Busy Bees Day Nursery at Woking
Busy Bees Day Nursery at Woking is a day nursery in Woking for children aged 0 to 4, with 110 registered places. Ofsted report card, 16 February 2026: Expected standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met.
50 Cavell Way, Knaphill, Woking, GU21 2TJ
Key facts
- Type
- Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Ages
- 0 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered places
- 110 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered
- 29 May 2001 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Opening hours
Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00
Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 16 February 2026
Who runs it
Busy Bees Day Nursery at Woking is run by Busy Bees Day Nurseries (Trading) Limited (Ofsted register).
Latest inspection
- Inclusion: Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
- Achievement: Expected standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
- Leadership and governance: Expected standard
- Safeguarding standards met
Source: Ofsted, inspection on 16 February 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Families are welcomed into this inclusive nursery, where staff get to know children well. Carefully planned settling-in routines are used to help children, including the youngest, develop positive relationships. Leaders share important information with parents, including the importance of regular and prompt attendance and how this benefits children's early education. Before children start, staff gather detailed information from parents about children's routines, interests and unique abilities. This helps build nurturing bonds from the outset, which supports children to be happy and confident. Children learn to play kindly, take turns and respect others. Staff guide fair choices, building positive relationships and courteous behaviour.
Children benefit from a stimulating curriculum tailored to the differing ages across the nursery. A thoughtful balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities sparks curiosity, supporting children's growing independence, and nurtures their enjoyment of learning. For example, babies explore the sounds they make with shakers during song time, while older children practise football skills, learning to aim and kick the ball to their friends, with support from staff. Leaders prioritise the development of communication and language. From the outset, staff model language, share favourite stories, and teach rhymes and action songs. These experiences strengthen children's listening, curiosity and early communication skills, laying strong foundations for future learning.
Leaders and staff build strong relationships with parents and carers. They use pertinent conversations to share children's daily activities, achievements and advice for where learning can be continued at home. This has a positive impact for all children, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those in receipt of additional funding. Staff work closely with other agencies to promote children's welfare and continuity of care and learning. This has a positive impact for children and contributes to the progress children make across all areas of learning.
What Ofsted found in each area
Inclusion: Expected standard
Leaders and staff place a strong emphasis on creating an inclusive environment where all children are valued and supported. Staff working with children who receive additional funding, or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, have a clear understanding of their role in reducing barriers to children's care and learning. They work closely with a range of professionals to ensure that any additional support, guidance or specialist advice is identified promptly and implemented effectively.
Where other agencies are supporting families, leaders and staff work closely in partnership to understand the needs of the children and their families. This helps to ensure that a shared approach to supporting children's welfare, care and learning needs is promoted well.
Leaders and staff regularly review children's progress and evaluate how well support is tailored to individual needs. Staff training is used to help staff to identify children's needs early and provide targeted support. This reflective practice ensures that any adaptations are carefully planned and tailored, enabling children to receive help where it will have the greatest impact. As a result, children are supported to develop the knowledge, confidence and skills they need to move to the next stage of their learning, including their transition to school.
Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
Leaders have created a curriculum that builds progressively on children's learning across all areas. They share their plans for the curriculum with staff, reviewing the needs of children and their ages and abilities, to ensure that the curriculum is designed and delivered in age-appropriate ways. Leaders check the implementation of the curriculum and provide focused training, such as how staff can promote children's curiosity.
Children take part in a range of activities that link with the curriculum. For instance, staff use books with songs and rhymes for babies and move on to more detailed stories to support children's communication and language skills. Staff teach older children about the names of shapes, as they experiment with building, to introduce early mathematical knowledge and understanding. Children enjoy a range of indoor and outdoor play activities that develop their physical coordination skills. For example, staff help toddlers learn where to place their feet on the steps as they make their way up to the slide. Staff place a strong focus on embedding children's personal, social and emotional development. They use opportunities in children's play to help them learn kindness and courtesy with their friends. For example, staff talk about taking turns with bats and balls, helping children learn to respect and value the differing needs of their friends.
Staff make regular, purposeful observations to understand what children know and can do. They use this information to identify appropriate next steps in learning. A balanced mix of adult-led and child-initiated experiences enables staff to follow children's interests and spark their curiosity. However, the learning intentions for some planned activities are not always clearly defined or tailored to individual children. As a result, staff are not consistently able to maximise opportunities to support each child's specific next steps in learning.
Achievement: Expected standard
Children develop positive attitudes to learning. They are curious explorers and sustain concentration in activities that interest them. Babies make strong progress in their physical development. They build core strength as they move confidently from sitting to crawling and standing. Staff provide a secure and nurturing base, enabling babies to explore with confidence and feel safe in their surroundings.
Children benefit from a language-rich environment that supports their communication skills effectively. Babies respond with delight to action rhymes, for example by clapping their hands, listening and responding to favourite action rhymes. Pre-schoolers enjoy shared story time as staff read favourite stories to them, bringing these to life. Children develop their thinking skills to confidently share their ideas, as staff bring books to life through expressive reading and thoughtful questioning. For example, during group activities, children learn the names of the colours on a butterfly's wings and share ideas about the foods eaten by the caterpillar and what might happen when it emerges from its cocoon.
