Busy Bees Day Nursery at Rainham

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children form very good attachments with staff from the outset. They show that they feel happy and secure. Children arrive with smiles on their faces and are eager to start the day. Children benefit from a rich variety of activities and respond well to the settling-in plans implemented for each stage of their journey.

Children benefit from a fun and varied curriculum. Babies and toddlers are encouraged use signing and gesturing to effectively communicate their needs. This supports their early language skills and develops their concentration. Younger children enjoy singing nursery rhymes and using coloured crayons. For instance, they make marks on large paper on the floor and enjoy naming and sorting the colours. Staff effectively demonstrate how to hold the crayon with a firm grip and support children to discuss different colours, shapes, and sizes. This helps their early mathematical awareness as well as development of fine motor control.

Pre-school children show great enthusiasm as they make bridges to balance on in the garden. They enjoy working as a team and discussing the different ways that they can get across. Staff encourage them to count as they step and use language, such as 'more' and 'longer', to develop early mathematical vocabulary. Children show good spatial awareness, perseverance and independence as they explore their environment.

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

• Staff act as positive role models. They have high expectations for children's learning and help them understand about boundaries in a clear way. Children show enjoyment and engagement in activities. They behave very well.
• Children enjoy the freedom of playing outdoors. Opportunities for children to take safe risks are incorporated into outdoor play. Children take part in physical exercise through dancing and agility practice in a room used during poor weather. However, there are less opportunities available to fully support development of all areas of learning outside.
• Children are encouraged to be independent from the outset. They learn from an early age to independently wash their hands prior to snack or mealtimes. They serve themselves food and have 'stations' to visit if they need to pour themselves a drink or wipe their own nose. Children are consistently given the opportunity to manage their own self-care needs and become more self-sufficient.
• Staff show a clear and ambitious knowledge of what they want children to learn, such as building children's skills to become independent learners. At times, however, adult-directed activities can incorporate too many aspects of learning. The intent becomes muddled, and children do not have chance to embed a concept before quickly moving on to something else.
• Children have exciting opportunities to learn about different cultures and the wider world. For example, they receive communications from a nursery in Australia, including information about the way children live and facts about their country. Children learn about what is the same and different when comparing the nurseries. They are excited to reply and share information about what is familiar to them in their own day-to-day lives.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Staff have worked hard to improve the important partnerships needed for children to make good progress. Parents make positive comments about the care their children receive. They are pleased with the service provided and praise staff for their commitment to make sure every child feels valued. Every day on collection, parents receive information about what children are doing. The nursery has an online platform which has regular updates on children's learning and development.
• There have been staff and management changes in the nursery recently. The new manager is ambitious and enthusiastic in her role. She has a clear vision of how she wants her staff team to continue to deliver an ambitious curriculum to support children and families in the local community.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend opportunities for outdoor learning to fully support children who prefer to learn outside, in all areas of learning
• enhance the planning of activities to ensure the intent is clear and learning concepts are embedded before moving on.