Busy Bees Day Nursery at Shenley

Busy Bees Day Nursery at Shenley 22 Andrew Close, Shenley, Radlett, Hertfordshire, WD7 9LP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 15/04/2013 26/05/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Babies and children are confident to explore and participate in new activities because they are sensitively guided by staff. This builds their motivation and develops positive attitudes to learning.  Children take part in a variety of exciting and meaningful experiences in the forest garden. These activities develop children's curiosity and desire to investigate.  Parents are actively involved in supporting their children's learning in many different ways. This creates a positive partnership with parents and supports children's continuity in learning.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Sometimes children are not grouped appropriately and this affects their capacity to fully engage and participate in activities.  Staff do not consistently use enough open questions to challenge children's capacity to think more critically.

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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 the four main rooms and in the garden.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector made a joint observation with the manager of an activity for pre- school children in the forest garden.  The inspector held discussions with the management team.  The inspector examined evidence of staff suitability and qualifications.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector examined some policies and documentation relating to health and safety.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at planning and assessment documents and children's learning records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of parents and carers spoken to on the day and their written comments.

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Information about the setting

Busy Bees Day Nursery at Shenley was registered in 2005 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in the village of Shenley, near Radlett in Hertfordshire, and is managed by the Busy Bees nursery chain. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from purpose built premises on one level and there is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 16 members of childcare staff. Of these, 13 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and three at level 2. The manager is qualified to level 5 and one other member of staff has an early years degree.

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Information about the setting

The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6.30pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 95 children attending who are within the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language.

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

 review the organisation in the pre-school to ensure that children are grouped appropriately and activities and routines support each child's full engagement and participation

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

 extend the use of carefully structured questions, such as, 'What else is possible?' or 'What do you think will happen if?' to encourage children to think more critically.

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who attend

Children across the nursery benefit from a well-resourced environment and stimulating activities and opportunities for learning. This encourages them to explore their surroundings and confidently use and select resources. The quality of teaching is good overall. The staff successfully engage young children in sensory play by demonstrating how to make marks with their fingers in sticky cornflour gloop and using appropriate words to describe its texture and appearance. This helps to develop children's natural curiosity and sustain their interest and engagement in new experiences. Children are motivated to look at books because the book corners are made into cosy, inviting spaces which the children use. Staff build on children's interests by sitting with them to talk about the pictures in their favourite stories and ask questions that encourage their listening, speaking and understanding. During a painting activity, children cooperate together and

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who attend

concentrate well as they decorate large cardboard boxes to use as bricks in their construction area. The staff sensitively guide children to explore the different media and tools as they wish, without imposing their own pre-conceived ideas on the task. This allows children to take control of and find their own ways of doing things. As a result, children gain greater satisfaction as they achieve what they set out to do.

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who attend

There are good opportunities for older children to explore the natural world in the forest garden area. Staff encourage them to listen for different sounds, such as, traffic noise and bird song, and to record what they hear in their notepads. They play games of 'I spy' to build children's awareness of phonics and go on a bug hunt where they find snails, ants and worms hiding under logs and in the soil. Children are excited and keen to talk about what they find but staff do not use every opportunity to extend their thinking and knowledge further through the use of well-structured, open questions. This means children are not fully challenged in their learning at times.

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who attend

The educational programme has breadth and depth to ensure that all children make good progress across all areas of learning and prepare them for their future learning in school. Arrangements for observing, assessing and planning for children's individual needs are effective. The staff have a good knowledge of each child's needs and strive to engage parents and carers in supporting their child's learning. For example, parents are encouraged to share news from home in 'weekend books' which staff take account of when planning suitable activities for the children. Likewise, the staff provide parents with ideas for specific activities to do with their children at home based on their observations of what children enjoy in the nursery. Parents are encouraged to help make 'chatterboxes' for their children. These boxes contain photographs and favourite items from home that staff use with children to build confidence in speaking. Such activities are also valuable in

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who attend

supporting children that speak English as an additional language. Other resources, such as, books and signs in children's home languages, are readily available and used to support the language development of these children.

