Busy Bees Day Nursery at Tunbridge Wells

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

There is an extremely positive, friendly atmosphere within the nursery. Children of all ages become curious, engaged and motived learners.

They have fun as they learn during a range of well-planned experiences and activities. Babies make good use of the well-organised space and resources that are available to develop their mobility and to explore and discover. Older children concentrate intently on their chosen play.

For example, a group of pre-school children work together very cooperatively to design and construct detailed helicopters from building blocks. These achievements are built on the back of sequenced teachin...g that has taken place over time.Each child is assigned a key person who gets to know them well and who takes the lead in planning for their future learning.

Children seek out their key person, safe in the knowledge that they will receive reassurance and cuddles. Through the caring, consistent support of staff, children learn to behave well and to develop friendships. The respect that each child receives supports them to develop good self-esteem.

Staff work effectively with parents and other relevant professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Each child receives care and support that is precisely targeted to reflect their individual needs. Managers and staff have successfully strengthened the support for children to learn about the lives and customs of people from different cultures and backgrounds.

This knowledge and understanding, along with the good socials skills that children develop, prepares them well for their future lives.

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

The leadership and management of the nursery is very effective. There is a strong ethos of ongoing reflection and improvement.

For example, new systems have been implemented to minimise any disruption to children's learning at times when routine tasks are taking place. Changes and new initiatives are introduced sensitively to ensure that they are understood by all staff. There are good arrangements to support staff.

These include regular supervision meetings and a range of training opportunities.Leaders and managers devise and implement a broad and challenging curriculum. Within this, staff plan a range of adult-led activities that successfully support all children to progress well.

In addition, there is a strong focus on setting out resources for children to be able to access independently. This is to allow children time and space to practise the skills they have learned. Overall, this works extremely well.

For example, children of all ages thoroughly enjoy complex and imaginative role-play games in the 'home corner'. However, the curriculum for expressive art and design is slightly less well embedded. All children benefit from taking part in planned art and craft activities each day.

There are resources set out for them to explore, but the presentation is not as impressive or inviting as for all other areas of learning.Overall, staff support children to progress well in their communication. Babies learn to identify the names of familiar objects and people.

Two-year-old children develop a broader vocabulary and become confident communicators. All group rooms are well resourced and are organised effectively to encourage children to explore and investigate. However, at times, the environments become noisy due to very high ceilings.

This has minimal impact on the younger children due to the way staff organise their daily routines. Staff use consistent and effective methods to promote the language of older children. These children instigate and take part in interesting and animated conversations, expressing themselves well.

However, there are times when there are so many exciting games and activities taking place, it becomes difficult to hear what is being said. This does not support staff to ensure that children are hearing and using the correct pronunciation of words.Staff promote children's health well.

They support them to develop good personal care and hygiene routines. Children benefit from nutritious meals, prepared on site, that reflect their individual dietary needs. They develop their physical strength and coordination during regular visits to the garden throughout the day.

Managers and staff form positive, friendly relationships with parents. They exchange relevant information when parents drop off and collect their children. There are a range of effective methods used to help parents to support children's learning at home.

For example, staff use an online system to share information about the progress that children make. They have also recently introduced 'home learning' bags with resources for parents to borrow. Parents' feedback is extremely positive about the management and staff and the progress that their children make.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nenhance the opportunities for children to explore materials that enable them to express themselves artistically nextend the support for staff to recognise when to adapt the use of space and/or activities to promote children's language development as fully as possible.