Busy Bees Day Nursery at Basingstoke Hatch Warren

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at the nursery. They develop good relationships with their friends and staff, which helps them feel happy, safe and secure. Babies develop warm, trusting bonds with the staff who care for them. They beam with delight as they see their key persons and enjoy cuddles and reassurance, when needed. Children behave well overall. They show kindness and respect to one another. They recognise that their friends have different needs from their own. They learn to share and take turns with toys and resources. For instance, toddlers swap musical instruments at song time, as they practise making quiet and loud sounds.

Children benefit from a varied curriculum that helps to build on what they know and can do. They develop good attitudes to learning. Pre-schoolers practise yoga movements as they pretend to be growing flowers. They talk about what they might need to grow as they spread their arms out to reach the sunshine. All children, including children with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress in their speech and language development. Babies and toddlers hear new language as they play. For instance, as staff share stories they model new words and repeat these back clearly for younger children to practise saying. Older children are confident to share their ideas, such as when they excitedly explain who might have eaten Goldilocks' porridge.

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

• The manager is a strong and competent leader. She evaluates the nursery fairly and consistently, to give her a clear and concise knowledge of the quality of the provision. Since the last inspection, the working partnership between managers, staff and the local authority has enabled all weaknesses to be addressed. Changes to the organisation of the environment are well thought through and have a positive impact on the quality of care and learning that children receive. The manager recognises that refining staff's knowledge of what they want children to learn next is yet to be embedded fully to help all children make the best possible progress.
• The curriculum is well designed and varied. Staff provide a range of learning experiences that ignite children's curiosity. Opportunities to learn about the wider world through hands-on experiences are particularly well fostered. For instance, as younger children go on a nature walk, they eagerly look for birds. They shout out in delight when they spot them in trees, as staff name the different birds and flowers that children can see.
• Children develop good physical skills. They enjoy being active to support their overall good health. For example, older children push themselves along on scooters, safely navigating around their friends in the playground. Babies develop early crawling, cruising and walking skills as staff offer reassurance and praise. This helps them to become confident in their growing physical skills. Toddlers learn how to unfasten shoes and hang up their coats as they return indoors.
• Staff benefit from effective supervision, training and support, which builds on their knowledge and good quality teaching skills. For instance, recent training on behaviour management has helped staff to implement strategies to support older children's feelings and behaviours. Consequently, children are developing social skills that prepare them well for their next stage in learning, including their eventual move on to school.
• All children, including children with SEND, make good progress in their learning. Staff know the children well. They plan and provide activities which challenge children's learning. For instance, children use computers to draw triangles. They think about how many sides the triangle will have and take turns in using the mouse to create their own petal. However, during times that children take part in larger group activities, staff do not consider how they organise these to limit distractions and enable children to engage fully in the intended learning.
• Partnerships with parents and other professionals are successful. Parents speak very highly of the nursery staff and the good-quality care and learning experiences children receive. Staff share children's progress with their parents regularly. They offer advice and support for parents to continue learning at home. For instance, children choose favourite storybooks to share at home with parents to continue to support their love of reading.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to be clear in their learning intentions for children to provide them with the best possible outcomes
• review the organisation of large-group activities to fully engage children so that they are highly motivated to learn.