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

Children's transitions are supported sensitively as they enter and move through the nursery. Babies and new children settle well because there are opportunities for them to gradually get used to new surroundings and carers. This helps children to develop strong attachments and secure relationships with their key person and other familiar adults. 'Settle visits' with their key person help to emotionally and socially prepare children for making new relationships as they move between rooms. Children show their confidence on these visits as they are keen to explore new activities with the security of a familiar adult alongside them.

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

Parents provide comprehensive information about their children which is used to build an accurate picture of each child's personal care needs. There is effective communication between key persons and parents, both verbally and written, which enables staff to adapt care practices and routines to children's changing needs. Developmental issues, such as, toilet training, are fully discussed and agreed with parents to make the process as smooth as possible. The staff help children to develop early independence by encouraging them to do things for themselves. For example, very young children are proficient in using spoons to feed themselves and indicate when they have finished by handing their plate to an adult. Older children take turns to be the helper at mealtimes. They enjoy the responsibility of doing tasks for others and appear self-confident and self-assured. Young babies are cuddled while having milk feeds to help them feel emotionally secure.

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

Children's health is supported by eating a wide variety of nutritious foods and participating in activities to support their understanding of healthy eating and the impact of different foods on their bodies. Staff positively reinforce the importance of good hygiene by swiftly attending to children's runny noses and explaining to children the reason for thoroughly washing their hands at appropriate times.

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

All children have access to versatile outdoor areas for physical activity and exercise. They are keen to explore outside, using their developing physical skills in different ways. They learn to control bikes and to climb on apparatus. They use spades for digging in sand and soil, and transfer full watering cans across to the planting area in order to water the seeds they have planted. Staff remind children how to use equipment safely and as they get older they are given additional responsibility of helping the staff make risk assessments of the forest garden, which helps children become aware of potential risks and how to avoid them.

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provision

The inspection took place following notification from the provider of an outbreak of an infectious illness. The inspection found that the provider had complied with their legal duties by informing and taking advice from the environmental health department. All staff are fully aware of their duties in minimising the further spread of infection and follow the recommendations given to ensure good hygiene is maintained and the environment and resources are appropriately sanitised. The provider carried out a full review of its procedures and continues to liaise closely with parents to reinforce the importance of them informing the nursery when children are ill at home so that they can better monitor the extent of the outbreak and prevent further cases.

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provision

Arrangements for safeguarding children are robust. Management and staff demonstrate a secure knowledge and understanding of safeguarding issues. They promptly implement their procedures in the event of all incidents, concerns pertaining to children's safety or allegations against staff and they work in close partnership with the appropriate authorities. Records of any incidents are maintained and a full review of procedures and practice is carried out and action taken, when necessary.

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provision

There is a well-established company programme for the recruitment, induction and professional development of staff. This helps ensure all staff have the appropriate knowledge and skills to carry out their duties and meet the needs of the children. The management closely observes and monitors the quality of staff practice in order to swiftly tackle any under-performance and put in place a programme of support. For example, they have identified in some cases a need for some additional training in behaviour management to complement training already received and have action plans in place to achieve this. Staff are deployed well and children are grouped appropriately for the majority of time so that routines run smoothly and children remain safe and well occupied. However, a recent increase in numbers to the pre-school room means that for short periods at the beginning of the day and at mealtimes, there are too many children

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provision

spanning a wide age range all grouped together. This leads to increased noise levels and a few of the oldest children being less engaged and challenged at times.

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provision

Self-evaluation is based on careful monitoring of all areas of practice. Individual staff take responsibility for developing their rooms based on their observations of what children enjoy. Through this process they identify additional resources and plan ideas, such as further enhancing opportunities for outdoor learning. The manager and head office team use rigorous systems to monitor and track children's progress in learning, from which they analyse trends that emerge across different age groups. Therefore, any review of planning is based on accurate data and is well targeted to bring about improvement. Parents are widely encouraged to contribute to self-evaluation by sharing their views and making suggestions. The nursery manager works in partnership with the local authority advisors to further audit practice and identify areas for development. This means there is a good capacity to maintain continuous improvement. The nursery develops professional

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provision

partnerships with other agencies, as required, to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and invites visits from school teachers to support a smooth transition to school.

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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 EY307712 Local authority Hertfordshire Inspection number 913180

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 110 Number of children on roll 95 Name of provider Busy Bees Day Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 26/05/2009 Telephone number 01923 857585

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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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