Busy Bees Day Nursery at Telford Priorslee

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy as they arrive at nursery. Parents are invited to walk them to their base room where they are warmly greeted by staff. This helps children to quickly settle in and be ready to start their day. Babies settle in extremely quickly and form secure relationships with kind and caring staff, which helps them to feel safe. Older children are eager to speak to visitors, demonstrating their confidence.

Staff plan the nursery environment well, meaning that children can quickly choose something exciting to play with. This helps them to develop positive attitudes towards their learning. Babies' physical development is promoted throughout their play. They stand to explore water, which helps to strengthen their muscles in readiness to walk. Young children practise making marks to music, using large body movements to make swirls and lines with chalk. Older children practise using climbing and balancing equipment to support their large movements. They use tools such as rollers and knives when manipulating dough, which strengthens their hand muscles in preparation for writing.

Children develop their independence skills from a young age. Younger children help to find their coat and have a go at putting it on before going outdoors. Older children pour their own drink and serve their own meal, competently using cutlery to feed themselves.

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

• Children access a broad curriculum, which is implemented through a range of experiences. Children make choices about what they want to play with and choose from an array of activities in the learning environment. Children enjoy being outdoors, where they practise using mark-making materials and different tools for a purpose. Indoors, children sit down for stories and explore sensory materials. Children make good progress in their learning.
• Staff engage in conversations and interact with children throughout the day. However, they do not always use these times to focus on children's identified learning needs and to help children to develop their ideas further. This does not fully support children to make the best progress possible.
• Support for children's communication and language development is strong. Staff sing songs and rhymes to children through the day. Children enjoy repeating key words and phrases from familiar stories as they play. Staff encourage older children to take turns when holding conversations. This means that all children learn to become fluent communicators.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. Staff plan well to meet their individual needs. For example, they introduce the words for different feelings using soft toys from a familiar book when children struggle to regulate their emotions. Specialist equipment supports children to become more engaged in their play and learning. This helps children with SEND to make good progress from their starting points.
• Children's mathematical development is given high priority by staff. Younger children identify the shapes and colours of objects as they dig through sand. Older children develop a deep understanding of number. They count to five and then hunt around their environment to find the numeral five, such as on photos, in books and on a clock. At lunchtime, they correctly identify the table number they are allocated to. As a result, children build strong foundations for their future learning.
• Staff are positive role models. They communicate using good manners and clearly explain their expectations for children's behaviour. Children learn how to listen and develop patience during their play and when speaking to adults or seeking their attention. Children demonstrate their positive attitudes and good behaviour.
• Staff comment positively about the support they receive from leaders. Leaders provide supervision meetings and some training opportunities to support staff in their roles. However, professional development for staff is not fully embedded to enhance the areas that staff need to improve on.
• Parents speak very positively about the nursery and say that their children receive excellent care. Staff provide parents with regular information about their child's care, learning and development. They also share resources and activities with parents to continue their children's learning at home. This helps to provide continuity for children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance planning for activities so that they focus more precisely on extending children's learning
• embed training and professional development opportunities for staff to continually raise their teaching skills even further.