Busy Bees Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, feel safe and are well cared for. They settle quickly on arrival at this warm and welcoming nursery. Children establish secure attachments with staff, and this effectively supports their emotional well-being. Children confidently reach out to staff to read books and when they need extra support. Staff know the children well and gather information from parents about children's interests and starting points. They observe children and help them to reach targeted next steps in their learning. Staff sensitively adapt their practice to meet children's individual needs.

The environment is well organised. Children enjoy opportunities to use a variety of resources, which help to develop their skills. For instance, indoors, children develop their fine motor skills while using magic markers and while using scissors. Outdoors, children confidently climb steps onto slides, clamber up soft-play equipment, and ride on wheeled toys. These activities support their physical development.

Leaders and staff have high expectations for children. They aim for every child to be confident, independent and a good communicator. Children behave well. They learn to cooperate, take turns and share resources, which are all skills they will need in later life.

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

• Leaders and staff ensure that early help referrals and assessments are processed swiftly. This guarantees that any developmental concerns are recognised early and help put in place to guide and support children's' targeted next steps. The key-person role is effective in supporting children, especially those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This enables all children to make the best progress they can. Smart targets are set and used to inform assessments. These successes are clearly recognised and shared with parents.
• Staff provide a range of activities and resources that meet individual children's needs. Children enjoy participating in craft activities. Staff adapt these to ensure all children can successfully achieve their goal. For example, older children competently cut round pictures of toys and stick them onto paper to make visual Christmas lists, and younger children make glittery Christmas star decorations.
• Staff establish good relationships with children. Children confidently engage with all staff. Younger children raise their arms for a cuddle, knowing the staff will respond. Staff talk with children constantly and this supports children's language and communication skills. Children enjoy singing favourite songs and eagerly join in with the actions during music and movement sessions.
• Children learn about healthy eating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Staff provide a varied fruit snack and freshly prepared lunchtime meal. Children are physically active, indoors and outdoors. Overall, staff encourage children to take part in good hygiene routines. However, this could be further improved for when children access water bottles and when serving themselves snacks.
• Children show a good understanding of the routines and boundaries set. For example, before mealtimes, children work together to tidy away the toys. Outdoors, children learn to wait for their turn when using the soft-play equipment and other outdoor toys. Staff provide instruction and consistently praise children's achievements. This helps support children's emotional well-being and self-esteem.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery. They say their children enjoy attending, 'it's like a family' and 'the staff are wonderful'. Parents say communication and information sharing is good. They praise the staff for their help and support for helping them access help from other agencies when it is required.
• Overall, staff are well supported in their roles. The manager ensures regular team meetings occur in order to share information with staff. Staff complete mandatory training to support their skills. However, their professional development could be supported even further to identify training opportunities which meet staff's interests. This would help raise their knowledge of early years practice to an even higher level.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways to improve hygiene practises in relation to children accessing water bottles and when serving themselves snacks, to prevent potential cross infection
• explore further professional development opportunities for staff that focus more precisely on raising their overall knowledge of early years practice to the highest level.