with staff.
• Children benefit from a well-thought-out curriculum provided by staff. Staff use their detailed knowledge of children to provide activities that reflect their interests and their next steps in development. However, children are not always consistently supported to learn what staff intend them to. This is because staff sometimes lose sight of the learning intentions of some activities and routine experiences.
• Staff support children's emotional development. For example, staff help children to identify and understand their own and others' feelings. They talk about the story of 'The Colour Monster' and explain that red means the monster feels cross. Staff use visual aids, such as coloured water in bottles, to represent different emotions. Children develop an understanding of the term 'mixed feelings' as staff clearly explain that this is when you feel many emotions at the same time.
• Staff promote children's independence and self-care skills. They encourage children to collect and hand out cups and plates at mealtimes and, with support, pour their drinks. After mealtimes, staff provide children with wipes to clean their faces. Children take turns to look in a mirror to see if they have missed any food on their faces.
• The manager and staff involve and consult with parents. For example, staff seek parents' views and ideas through questionnaires and a parent partnership group. Feedback from parents is positive. They say children are happy at the nursery and always keen to attend. Parents speak highly of the support staff provide for them and their children and say they are forever grateful for this.
• Staff promote children's communication skills from a young age. For example, they use simple sign language alongside spoken language to help communicate with babies. This helps babies learn to communicate and make their needs known. For instance, during snack time, babies begin to use the sign for 'more', indicating that they would like more toast and fruit.
• Staff state that they enjoy their roles and comment positively about the support provided by the manager. Regular time is dedicated by the manager to staff supervision, and she completes some observations of staff's practice. However, her ongoing monitoring of staff practice is not always fully effective to ensure that children consistently benefit from high-quality teaching.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's implementation of the curriculum to help them consistently focus on what they want children to learn
• improve the systems for monitoring staff practice to help raise the quality of teaching and outcomes for children.