Little Honeybees

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children and parents receive a warm and friendly welcome from the manager and staff.

They greet their friends and quickly settle into the well-established routines of the nursery. Children's behaviour is good. They learn to share, take turns and use their manners.

Children understand what is expected from them. They learn to develop their independence skills, such as managing their personal care needs. Children are enthusiastic and eagerly work together to help to tidy away toys and resources at tidy-up time.

Children receive an abundance of praise and encouragement from staff, which helps to boost their self-...esteem. They are also encouraged to persevere if they encounter difficulties. They develop loving and trusting bonds with their key persons and other staff.

Children make good progress from their starting points. They learn through an effective balance of adult-led activities and child-initiated play. Children have lots of fun and visibly enjoy being at the nursery.

They concentrate on their chosen activity and play cooperatively with others. Children enjoy exploring in the well-resourced outside area. They display good physical skills as they ride on trikes and balance on large tyres.

Children take part in 'welly walks' in the local area, which helps children to learn about where they live and the natural world. For example, children visit an allotment and learn where vegetables come from and how they grow.

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

The manager has a clear vision for the nursery, which is shared by all staff.

The manager is passionate and dedicated in providing children with the best possible start. She values her staff and they work together to create a nurturing nursery with a strong family ethos. The manager provides staff with professional development opportunities and carries out regular staff supervisions and team meetings.

They all evaluate the nursery to promote continuous improvement.Parent partnerships are strong. Staff share information with parents about the progress their children make and the care they receive.

Parents speak very highly of the nursery and the staff team. They say their children love attending.The manager and staff plan interesting and enjoyable activities that support children's learning and development.

Staff observe and evaluate the progress that children make and swiftly identify and close any gaps in their learning. Staff interact well with children and act as excellent role models. They greet children as they join in adult-led activities and use these to build on their learning.

However, staff do not always consider the best ways to support children who are less confident and slightly reluctant to fully participate with adult-led activities.Children are supported to develop a love of books. For example, they enjoy listening to a popular children's story about a tiger.

Staff incorporate the story into fun activities, such as painting pictures of tigers and modelling tigers out of play dough. Staff skilfully weave additional learning into activities and conversations. They incorporate mathematical concepts, such as counting, weight and capacity as they encourage children to weigh their models.

Children have opportunities to take risks. For example, at snack time, children safely cut up their own fruit. They develop their hand-to-eye coordination as they push the fruit onto skewers to make fruit kebabs.

Children develop good independence skills. They tend to their own personal care needs and wash their hands before eating. However, occasionally, staff miss opportunities to enhance children's awareness of what constitutes a healthy lifestyle, such as the importance of making healthy food choices.

Children are supported to develop good communication and language skills. Staff interact well with the children. They engage them in conversations, narrate their play and ask open-ended questions.

Children have lots of fun expressing themselves during singing time and move their bodies to lively music.Children are supported to develop an awareness of cultures that are different from their own through stories, activities and celebrating religious festivals.The manager has developed good links with the local school that children are due to attend.

The manager invites school teachers into the nursery to support smooth transitions in children's future learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff understand their responsibilities to keep children safe.

Staff carry out daily risk assessments of all areas used by the children and are qualified in paediatric first aid to ensure children's safety is paramount. The manager and staff have a clear understanding of signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk of harm. They are mindful of all aspects of safeguarding, including the 'Prevent' duty.

The manager and staff are confident with the nursery's policies and procedures in relation to making referrals, dealing with allegations and whistle-blowing. The nursery has a safe recruitment procedure in place to check the suitability of new staff and the ongoing suitability of existing staff.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review the delivery of adult-led activities to provide even more opportunities for all children to join in, particularly those who are less confident and slightly reluctant support staff to recognise opportunities to enhance children's understanding of the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle.