Busy Bees Day Nursery at Letchworth

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff interactions with babies are warm and sensitive. They provide babies with comfort and reassurance as they settle in at the nursery. This helps babies to form meaningful bonds with their key person, as well as the other staff who work in their room. Staff who work with older children make good use of the wealth of information they gather from parents before children start. They support children to quickly settle and adjust to life at the nursery.

Staff value and respect children's voices. Staff in the pre-school room sit with the children and discuss what the rules for their room should be. Children celebrate their achievements through a 'star of the week' system, which helps them to build their confidence and recognise the successes of their friends.

Younger children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure in their surroundings as they approach visiting adults to share their toys with them. Staff respond to children calmly and kindly, creating a friendly atmosphere. This helps children to understand how to behave towards one another with minimal disruption to their learning.

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

• Parents are actively involved in their children's learning. For instance, parents take bags home to collect natural resources for the children to use in activities at the nursery. The oldest children speak confidently about these experiences, discussing where they went with their parents for walks to collect the materials. As a result, children are able to make connections between their experiences at home and at the nursery.
• Staff receive effective support for their professional development. They have access to a variety of learning opportunities and share any new information with the wider staff team. Staff attend regular staff meetings and receive useful feedback from leaders and managers to help them improve their practice. The management team identifies areas where staff may need more help. The team provides appropriate support so that staff can gain qualifications that are relevant to their roles.
• Robust systems are in place to help children move from one room to another when they are ready. New key persons get to know the child and their family, gathering new information to make sure that they can support children's learning swiftly and effectively. Parents speak highly of this process and comment on the strong communication staff have with them, including the comprehensive handover at the end of the day. This helps to keep parents informed about their children's time at the nursery.
• Staff monitor children as they play in the garden and invite children to join them if they are unsure of what activity to choose. Staff communicate well with one another, and children are visible at all times. Staff position themselves effectively across the nursery to ensure that they can meet children's needs. For example, during mealtimes, staff sit with children to make sure that they are safe while they eat. However, the current arrangements for mealtimes are busy and do not enable staff to build on children's learning and encourage their independence at these key times.
• Children engage positively with staff across the nursery and keenly join them during activities. Staff build on what children know and can do. They hold discussions with children about what they are doing as they play. Occasionally, during these discussions, some staff do not check children's understanding or present them with the correct information. For example, staff do not explore children's understanding further when they incorrectly name a shape as they mould dough. This does not fully benefit children's learning.
• Communication and language is a strong focus for staff, and this helps children to become confident communicators. Toddlers use single words, and staff encourage them to build on this as they begin to join words together to form simple sentences. Staff speak clearly so that children can hear how words are formed. Older children communicate their needs effectively, and the oldest children confidently chat to visitors about what they enjoy doing at nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• promote children's learning and support them to become even more independent, particularly during mealtimes
• help staff to correct children's misconceptions and present them with accurate information consistently so that children can make the most of all learning opportunities.