Busy Bees Day Nursery at Guildford

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery and settle quickly in the care of the welcoming and friendly staff team. They develop secure bonds with staff, which promotes children's well-being and happiness. There is a purposeful curriculum that the manager oversees, and staff plan effectively to meet the learning needs, styles and interests of each child. From a young age, children learn to show kindness and consideration for another and how to cooperate. For instance, pre-school children take turns when playing games and to work together to rock on the see-saw.

Babies show increasing resilience when they accidentally take a little tumble. They pick themselves up and receive effective support from staff regarding their welfare. Babies also learn about self-care, such as the importance of and how to replace their sun hats if they fall off. Toddlers receive good levels of encouragement to ask for help, and to use simple words and sentences to do so. This means that they begin to understand their needs and how to communicate their needs and desires. Pre-school children confidently talk about their activities and what they are doing. For example, they hold conversations about the roles of paramedics and fire fighters, and link this to their experiences of visiting a hospital.

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

• The manager has made rapid and well-targeted improvements in the quality of the provision. She has a clear knowledge of child development and of effective management practice. This enables her to increase staff morale. This in turn, brings out the best qualities in staff to drive improvements in the care and education of children and to develop an effective curriculum.
• Staff know their key children well. They build upon the intent for the curriculum to plan activities, which they base around children's interests and developmental stages. The experiences and opportunities they plan, enable all children to make good progress in their learning.
• Sometimes, staff do not allow children time to respond to questions or instructions before providing further ones. Occasionally, staff omit to provide clear explanations as to the consequences of children actions. These elements do not always enhance children's knowledge and communication skills further.
• Babies have a clear understanding of the routines of their day. They recognise when it is time for meals and happily migrate indoors. Staff support babies to learn to wash their hands through demonstrating and giving simple instructions. They give children praise for their successes, which builds their self-esteem.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those learning English as an additional language is highly evident. The special educational needs coordinator is secure in her role in supporting children, parents and staff. This means that staff are able to meet children's individual learning needs and styles.
• Toddlers enjoy stories read by staff. They have small-group times, which supports their concentration and engagement. However, the organisation of key times of the day, such as mealtimes for these younger children, does not always support their needs. Some children become distracted from their tasks and others do not always receive the support their need to serve their food.
• Pre-school children learn about the natural world and life cycles through worthwhile and engaging activities. For example, they plant, tend and grow sunflowers, then move this on to looking at root structures through growing beans. Children follow staff's clear instructions during their experiment, and this expands their knowledge of growth and science.
• Partnerships with parents are good. They comment about the greatly improved communication from staff and managers, and how their children are developing skills, such as empathy and kindness. Parents say that staff show their passion about the activities they undertake with children each day and that staff never rush times for feedback. This supports a cohesive approach to children learning.
• Staff report that they receive good levels of support from leaders. The manager understands how to work to each staff's strengths and interests to build an effective team. Staff have regular individual meetings with the manager who is supportive of their well-being. This enables them to work together to identify training needs, which helps staff to further enhance their knowledge for the benefit of children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of giving children time to respond to questions and of providing clear explanations as to the consequences of their actions
• improve the organisation of mealtimes for younger children to ensure that their needs are consistently met.