Busy Bees Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children love their time at this pre-school. They arrive happy, showing a real sense of belonging as they confidently place their snack on the designated tray and hang up their bags. They are met by the warm, friendly staff who greet them by name and help them to quickly become involved in activities. Managers develop an ambitious curriculum, wanting children to be independent and motivated learners. They do this by being interested and enthusiastic in all children do. For example, children excitably run up to staff with a large shell saying they can hear the sea, and hold it up to the staff's ear, so they can hear too. Staff mirror their excitement and praise children, who smile with pride. Children are eager to learn and are making good progress in their learning and development.

The pre-school is very calm and children's behaviour is very good. When minor altercations arise, older children are able to solve problems themselves. For example, when new children want to join in with play in the home corner and some children do not like this idea, others explain that there is room for them all to be in there together, and they play happily. Children are content as they have freedom to choose if they would like to play indoors or outdoors, supporting those that learn best outside, well.

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

• Leadership and management is very strong. Managers and staff regularly evaluate the setting and make changes where needed. For example, the team noticed that children were not really engaging in play in the outdoor kitchen, so they decided to introduce real fruit and vegetables. Children now regularly spend time in the space, cutting the food with safe knives, discussing the names of the different foods and what they smell and taste like. Staff feel very supported by the management team. They have regular meetings and are encouraged to engage in training that interests them, to keep them up to date with the latest childcare developments.
• Children's speech and language development is very well supported. Staff run small group sessions with children where they look at specific books and discuss stories. Staff hold children's interests by handing out toys that 'help' children to turn the pages. Children are encouraged to join the groups, but if they are reluctant, staff let them watch from the side, and go over the book later in an even smaller group if children want to. Staff are very good at knowing and accommodating each child's individual needs.
• Throughout the day, children have opportunities to develop basic mathematical skills in a fun and engaging way. For example, they are split into small groups, decided by which flavour ice cream they like best. They then count to see which group has the highest number of children and which has the lowest number.
• Staff are very good at supporting the children's learning in an engaging way. However, at times, the level of teaching and the language used can be a little too complex for the youngest children and they can become uninterested. For example, large group times where there is a lot of counting and looking at different letters can be too advanced for younger children and they begin to lose interest in the learning.
• Children have many opportunities to develop independence and to make choices. For example, at afternoon snack time, children serve their own ice cream, carefully scooping and placing it in their cones, helping them to develop muscles needed for later writing.
• Parents are very happy with the care their children receive at pre-school. Parents who have children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) speak of how well the pre-school links with outside professionals, and implements suggestions from the professionals to support their children's development. Parents comment on how well their young children have developed their language skills since being in pre-school. They particularly love the new lending library, which they say is encouraging their children's interests in books further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• place a sharper focus on developing the curriculum for the youngest children so that activities are differentiated to best suit their age and stage of development.