Busy Bees Day Nursery at Colchester Stanway

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The manager and staff have a clear vision for the nursery. They follow children's interests to support and extend children's learning and experiences. Activities are well planned, and children's learning is appropriately challenged. Children's views and opinions are respected and valued by staff; for example, older children are able to cast a vote about which story they read. Children are invited to be part of the nursery council, where children discuss with staff what activities they like to play with and what they would like to learn about next. For example, when a child wanted to learn about trees and how they grow, the staff completed an activity about the life cycle of a tree with the children.

Children's independence skills are promoted throughout the nursery. Children from a young age independently wipe their own noses and feed themselves. Children then learn to use open-top cups to drink water from, and then learn to pour their own drinks. Older children dress themselves and put their own coats on. They are praised for tidying up after themselves, showing how they are taught to respect their environment. Children are encouraged to 'keep trying', which promotes their resilience.

Children are very settled and have strong bonds with their key person. Staff are very nurturing, and children are often seen laughing with staff and enjoying cuddles. Younger children enjoy playing 'peek a boo' with their key person. Staff read stories with the children and make the sounds of animals in the book. They pause to encourage the children to copy the sounds, promoting their communication and language development. Older children discuss the character's feelings, which helps them to learn about different emotions.

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

• Children learn how to keep themselves safe. They discuss different topics of safety, including road safety, and risks in the home such as chemicals or the oven and how to stay safe around these objects. Children comment that their parents are allowed to touch these objects, not children. Children are offered the opportunity to be 'garden detectives' where they learn to assess their own risks in the garden and how to stay safe.
• Children learn how to stay healthy. They learn about oral hygiene and the importance of keeping their teeth clean. Children participate in an activity where they learn to clean the dirt off of pictures of teeth with toothbrushes.
• Staff have a good understanding of how to support and extend children's communication and language development. They sing songs and read stories to children. Younger children are encouraged to repeat simple sentences, such as 'all gone', and older children are introduced to new vocabulary such as
• 'stethoscope'. However, there are moments where some children, particularly those less confident, are not fully engaged in an activity.
• Children have family books, where they can share special photos with their peers. They look at different family dynamics and cultural differences. They learned about different dress codes of children around the world. For example, they looked at what children wear in China. Children also listen to different languages. This supports children's understanding of the world and the ability to reflect on similarities and differences in communities.
• Parents record phrases for children to listen to throughout the day. This supports children to feel settled. When staff play these phrases, children smile and hold onto the device. This also supports children's understanding of routines and requests, especially where they speak another language. Parents can record phrases in their home language such as 'do you need the toilet?'
• Parents speak highly of staff at the nursery. They comment that their children settled really well, and they receive good feedback from staff in relation to how their child is developing. They comment that children's development is well supported, in particular their speech and language.
• The staff also work closely with the local schools that children will be attending. They invite the teachers to visit the children and key persons at the setting, where they discuss children's learning and development. The local school has commented on how well prepared the children are for school, with regards to knowing school routines and having great independence skills. This has enabled the transition to be smooth for children.
• Staff comment that they feel very well supported by the management team, particularly with regards to their well-being. Staff feel involved in planning what training they have access to, following their needs and interests.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to engage with all children consistently, particularly those who are less confident, to extend all children's learning and development.