Busy Bees Day Nursery at Milton Keynes Oldbrook

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and babies receive a warm welcome on arrival. Staff provide a calm and nurturing environment, which enables children to feel safe and secure. All children settle quickly and demonstrate their strong bonds with staff. Staff know children extremely well and are attentive to their needs. Children are confident to explore and show a positive attitude to their learning. They behave well.

Good arrangements are in place to support children who speak English as an additional language. For example, staff find out about children's home language and vocabulary. They use visual picture prompts and simple signing to support young children's language development.

Children are curious and keen to learn. They find what is taught interesting and this helps ensure that they remember what they have learned. For example, young children model animal noises to well-known rhymes, toddlers stomp like dinosaurs and older toddlers use a range of tools competently as they explore cinnamon-flavoured dough. Pre-school children are gaining in confidence and can recall prior learning. For example, children are able to describe how they explored rain clouds, looking at the water cycle. Children learn words such as 'movement' and 'evaporation', describing the clouds as, 'So soft and comfy, we could sleep on them.'

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

• The manager shows a good commitment to the professional development of her team. Staff meet regularly with the manager for supervision meetings. This helps to support their practice and professional development and to identify any additional training needs. The manager places a high priority on the well-being of staff. As a result, staff feel valued and display a sense of pride for working at the nursery.
• Children behave very well in the nursery. For example, they know the 'golden rules,' and follow them well. They can share and are polite to one another. Staff are excellent role models.
• Overall, staff work effectively to develop children's communication skills. For example, staff model language well, regularly singing songs during routine activities and reading to children with enthusiasm and excitement. However, on occasions, staff do not give children enough time to consider their responses to questions. For example, they ask one question and then ask another rather than waiting for the child to respond. This means that, at times, some children do not have opportunities to express their own ideas, experiment and consolidate their understanding and skills.
• The manager is committed to providing high-quality care and education for all children. She reflects on the nursery and plans a broad curriculum that supports children effectively to make good progress. Staff carefully follow children's interests. They use information from observations and assessments to plan interesting activities.
• Partnerships with parents are strong, and parents leave glowing testimonials. The manager seeks the views of staff, parents and children to effect positive change. For example, she has an active children's council.
• Staff work well with a number of external agencies to support children's needs. For example, they work with the local inclusion team to support children who they have identified need support with early speech development. Staff work well with the local schools children will attend to support their smooth transition to schools.
• Staff are warm and caring to children and pride themselves on creating a home-from-home environment. All children have a key person. Staff understand the importance of this role in helping children build attachments and feel safe and secure. This helps children and their parents to feel a real sense of belonging right from the start.
• Overall, staff manage children's care routines well. Children understand the routine of the nursery, including following good hygiene practices. However, some staff are not fully effective in managing times when some children need quiet time after lunch and others need support to settle to sleep, without interruption.
• Children learn about traditions, events and celebrations from cultures and countries different to their own. They explore positive cultural images, books and resources and learn to value the differences and similarities between people.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• give children an appropriate amount of time to consider their responses to questions
• strengthen routines so that children who require a sleep benefit from uninterrupted rest and relaxation.