Busy Bees Day Nursery at Shenley

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and staff develop positive relationships with them. Staff are particularly attentive to children's individual needs and their emotional well-being. They recognise that children who feel safe and secure learn new skills, such as managing their self-care. Staff encourage children to be independent. Babies show determination as they attempt to feed themselves. Older children put on their coats to play outdoors. These simple tasks help all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), develop the skills and knowledge that they need to move on to the next stage of their learning. Children enjoy stories as part of their day. Children relish the opportunities to sit and read books with staff. Babies climb onto staff's knees to listen to a favourite story. These meaningful activities help children develop an awareness of early literacy.

The staff team are positive role models, having high expectations of children's behaviour. They guide younger children to share their toys and give older children the time and space to negotiate the best ways to take turns. This approach supports children to self-regulate and consider the feelings of others. Staff provide meaningful praise, which encourages children to repeat these positive behaviours.

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

• The provider has created a new curriculum, and staff are enthusiastic about it. Overall, staff demonstrate a clear understanding of how children learn, and they know the children well. Staff provide a range of play-based learning experiences that capture children's interests. For example, babies enjoy exploring the texture of oats through their hands, and hunt to find pretend animals in the flour and tissue paper. However, the curriculum is not yet fully embedded into practice. Occasionally, staff are less clear about what the children need to learn from the planned activities.
• The support for children with SEND is good. The staff team identify when children may need additional help. They are on hand to support children with their learning. The provider has effective links with partner agencies, which enables them to put plans into place to support the child. Staff support children with SEND to access the curriculum. As a result, all children are making good levels of progress.
• There is a strong focus on supporting children's communication and language skills across the nursery. Staff understand the importance of children being effective communicators, ready for their eventual move to school. They create a language-rich environment, where staff continue to enhance children's speech by modelling unfamiliar words as children play. Staff support younger children as they narrate the play. They ask the children simple questions and give them time to think and respond. For older children, staff enhance their awareness of letters and sounds by encouraging them to identify the letters and sounds that are associated with various objects.
• Staff ask thought-provoking questions to extend children's knowledge and understanding of the topic. Children become absorbed in creating their own artwork based on the artist they are studying. They recall the artist is Japanese and known as 'The princess of polka dots'. Staff help children to think and recall their learning.
• Younger children delight in moulding play dough using various tools. These activities help children build the strength in their hand muscles to support early writing skills. Older children enjoy group teaching. For example, children use cotton buds to precisely paint dots on paper. They become engaged as they practise fine motor skills, concentration and focus in preparation for school.
• Children enjoy number-rich play. For example, babies post balls into a box. Staff count the balls, saying 'more' and 'less'. Younger children roll balls down the drainpipe looking for the corresponding numbers. Older children talk about three-dimensional shapes and sizes. This helps to develop their early mathematical skills and language.
• Overall, parents are happy with the daily, face-to-face and online communication they receive about their child's day. However, some parents feel the information they receive is not thorough enough to ensure they know how to further support their child's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support all staff to have a clear understanding of the curriculum intent so that their teaching is consistently focused on what they want children to learn
• enhance the communication with parents so that all parents understand how to support their child's specific ongoing learning at home.