Busy Bees Day Nursery at Great Yarmouth

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are eager to play and they separate from their parents with ease on arrival at this welcoming setting. They form secure bonds with the friendly, nurturing staff team. Staff know children well. They accurately assess children's progress regularly and plan engaging activities that support their learning. Staff talk confidently about the broad curriculum and the emphasis on developing children's curiosity, confidence and emotional well-being. They have high expectations for children and work closely with parents to help children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to make good progress from their unique starting points.

Staff promote children's understanding of behavioural expectations well. Children are kind and develop friendships. They happily let others take a turn at watering the flowers with a spray bottle and offer friends a hug if they are sad. Staff give children opportunities to make choices and lead their own play. Children become competent communicators. Babies babble as they explore the toys and equipment on offer. Toddlers bring staff toys and take them by the hand to invite them to join in with their play. Older children ask staff for help and confidently talk about their home experiences and ideas during play. Children learn key routines, such as helping to prepare tables at mealtimes, collecting their water bottles to stay hydrated when the weather is hot and lining up at the door to play outside.

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

• The new manager is passionate about the work her team does. She talks about the setting's self-evaluation process and continuous improvement plans as well as recent successful changes. This includes a significant refurbishment project and improvements to the key-person system to enhance children's experiences and stronger partnerships with parents.
• Parents speak in glowing terms about the 'wonderful' staff and how much their children enjoy attending. They praise the high standard of communication and how friendly the atmosphere is. Parents know what their children are learning and how they can support this, noting their appreciation of the regular assessment and progress updates provided.
• Staff have access to a range of professional development courses and activity ideas through the provider's online learning portal. The management team has an accurate overview of staff performance and regularly reviews this to help inform training and target support.
• From a young age, children show a keen interest in books. They bring staff stories to read and study the illustrations carefully. Younger children name different parts of the picture, while older children begin to ask questions and give their ideas of what is happening or might happen next.
• Staff support children's mathematical skills well. Older children count out cups for their table at mealtimes, and staff use appropriate language to talk about how many more or fewer cups are needed. Children begin to recognise numbers and talk about their age. For instance, toddlers identify which number-shaped candle they need for their pretend dough birthday cake.
• Staff provide plenty of opportunities for children to be creative. For instance, they show children how to mix flour and water to make play dough. Children concentrate as they stir, squash, squeeze and roll the dough. They use spoons and baking cases to make 'cakes', which they decorate with candles.
• Children spend extended periods of time in the setting's garden. They delight in boisterous physical activity and practise a range of physical skills. Children create an obstacle course with tyres, blocks, planks and rope. They persevere as they work out different ways to navigate the route. Children play social games, such as hide and seek, with friends. They take turns to say 'red light, green light' as they play a traffic light game while pedalling tricycles.
• Staff promote children's independence in ways that are appropriate for their age. For instance, they encourage babies to wipe their hands and face after eating and older children fill jugs of water to pour themselves drinks. However, staff do not consistently model and promote children's hygienic self-care skills throughout the day, such as washing hands after wiping their nose or playing outside.
• Staff engage children in conversations during routine activities and play. They make use of novel vocabulary and objects to spark discussions. However, at times, staff do not provide enough explanation or challenge to build children's understanding and promote their thinking skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• reinforce arrangements with staff for supporting children's self-care skills
• strengthen and extend staff's practice around interactions to promote children's understanding and thinking skills.