Busy Bees Day Nursery at London Excel

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Practitioners and leaders in this welcoming setting have an ambitious learning programme in place. This ensures that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), have experiences that promote their individual needs and interests. For example, children have access to lively environments, indoors and outdoors. Practitioners plan and lay out the environments well to support children's learning in an age-appropriate way. For example, practitioners support children's physical development. In the outdoor area, practitioners encourage and challenge young children to use pedals on bicycles. They support other children to learn yoga poses in a planned group session. Overall, the learning programme builds on children's knowledge and understanding.

Practitioners promote children's confidence and unique characters. Children build attachments with their key persons, who know them well. Practitioners find out what children enjoy doing and their likes and dislikes. They use this information to plan experiences for children. Practitioners are good role models and help children to understand the behaviour that they expect of them. The interactions between them are polite, warm and positive. Children learn how to behave well and treat each other with respect. For example, children collaborate with each other as they share and ask each other for resources.

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

• Leaders are knowledgeable about supporting children with SEND. They work closely with other agencies to make sure that children get the appropriate support. Practitioners provide children with targeted help to enable them to make good progress in their learning appropriate.
• Practitioners interact skilfully with toddlers and the oldest children. For example, they converse with children during group times and when they are leading experiences. Practitioners listen well to children, who confidently share their views and ideas. For example, during a mathematics activity, practitioners encourage children to explore and test out their ideas as they play. Older children independently access mathematical resources to create a shape pattern sequencing game.
• Leaders value practitioners and carry out supervision meetings on a termly basis. They have an induction process to coach practitioners to improve their skills. However, some training is not precise and does not build on practitioner's existing knowledge and skills to support the youngest children's communication and language skills further. For example, some group experiences for the youngest children are not well structured and planned.
• Practitioners understand that sometimes young children need dummies when they are feeling unsettled. However, the youngest children spend longer than they need to with dummies in their mouths. This reduces their opportunities to develop and practise their early and emergent speaking skills.
• Practitioners recognise when children are sleepy and use gentle strategies to soothe and help them to feel more comfortable. They monitor children as they sleep, and most children wake naturally from their naps. This benefits children's emotional health and well-being.
• There are good systems in place to ensure that children receive food that meets their individual needs. Practitioners prepare nutritious meals at the setting for children. They adhere to children's dietary needs and parent's preferences. This supports children physical health well.
• Practitioners do not always support children's hygiene routines well. They do not always respond quickly enough to deal with children's runny noses. This does not help children understand the importance of good hygiene.
• There are good relationships with parents. Practitioners obtain information about children before they start. They use this information to plan interesting experiences for children. This helps children to make good progress from their starting points in learning. For example, practitioners support parents with toilet training advice.
• Parents comment that staff are approachable. They say that they are happy with the progress their children make at the setting. Parents praise staff for the regular updates they provide about their children's development, which helps to promote children's learning further at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus support for practitioners on building on their existing knowledge and skills to support the youngest children's communication and language skills further
• improve practitioner's knowledge about the impact of overusing dummies, to further promote children's early and emergent speaking skills
• strengthen children's understanding of the importance of good hygiene practices to help them to learn how to manage their good health.