Busy Bees Day Nursery at Coventry Allesley Green

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive at this highly nurturing and awe-inspiring nursery. They thoroughly enjoy the activities and experiences that are on offer to them, which reflect their current interests and developmental needs. Children are introduced to new learning in exciting and stimulating ways. For example, as children talk about animals that live in the Arctic, they learn about ice and how it melts. Staff have extremely high expectations for all children. As a result, children's behaviour is excellent. Children use exceptional manners. They share resources with their friends. They comment that 'sharing is caring'. Children demonstrate that they feel very safe and secure in the nursery. They are completely confident in their surroundings and have formed wonderful relationships with both staff and their peers.

Children make wonderful progress at this nursery. They benefit from an abundance of opportunities to develop their independence skills. They set their tables for lunch, vote on activity topics in the nursery and tidy up when they have finished playing. Children develop their speaking skills excellently. They are regularly introduced to new and challenging vocabulary. For example, they learn the words 'camouflage' and 'experiment' and then confidently use these words in their play. There are a wealth of opportunities for children to develop their physical skills. Children are captivated as they learn to ride bikes and play with hoops outside. They develop their smaller hand muscles by cutting, sticking and drawing intricate pictures. Children benefit from additional experiences, such as football and French and German sessions, that further aid their learning and development.

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

• The manager and staff plan an ambitious and sequential curriculum that is highly attuned to children's needs and interests. This means that children are highly engaged in purposeful play at all times and make excellent progress from their starting points.
• Staff talk to parents to find out what children already know and can do when they start at the nursery. They use purposeful and extremely effective observations to capture and assess children's learning. They then use these assessments to carefully plan children's next steps. Development check points are used to regularly monitor children's progress and are shared with parents to complement their learning outside of the nursery.
• The transition process is exemplary. Staff ensure that, during each transition point when children move between rooms, a thorough handover to new key persons is in place. This transition process continues to be strong when children move on to school. Support to ensure that children learn the skills they need for school is outstanding. Staff ensure school teachers are provided with the relevant information. This supports children to settle extremely quickly into the next stage of their educational journey effectively.
• The curriculum for communication, language and literacy is particularly strong at the nursery. Children develop a love for books. In all rooms, children have access to, and self-select, a variety of books. They sit and look at these independently or take them to a member of staff to read to them. Staff talk to children about what they can see in the books and use puppets to make the stories come to life.
• British values are securely embedded at the nursery. Children learn about a wide range of cultural festivals. They thoroughly enjoy themed menu days where they get to try a variety of different foods. They learn about different family set-ups and understand that being unique is what makes them special.
• Children are proud of themselves when they accomplish a task and delight in the praise they receive from staff. They beam with excitement as they learn new skills and share their learning with peers. Older children ring a bell to tell their friends each time they accomplish something new, which motivates them even further in their learning.
• Parents speak extremely highly of the nursery. They comment that staff truly go above and beyond with the support they offer. Parents praise the thorough communication they receive about their child's learning and comment that they build strong relationships with their child's key person. They state they are always kept well informed about their child's learning and progress. Parents say their children are making incredible progress at the nursery and regularly come home demonstrating the new skills and vocabulary they have learned.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is exceptional. The special educational needs coordinator works extremely closely with parents and external agencies to create individual learning plans for children and makes any necessary referrals in a timely manner. This ensures that children with SEND receive swift, targeted and highly effective support.