Busy Bees @ Chawton Park

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff plan a highly ambitious curriculum, which runs through the whole setting with seamless fluency. Children receive consistent encouragement to test out their ideas. This builds on their resilience highly effectively. For example, children show remarkable levels of determination and persevere until they successfully roll balls to the end of a ball launcher. They squeal with delight as they watch them fly into the air. Children show outstanding relationships with their peers and collaboratively measure the distance their balls have travelled. Staff foster children's interests and incorporate a diverse array of objects. This helps to enrich children's understanding of size, weight and measure even further.

Exceptional first-hand experiences support children in discovering their local community. For instance, children participate in local art and sunflower competitions and take exciting bus trips to the town. They delight in walks to the local care home, where they thoroughly enjoy taking part in activities with the residents. This provides children with boundless opportunities to make meaningful connections with others.

Staff are nurturing and caring and reinforce their expectations of children's behaviour extremely well. They sensitively help children to express their thoughts and feelings through props and visual aids, for example. Children use sand timers independently and share resources willingly. They beam with pride when they receive rewards for their achievements, such as 'wow' certificates. This contributes to creating an environment where children flourish.

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

• Staff use a wealth of inventive ways to expand and reinforce children's knowledge. Their intention is for children to be confident learners, to build resilience and to develop the skills they need to self-regulate and manage their feelings and emotions. The huge range of exciting experiences on offer for children inspires their passion for learning and creates an atmosphere that buzzes with excitement.
• Staff meticulously assess children's ongoing progress and swiftly identify any gaps in their learning. They work remarkably well with parents and other professionals to ensure first-rate early intervention. The manager uses funding exceptionally well to ensure children receive the targeted support they need to help them catch up quickly.
• The manager strives for excellence and oversees the running of the nursery exceptionally well. All staff undertake targeted training, which has a direct impact on outcomes for children. From this, they have introduced even further strategies to help children learn how to manage their feelings and emotions.
• Staff acknowledge each child's individuality and incorporate their family traditions, cultures and backgrounds into daily activities. Children joyfully engage in food tasting activities and delight in exploring the flavours of various cuisines worldwide. They are thrilled when their parents visit the setting to read stories in their home language. Children express their uniqueness, for example as they draw self-portraits. They actively engage in meaningful discussions about their similarities and differences.
• Staff exchange a wealth of information with parents on entry and thereafter. They spend time getting to know families, which fosters a foundation of trust and respect. Excellent initiatives, such as home-learning resources for children, further strengthen these brilliant relationships. Highly collaborative working helps to ensure all children begin their educational journey with a wealth of knowledge and a genuine passion for continuous learning.
• Children benefit from highly experienced staff who embed children's developing literacy skills into daily activities. For example, children enthusiastically design and draw houses before they embark on their constructions. They confidently use expressive language to describe the intricate features of insects they find in the secret garden. Children are motivated to learn. They immerse themselves in books to further explore the food bugs like to eat.
• Staff demonstrate superb skills in supporting children's communication and language development. For instance, children are encouraged to use their own words to describe the texture and aroma of fruit and vegetables. They eagerly peel and chop them and discuss their appearance inside. With delight, children squeeze lemons and learn new words in context, such as 'sweet' and 'sour'.
• Staff support children's independence skills exceptionally well. For example, children demonstrate an outstanding ability to dress independently for the outdoor environment. They discuss the importance of sweeping up after messy play so they do not slip over. Children enthusiastically wash their hands at the water station and talk about scrubbing away germs.