Busy Bees Day Nursery at Sunderland Cleadon

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy and eager to learn at this highly inclusive nursery. Staff challenge their thinking and learning through a wide range of extremely well-planned and stimulating experiences. Staff provide excellent support for children's physical development. Children complete the child-sized assault course in the enclosed garden to build their physical skills as they move in a variety of ways. They make their own play dough and use pom-poms, pipe cleaners and conkers to decorate and make marks in the dough. Young children use their hands in different ways as they explore musical instruments, such as maracas, bells and castanets. Children use tongs as part of a game to pick up different sized balls and carefully release them down lengths of pipe to see how fast they go. Staff support children very well to develop their balance, coordination and small-muscle control.

Children are very confident and growing strongly in independence. For example, children are confident in using cutlery and cups appropriately from an early age. Staff encourage young children, who are just steady on their feet, to try to walk to the changing area as part of their nappy changing routine. Children's behaviour is excellent. They are focused and enthusiastic in their play. Children learn to share and take turns as they play very well together with their friends.

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

• Staff know children individually very well. They show a deep understanding of where children are in their development and how to support them in the next steps of their learning. For example, they encourage babies to lie on their tummies to help strengthen their core muscles in preparation for crawling and then walking. Staff plan activities, such as painting or peeling fruit and vegetables, to support young children to develop coordination and small-muscle control in preparation for early writing.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is outstanding. Partnerships with parents of children with SEND and other professionals involved in their care are extremely strong. Staff work closely with parents and professionals to agree and deliver highly effective support for children on an individual basis. Parents are full of praise for the nursery and the efforts of the staff to include all children. They praise the systems for communication and say they feel extremely well informed about their child's time at nursery.
• There is a very strong emphasis on supporting children to care for things they play with and the space they play in. For example, staff have created a 'book hospital', where children can take and help to mend broken books. They encourage children to care for living things and watch them grow. For example, children help to care for chicks that hatch at the nursery and help water herbs they grow in the garden. This helps children to learn about nurture and well-being.
• Skilled and experienced staff provide exceptional support for children to express their ideas. Staff invite children to help plan the nursery menu on special 'children's choice' days. Children and staff form close, supportive bonds. Staff encourage children to be respectful and give them lots of praise and encouragement.
• Children's communication and language development is planned extremely well. Staff introduce new words to children through storytelling and rhyme. They ask questions that encourage children to think and provide detail in their responses. Staff encourage children to choose their favourite books to read. They talk to the children about the role of the illustrator and author. Children learn about different types of print as they explore newspapers and magazines. This helps extend their thinking, builds their vocabulary and children's language skills flourish.
• The manager provides superb support for her staff team. She has very high expectations of the service the nursery provides. The manager and staff regularly evaluate the quality of all they do in order to provide outstanding experiences for children's learning.