Busy Bees Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show good attitudes to learning. They have access to activities that are well planned and linked to their individual needs. Older children show high levels of engagement and concentration. For example, they focus intently as they use pipettes to transport water from one container to another. They show increasing skills, as they use tweezers to pick up small pasta shapes from underneath their 'spider's web'. They chat with their friends as they use play dough to roll and squeeze their creations to make dinosaur birthday cakes. This helps to develop children's hand muscles and hand-to-eye coordination, to aid their early writing abilities.

Children benefit from plenty of opportunities throughout the day for fresh air and exercise in the extensive outdoor area. The children can participate in forest school sessions daily and explore a range of exciting activities, which support their knowledge of the world. Children show great enjoyment when searching for different leaves in the woodland area to use in their creative activity. They excitedly show staff and friends what they have found. They show high levels of interest, when staff point out the features of the leaves, for example the veins.

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

• Managers have high ambitions for staff and children, and they monitor and adapt the provision well. For example, they adapt the learning environment following observations of the children. This makes learning relevant and ensures that children make good progress.
• Children have many opportunities to learn about the natural environment and living things. They have access to an extensive outdoor space, which includes a forest school area and a farm with alpacas, chickens and ponies. This gives children hands-on experiences; for example, they help raise the chickens from eggs.
• Staff read stories with enthusiasm and children enjoy looking at books independently. The children excitedly re-enact stories, which stimulates their imagination and encourages their communication and language development.
• Older children behave well. They listen to instructions from adults and respond positively to the routines of the day. Younger children's behaviour is not as well supported. Children frequently disagree over toys and resources. Staff do not have the time to focus on children's poor behaviour as new children need their support to settle into the setting. Consequently, when children display poor behaviour, this is not challenged to help them understand how their behaviour affects others.
• Hygiene practices are not consistent across the setting. Staff encourage children to wash their hands at key times during the day, such as before eating and after using the bathroom. However, on occasion, good hygiene procedures are not followed. When some children have runny noses, these are not immediately seen to by staff. Furthermore, staff do not always wash their hands after wiping children's noses. This poses a risk of cross-infection.
• Partnerships with parents are extremely positive. Parents value the feedback given to them. They are kept informed of their children's day, and staff provide activity ideas to parents so that they can continue their learning at home. Staff work closely with families and other professionals to ensure, that children who need extra support continue to make good progress. Additional funding is used well. Staff provide targeted one-to-one support and resources that promote children's individual learning and development.
• Staff well-being is a strong focus for the management team. Staff express that they are happy in their roles and enjoy working in the setting. Managers provide staff with feedback to improve their practice, at regular supervision sessions. A calm space has been developed in 'the yurt' for staff to take time out from a busy environment. This creates a positive culture where staff feel valued and respected.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to promote children's positive behaviour and to help children gain a better understanding of how their behaviour affects others
• strengthen personal care and hygiene routines, to ensure that children's needs are consistently met.