Busy Bees Day Nursery at Chelmsford

Busy Bees Day Nursery at Chelmsford 5 The Meades, Off New Writtle Street, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 0GT

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/04/2013 09/05/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 1 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Highly successful leadership and management ensures that staff are supported and motivated to provide all children with excellent care and learning experiences.  The organisation of the learning environment enables children of all ages to access an excellent variety of resources and activities, which promote imaginative and stimulating play. As a result, children make rapid progress in their learning and development.  Rigorous monitoring of safety and security ensures that children are extremely well protected. All staff understand safeguarding procedures and how to carry out thorough risk assessments of the nursery.  Excellent relationships between staff, children and parents ensure that children feel safe, secure and highly valued, while having all of their individual needs significantly well met.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in all rooms of the nursery and the outdoor area.  The inspector spoke to children and parents to gain their views of the nursery.  The inspector spoke to staff and gathered evidence from children's learning records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector reviewed documentation and interviewed members of the senior management team.

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Information about the setting

Busy Bees Day Nursery at Chelmsford opened in 2000. The nursery is part of a large national chain of nurseries under the ownership of Busy Bees. The nursery runs from a purpose built single storey unit and is within walking distance of Chelmsford city centre and railway station. All children have access to a secure outdoor play area.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open five days a week, all year round, with the exception of bank holidays. Opening times are from 7.30am to 6.30pm on Monday and Friday and 7am to 6.30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. An out of school club is also provided. This is open each weekday after school until 6.30pm during term time and for nursery opening times during school holidays. A member of nursery staff accompanies a taxi service to collect children from local schools. The nursery supports a small number of children, who have special needs and/or disabilities and those, who speak English as an additional language. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 174 children on roll, of whom 168 are in the early years age range.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 32 members of staff, of whom 28 hold appropriate early years qualifications. Three staff members are currently working towards a relevant qualification and several are in the process of extending their professional qualifications. The nursery receives support from the local authority.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 enhance the already very good monitoring of teaching and learning for different groups of children by continuing to research and implement activities, which will further support boys' excellent progress.

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who attend

Learning opportunities for children are of a consistently high standard in all areas of the nursery. Each room is carefully designed, so that different ages of children access activities, which help them to make excellent progress towards the early learning goals. Staff know what to provide because they have an excellent understanding of child development. They use this to carefully observe what children can do, allowing them to make a precise assessment of each child's stage of development. As a result, children enjoy a wide variety of stimulating and imaginative activities, which are planned by staff to meet their individual learning needs.

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who attend

Staff focus on helping children to develop key skills, which will help them to enjoy learning as they get older and eventually start school. Communication skills are given a high priority. Staff talk to children at all times, showing great delight as they encourage a baby's babbling or ask an older child to describe the worm they have found in the soil. Speaking and listening skills are also developed as staff use puppets and props to bring stories and traditional tales to life, getting children involved in storytelling. Children, who speak English as an additional language are very well supported in developing early English skills as staff use an electronic tool to translate key phrases into numerous world languages. As a result, staff and children can communicate effectively, quickly forming a strong bond through which English can be learnt and used confidently. Excellent opportunities are provided for children to develop their physical skills. Children balance,

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who attend

crawl, run and roll to develop their coordination or access small equipment, such as, brushes, scissors and crayons to develop fine control skills. They demonstrate excellent personal skills as they confidently take themselves to the toilet or sensitively comfort an upset friend. Dolls are used to help children talk about their own emotions or to focus on how others may be feeling in various common situations, such as the loss of a pet. Staff are also very sensitive in taking learning at a child's pace, helping them to build confidence as they do. For example, for a child, who is reluctant to put their hand in paint, staff very gently encourage them by suggesting one finger first and telling them it is fine if they want to wash it straight off.

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who attend

Children are fully engaged in their play and are enthusiastic as they talk about what they are doing. They talk with wonder as they describe the tiny snails, which they previously found in the garden and are keen to share what they noticed about them. They make links between what they are doing and the world around them, for example, by noticing that they have made green paint, the colour of the leaves outside. Children of all ages become engrossed in one activity for appropriate lengths of time. This might be a baby moving sand from one hand to another or an older child carefully building a tall tower using construction blocks. Children learn that there need not be any barriers to their learning. For example, when they decide it is too cold to play in the mud kitchen outdoors, staff help them to bring the mud and resources inside, so they can continue their play.