All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those in receipt of additional funding, make age-appropriate progress throughout all areas of the curriculum. Children typically develop the skills and knowledge they need for their onward transition to school.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
Leaders and staff work together to create a positive and welcoming environment. Children learn from their positive examples of behaviours that promote care, kindness and respect. Children build resilience and confidence and develop a 'can-do' attitude when trying new activities.
Staff recognise and respond to the differing ages and stages of children's development to help them understand their feelings and emotions and how to regulate these. Staff use routines throughout the day, including whole-group activities to teach and reinforce expectations. For instance, children help to tidy away toys and resources in readiness for mealtimes. They wait their turn to sit to eat as staff talk about what is going to happen and praise children's patience. Children enjoy each other's company and develop friendships with their peers.
Leaders communicate expectations clearly with parents about good attendance and punctuality. When leaders identify patterns of late arrival or irregular attendance, they work closely with families to offer support and address any barriers. However, on occasion, these efforts are not fully successful in improving attendance. As a result, some children do not benefit consistently from the full range of learning experiences available to them.
Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
Children develop nurturing relationships with staff. The consistent key-person approach that staff use with children, including the youngest, helps them to settle into the nursery well. Staff offer warm reassurance when children need it, providing cuddles and comfort to help them feel settled, safe and secure. For instance, when children wake from rest times, staff gently support them, speaking softly and giving them unhurried time before rejoining activities.
Children manage their emotions in ways that help them express themselves positively. Where children need extra help to cope with age-appropriate frustrations, staff provide targeted support to guide them. Staff work with parents to share consistent strategies that successfully help children regulate their feelings and behaviour. This shared approach enables children to understand what is expected and to develop the skills they need to manage their emotions with increasing confidence.
Staff teach children how to develop an understanding of their physical health. For example, toddlers learn how to care for their teeth as they practise brushing using toothbrushes and model teeth, while staff explain how to keep their mouths healthy. Children learn important hygiene routines to support their individual needs. However, at times, staff do not fully consider how they can teach children to carry out self-care routines independently before completing these tasks for them. This means some opportunities to build children's confidence and independence are inconsistent.
Leadership and governance: Expected standard
Leaders have a clear vision for the nursery. There have been recent changes to the staff team, and leaders are committed to ensuring that staff wellbeing and workload are a focus for open discussions. Staff feel valued in their roles and enjoy being an active voice in decisions made about the nursery that have a positive impact for children.
Leaders regularly review the priorities they have for future development. Newer staff, including apprentices, are embedding their practice knowledge within daily routines. Leaders provide mentoring, coaching and opportunities for reflection through regular supervision sessions. Staff benefit from training to help them understand how children learn. They use new knowledge to benefit children, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those in receipt of additional funding. For instance, staff have considered how repetition of stories, rhymes and songs helps support children's listening, attention and language skills.
Staff work well with parents. Opportunities to share children's overall development and offer advice and support when needed are valued by parents, who speak highly of the nursery. However, there is scope to extend this further, helping parents understand the importance of children's regular and prompt attendance and how this supports children's learning, routines and emotional security.
What the setting must and should do next
The provider should:
- Leaders should support staff to consistently promote children's independence and extend opportunities for developing their self-care skills.
- Leaders should support staff to ensure the learning intentions for planned activities are clearly defined and tailored to individual children so that they can more effectively support each child's next steps in learning.
- Leaders should continue to work in partnership with parents to develop awareness of the importance of the early years in a child's overall development, including the benefits of regular and timely attendance.
Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 16 February 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Inspection history
- 16 February 2026: Full inspection, report card: Expected standard in 6
- 23 December 2024: Actions after a complaint (report)
- 1 October 2024: Full inspection, Good (report)
- 9 August 2024: Actions after a concern (report)
- 21 September 2022: Full inspection, Good (report)
- 4 January 2018: Full inspection, Good (report)
- 24 February 2014: Inspection (report)
- 17 April 2013: Inspection (report)
- 22 April 2010: Inspection (report)
- 27 March 2007: Inspection (report)
- 3 February 2005: Inspection (report)
- 18 December 2003: Inspection (report)
Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)
Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.
The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.
Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.
Source: Ofsted reports
Funded childcare hours in England
All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.
Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.
Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.
The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.
Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)
Other nurseries nearby
- Blossom Montessori School - Pre-school, Woking GU21 2SP, 26 places, 0.3 miles
- Holy Trinity Pre-School - Pre-school, Woking GU21 2SX, ages 2 to 4, 50 places, 0.3 milesOfsted, 9 June 2023: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Kids Inc Day Nursery - Day nursery, Knaphill GU21 2PG, 85 places, 0.5 miles
- Bisley Montessori Nursery - Pre-school, Bisley Woking GU24 9AR, ages 2 to 4, 26 places, 0.9 milesOfsted, 16 June 2023: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Holy Trinity Pre-School Ltd. - Pre-school, Woking GU24 0AS, ages 2 to 4, 40 places, 0.9 milesOfsted, 23 January 2025: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
Schools nearby
- Knaphill Infant School and Nursery - Primary, 0.3 miles
- Knaphill Junior School - Primary, 0.4 miles
- St Hugh of Lincoln Catholic Primary School - Primary, 0.4 miles
- The Hermitage Infant School - Primary, 0.6 miles
- The Hermitage Junior School - Primary, 0.6 miles