Busy Bees Day Nursery at Mardley Hill

Busy Bees at Mardley Hill 1 Mardley Hill, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, AL6 0UE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/10/2014 27/01/2009

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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

 The quality of teaching is exceptional. Practitioners plan exciting, imaginative experiences and, as a result, all children make rapid progress in their learning and development. Consequently, they are exceptionally well prepared for future learning in school.  Practitioners listen to children's views consistently and encourage them to follow their interests. Every child is valued and made to feel important. Consequently, children are confident and motivated learners.  Practitioners' safeguarding knowledge is robust. Strict guidelines are also in place to ensure that children are protected from the inappropriate use of technology. Children's welfare is paramount and, therefore, they are kept safe at all times.  Partnerships with parents are excellent. Practitioners have built strong, trusting relationships with the parents and communication between them is continuous. This ensures that children's individual needs are met exceedingly well at all times.

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This provision is outstanding

 Practitioners are highly skilled communicators. They promote children's communication and language development consistently through purposeful conversations, reading stories and singing songs.  The manager has high expectations of all practitioners. They attend regular training courses to build upon their knowledge and, consequently, children benefit from first- class teaching and care.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector had a tour of the nursery.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children playing in both the indoor and outdoor learning environments and during mealtimes.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector held a meeting with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of the suitability, qualifications and training of practitioners in the nursery.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector read the nursery's self-evaluation form and a range of policies and procedures.  The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning documents.  The inspector spoke to parents and has taken account of their views.

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Information about the setting

Busy Bees at Mardley Hill was registered in 1996 on the Early Years Register. It is situated in a converted house in Welwyn and is managed by Busy Bees Holdings Ltd. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from three rooms and there is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery employs 18 members of childcare staff. Of these, nine hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and two members of the management team hold qualifications at level 4. 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 70 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four- year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 enhance the already excellent teaching by extending opportunities for children to learn about the world that they live in, for example, by inviting professionals into the nursery.

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who attend

Children are highly motivated and inspired to learn. Practitioners have a secure understanding of the learning and development requirements and expert knowledge of how children learn. The quality of teaching is exceptional. The learning environments have a wealth of resources and practitioners plan exciting and imaginative experiences for children based on their emerging interests. For example, children in the toddler room enjoy an activity to develop their understanding of colours. Practitioners make large marbles out of ice and different coloured food dyes. They add other resources to the activity including sand, shells and animals that live in cold environments. Children are encouraged to feel the marbles and identify whether they are hot or cold. The practitioner talks to the children about the colours they can see and the different textures that they can feel. She introduces new words, such as 'smooth', 'crinkly' and 'melt', and asks the

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who attend

children open-ended questions. As a result, children's vocabulary and critical thinking is significantly extended. The practitioner talks to the children about the size of the various marbles and discusses how they are big and small. This actively contributes to promoting children's mathematical knowledge. Practitioners' skilful interactions with children significantly enhance their learning and development. They are extremely enthusiastic during activities, which keeps children engaged for long periods of time. Practitioners are highly skilled communicators. They engage in purposeful conversations with older children and make use of songs, stories and include a running commentary for daily activities to promote children's communication and language development. Children in the baby room enjoy playing with the soft animals and practitioners sing nursery rhymes to them. They use musical instruments to explore the different sounds and make

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who attend

their own music. Practitioners support children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are learning to speak English as an additional language. They ensure that they are fully integrated with their peers and their individual needs are met exceedingly well at all times. Practitioners use alternative ways of communicating with children, for example, sign language and using flash cards, and they encourage children to do the same. This enables children to communicate with them depending on their abilities and provides them the opportunity to share their opinions. Practitioners use group games, such as 'silly soup' to develop older children's literacy knowledge. Children are asked to name items in a box, all of which start with the letter 'c'. Children are given the opportunity to share their thoughts during the game and the practitioner takes the time to listen. Children are exceptionally well-prepared for future learning in school.

