Busy Bees Day Nursery at Sudbury Hill

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and safe under the care of the experienced and nurturing staff team. Children form warm relationships with staff and respond well to the engaging tones which the staff use to interact with them.

Children are happy and confident learners who are keen to explore the environment around them. They enthusiastically participate in a wide range of learning opportunities, such as mixing ingredients for play dough, water play, drawing with chalk and role play in the home corner.

Children play well with their peers and interact confidently with staff. They understand what is expected of them, due to clear, well embedded routines. Children respond well to the positive, descriptive praise which staff give them. For example, children smile proudly as staff exclaim, 'Wow, you are handing out the cutlery so carefully'. These clear routines and descriptive praise support children to behave well.

Children develop their independence as they progress through the nursery. For example, younger children learn to use a knife and fork and pour their water. Older children carry their own food back to their table and clean their plates when they have eaten. This helps children to build their self-esteem and means that children are well prepared for school.

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

• Leaders implement an effective curriculum for communication and language. Staff get down to children's level and narrate as children play. Staff sing songs and read books to children enthusiastically to help children to build their vocabulary. This supports children to make good progress in their communication and language.
• On occasion, staff do not always model language accurately to the children. For example, when staff say to children 'Would you like to go garden?'. At these times, children are not supported to develop their understanding of correct sentence structure.
• Staff generally support children well in their physical development. They plan opportunities such as kneading play dough, pouring and drawing with chalk to help children to develop their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Staff plan some opportunity for children to develop gross motor skills, such as running, jumping, kicking balls or rolling hoops. However, children do not get enough opportunities to develop their climbing skills. This does not support children to learn to take safe risks. Leaders are aware of this and have plans in place to address this.
• Leaders plan an effective curriculum for mathematics. Throughout the day, staff incorporate mathematics into their activities. For example, they support children to count the number of spoons of flour they are adding to the bowl or use mathematical language as they discuss whether cups of water are full or empty. This gives children a good grounding in early mathematical skills.
• Leaders are proactive in supporting children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They identify these children early and ensure that strategies are in place to support them where needed. Leaders make timely referrals to external professionals. This ensures that every child makes good progress on their individual learning journey.
• Staff understand the progress that their key children make and the next steps in their learning journey. They then plan learning opportunities to support children to achieve these next steps. This helps children to make good progress.
• Leaders understand what good quality learning looks like. They support staff to improve their practice through modelling good practice, regular staff meetings and training. This helps to ensure a consistently high quality of education.
• Leaders support staff well. They build a close team who work together to support each other and model good practice. This leads to good outcomes for children.
• Staff communicate well with parents via an app and verbally. This means that parents develop a good understanding of what their child has been doing during the day and the progress that they are making. Leaders regularly ask parents for their views and act on these where appropriate. For example, further information is now provided outside each room about the daily activities that children have taken part in, following a suggestion from a parent. Leaders and staff form good parent partnerships.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider how to provide more opportunities for children to take safe risks
• support staff to consistently model accurate speech.