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who attend

Highly successful links with parents further enhance children's learning. Parents are encouraged to share any learning, which has happened at home, helping staff to gain an even clearer picture of a child's stage of development, in order to plan future learning. Furthermore, parents are regularly provided with suggestions for activities at home, which are personalised to the needs of individual children. Children with special needs and/or disabilities receive appropriate and well-targeted support. Staff attend training to ensure that their knowledge and understanding of particular special needs and/or disabilities is up to date and work with external professionals to implement specialist guidance. Parents are fully involved in developing support strategies, so that children experience the reassurance of continuity between nursery and home.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children form extremely secure bonds with their key member of staff. The key person system is very carefully developed to provide babies with one significant adult, who carries out all of their main care tasks, such as nappy changes and feeding. This provides children with a strong sense of security and allows them to explore and learn with confidence. Settling-in is carefully planned as staff work extremely closely with parents to ensure that children feel secure. As children get older, moving into a different room of the nursery is also extremely well managed. Children's emotional needs and the views of parents are taken into account before moving a child. They are given sufficient time to settle into the new room and this is supported by their key person for as long as needed. As a result, children manage change confidently and quickly become fully engaged in purposeful play and learning. A transitions coordinator is in place to support staff in this process, as well

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

as ensuring that older children are extremely well prepared for school. As well as visiting schools and welcoming teachers to the nursery, staff also prepare photograph albums of the children's new classrooms and borrow school uniform to use in role play. This helps children to become familiar with the school environment, as well as giving them the opportunity to talk and be reassured about any worries they may have.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children behave extremely well. Older children manage their interactions well, automatically asking, using 'please' and 'thank you' with friends and adults. They enjoy working together, for example, to make a mud pie and spontaneously complement each other on their art work. Adults are excellent role models and use situations, such as a family-style lunch time, to encourage children to listen to others and show respect for their thoughts and ideas.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children are fully engaged in learning how to keep themselves safe and healthy. Staff encourage them to think about strength and fitness as they complete the obstacle course outdoors or sing and dance during 'Wake and shake' sessions to prepare themselves for a busy day. Regular cooking provides children with the opportunity to discuss different food groups and the nutrients, which they provide. Children also learn what to eat in moderation and discuss food allergies as part of the nursery ethos of recognising each child as a unique individual. Children's safety is promoted as they learn how to hold and use scissors safely and discuss road safety in preparation for local trips.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The learning environment fully promotes children's learning and independence. Furniture and storage units are appropriate to the ages of children using them. For example, babies can help themselves from baskets on the floor, while older children open drawers to get what they want. Children's interests are clearly reflected throughout the nursery. For example, older children and adults have worked together to turn the role play area into a garage, following a child's interest in cars and fixing things. All children have daily access to the highly stimulating garden, with most children enjoying unrestricted access throughout the day. Very good use is also made of the local area, as children visit the post office, shops and theatre to further enhance their learning opportunities.

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provision

Staff strive to achieve the highest standards in all areas of the nursery. A rigorous system of monitoring is in place to ensure continuous improvement. Senior managers regularly monitor the performance of individual staff, as well as the quality of children's learning. This ensures that any weaknesses can be identified and addressed at an early stage, but also gives staff positive feedback on their strengths, in order to motivate and inspire them further. Throughout the year, all staff are involved in monitoring and reflecting upon the performance of their colleagues. This encourages them to take responsibility for the quality of children's play and learning opportunities as they reflect upon their own good practice and that of others. A rigorous staff supervision system is in place, which ensures that any persistent underperformance is quickly addressed through additional mentoring and training. Educational programmes are also carefully monitored, both for individuals

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provision

and groups of children. For example, recent monitoring has revealed that boys are making less progress in some areas of learning than girls. As a result of this, staff are in the process of developing activity plans and the learning environment to ensure boys make consistently excellent progress in all areas of learning. As part of a larger nursery chain, staff enjoy the benefit of personalised training opportunities and regular, external monitoring from the head-office quality team.

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provision

The implementation of the safeguarding and welfare requirements, including recruitment procedures, is exemplary. Safety and security around the nursery is given an extremely high priority, with all members of staff expected to take responsibility for protecting children and acting on their concerns. Daily and ongoing risk assessments take place. These, along with accident records are regularly monitored by the management team to ensure that any potential hazards can be quickly identified and removed. All staff have an excellent understanding of safeguarding procedures. All have completed training in this and are regularly reminded through staff meetings and a prominent display in the staff room.

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provision

Parents' views are actively sought and acted upon. Their comments are displayed on the 'You said, we did' board, highlighting ways in which the nursery have improved in response to recent questionnaires. For example, more information is provided on children's daily activities and monthly newsletters are being used to help parents get to know staff better. Parents enthusiastically express extremely positive views about the nursery. They comment that their children are making excellent progress and are well prepared for school. Parents feel that staff are very approachable and they have formed strong bonds with their child's key person, which has helped to keep them very well informed about children's learning and how to support this at home. Staff also work extremely well with other professionals, such as speech and language therapists and local children's centre staff to identify children's needs and work together to support them in

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 650090 Local authority Essex Inspection number 910357

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 99 Number of children on roll 174 Name of provider Busy Bees Day Nurseries (Trading) Limited Date of previous inspection 09/05/2011 Telephone number 01245 346 324

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Type of provision

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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