Busy Bees Day Nursery at Birmingham Longbridge

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at this busy and creative nursery and are excited to begin their day. Staff greet children warmly and they separate easily from parents and are eager to see their friends and become involved in the activities. An excellent key-person and buddy system ensures that children build strong attachments to staff. This supports their personal and emotional development superbly and ensures that whenever children attend nursery their care and learning needs are consistently met. Staff continually build children's self-esteem and sense of achievement through praise and encouragement. Staff plan a rich, exciting curriculum that continually builds on what children know and can do throughout their time in nursery. Children are excited and motivated to learn. They show high levels of concentration and engagement in the activities.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported extremely well. Effective routines for observing and assessing children's development means that possible gaps in learning are swiftly identified. Staff work cohesively with parents to ensure referrals are made to the relevant agencies to ensure that their children receive the additional support and help that they need.

Children's behaviour is excellent, and children show kindness, respect and are courteous towards their peers. Staff use resources superbly to support children to build their awareness of their emotions and the impact their behaviour has on others.

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

• Leadership within the nursery is excellent. The management team has a vast knowledge and experience of working with children and their families. They continually strive to provide the very best care and learning opportunities to all children using the nursery. Managers have excellent support systems in place for staff and their well-being is given high priority. Managers recognise the excellent skills and abilities within the team. Staff are passionate about the care they provide and take pride in all they do.
• Robust recruitment procedures are embedded in practice that include ensuring all staff are fit and suitable to care for children. Frequent supervision and monitoring of staff's practice ensures that professional development opportunities are sharply focused and have a positive impact on the care of the children.
• Staff promote children's awareness of things that are happening in the world and the importance of taking care of our planet. Children confidently explain why people should not drop their rubbish on the floor. They recognise different materials that can be recycled, such as metal and cardboard, and sort various items to place them in the recycling bin ready to be collected. Children share their own experiences with their families of litter picking to help collect all of the rubbish.
• Babies are highly inquisitive as they explore their environment. They increasingly develop independence from a very early age. They recognise when they need to wipe their noses. Those that are mobile help themselves to a tissue and try to complete the task. They show great delight at looking at themselves in mirrors. Staff encourage them to point to their features and praise them.
• Children's love of books blossoms. Staff are animated and demonstrative as they read stories to the children. This captures children's attention and they become engrossed in the story.
• Older children immerse themselves in science. They talk knowledgeably about volcanos and recognise the signs of ash that shows they are asleep and lava when the volcano is awake and active. Children identify the ingredients they can use to recreate their own volcanic eruption and pour vinegar over baking soda, standing back as it froths up and over the top of the volcano they have made.
• Parents are absolutely delighted with the service they and their children receive. They speak extremely positively about the resources provided by the nursery that provide guidance and ideas for addressing topics at home. For example, preparing children for a new baby and ways for handling behaviour at home that children may present. Parents recognise the excellent care provided and the partnership they have with managers and staff who keep them involved in their child's learning. They feel that they can leave their children knowing that they are in safe and secure hands.
• Children's health and physical well-being is supported superbly. Staff ensure that children spend lots of time outdoors being active. Children enjoy using spades and forks to dig in soil when looking for potatoes. They use a variety of wheeled resources and learn to manoeuvre effectively around people and objects. Children enjoy a wide variety of freshly prepared food. Highly effective routines ensure children do not access foods that may cause them to become unwell. Hygiene routines, encouraged from a very early age, mean that children understand the importance of washing their hands at appropriate times throughout the day.