Busy Bees Day Nursery at Bicester

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, confident, friendly and have superb bonds with staff. They show they feel safe and secure as they happily play alongside staff and seek them out for support when needed. Children respond positively to staff as they are supported to share and take turns. For example, children cooperate well as they create and build tunnels to roll balls through and catch at the bottom.

Children show high levels of engagement and have a positive attitude towards their learning. For example, children enjoy using construction blocks to build towers, thinking about how tall they can make them. Staff ask questions to promote children's critical thinking and introduce mathematical concepts of size. They ask children to estimate how many blocks they would need to make a tower as tall as themselves. Children thoroughly enjoy exploring the inviting garden area. Staff encourage children to consider and manage risks as they challenge themselves while climbing on the apparatus in the garden.

Staff provide an ongoing dialogue that supports children's communication and language development. Children learn about letter sounds as they explore finger paint to form the letters in their names. This supports their early literacy skills. Children identify the letter and sounds in their names and those of their friends.

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

• The management team has the same ambitions for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Key people know their children well and, overall, plan effectively to monitor progress and plan next steps to meet their needs.
• Children are physically active in their play, developing their physiological, and motor skills. They show good control and coordination in both large and small movements, appropriate for their stage of development. For example, babies learn to balance and develop coordination when throwing balls, climbing or balancing on beams and apparatus in the garden.
• Children are beginning to manage their own feelings and behaviour, and to understand how these have an impact on others. When children struggle with regulating their behaviour, leaders and practitioners take appropriate action to support them. For example, staff listen to the children and offer suggestions to resolve disagreements. The children are encouraged to decide what they can do to 'make it better'.
• Children demonstrate their positive attitudes to learning through high levels of concentration and enjoyment. Practitioners demonstrate active listening skills that support children to listen and respond positively to adults and each other. For example, children particularly enjoy sharing books and stories with practitioners and talk in detail about the pictures in the books. Children understand how to take their turn in conversation and wait patiently to speak.
• The key-person system is well established. This helps children form secure attachments and promotes their well-being and independence. Practitioners teach children the language of feelings, helping them to develop their emotional literacy. Children use feelings bottles to shake and use to express their feelings by the sounds they make.
• Leaders have created a culture where staff feel valued and supported. They provide supervisions to support staff professional development. Staff are alert to identify children who may have SEND and the special educational needs coordinator (SENDCo) is prompt to make referrals to outside agencies. However, the SENDCo and staff do not always liaise as effectively as possible to consider additional strategies for children who are awaiting assessment.
• Practitioners provide a healthy diet and a range of opportunities for physically active play, both inside and outdoors. They give clear and consistent messages to children that support healthy choices around food and rest. The nursery chef ensures a healthy, varied diet is planned and prepared each day, considering the dietary requirements for each of the children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the arrangements to coordinate the planning and support for children who are waiting for assessments from outside agencies.