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who attend

Practitioners have exceptional partnerships with parents. During the settling-in period they communicate with parents to assess children's starting points in their learning and development. This information is collated with observations that practitioners make and ensures that they have expert knowledge of children's abilities. Parents are regularly given ideas for activities to do at home and practitioners encourage them to share observations of children's learning from outside of nursery with them. This enables practitioners to have an inclusive overview of children's learning and development. Consequently, they are able to plan sharply focused experiences based on children's emerging interests and individual needs. Children's learning journey documents are stored at the children's level and they are able to access them independently. This allows children to look at the photographs and recall past events. Assessments are evaluated against approved child development

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who attend

guidance documents and are very detailed. As a result, practitioners are able to quickly identify if they have any concerns regarding children's learning and development so that the appropriate support or intervention can be provided. Children make rapid progress from their starting points towards the early learning goals.

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

Children are extremely happy in the nursery and enjoy their time there. Practitioners are very caring and empathetic towards children's individual needs. Children have strong attachments with their key people and, as a result, they feel safe and secure. Each practitioner has a learning journey document full of photographs of their family, which children like to look at. This helps children to familiarise themselves with practitioners and get to know them. Children actively seek the adults to join in their play and are keen to show them what they are doing. Practitioners warmly praise children for their achievements, which raises their self-esteem. They take the time to listen to children's thoughts and opinions. Consequently, this makes children feel valued and important. Practitioners communicate very effectively with parents about children's care needs. They follow children's routines from home and ensure that they work very closely with parents

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

to promote children's well-being at all times. Practitioners support children exceptionally well during changes in their lives, for example, the transition from nursery to school. The Early Years Foundation Stage teachers and head teachers, from schools that children will attend, visit the nursery to meet them and their parents. The schools also provide uniform for the children to wear in their imaginative play. This helps to familiarise children with the school and the people who are going to be there. Practitioners plan activities to teach children important skills that they will need, for example, learning how to change their own shoes and clothes, which helps to build children's confidence. Practitioners use special dolls during discussions about going to school to make children feel at ease and answer any questions or concerns they have. Consequently, children's emotional well-being is supported very effectively at all times. Practitioners encourage children to develop their

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

independent skills at appropriate times. For example, they learn to put their own shoes and coats on when going outside. Children pour their own drinks and they help to prepare certain snacks and meals, such as their own sandwiches. This helps to support children to have a go and try to do things for themselves. Children are very confident, motivated learners and this solid foundation enables them to be emotionally well-prepared for their next stage of learning in school.

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

Practitioners are excellent roles models for children's behaviour. They speak to each other respectfully and listen to what others have to say. They smile at the children and each other. As a result, children learn how to communicate with others. Practitioners support children to play cooperatively with their peers by encouraging them to share with each other. Children are encouraged to develop their social skills during mealtimes and practitioners talk to them about what they have enjoyed doing at nursery that day. Children know that they must say please and thank you and practitioners remind them if they forget. Practitioners reinforce positive behaviour consistently and have high expectations of children. Consequently, children learn what is expected of them and their behaviour is exemplary. Children develop a very good awareness of how to use equipment safely and take risks in their play. Pre-school children learn to walk up and down the stairs

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

correctly. Practitioners plan activities for children to complete their own risk assessments. For example, practitioners give children a picture check list and they have to mark things that have been made safe. This includes making sure the gate in the garden is locked and that there is no water near the computers. During cooking activities, children use knives to cut up different foods, such as potatoes to make wedges. They begin to manage their own safety by minimising hazards and learning to use tools correctly.

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

Practitioners are actively involved in developing children's understanding of how to be healthy. They encourage children to have regular drinks of water throughout the day, including after physical exercise. Children learn that this has an effect on their body and that they should have a drink. The on-site chef prepares an excellent range of nutritious meals and snacks for the children using fresh produce delivered to the nursery several times a week. She also helps children to grow fruits and vegetables in the nursery's 'grow your own' patch. The menu is varied and does not always include a pudding. For example, children enjoy a starter of pitta bread with homemade guacamole and a main course of vegetarian chilli with rice for lunch. Children learn that dessert is not an essential part of a meal and, as a result, they enjoy a healthy diet. Children have plenty of opportunities to play outside in the fresh air. The nursery garden is excellently well resourced and children

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

have access to a range of equipment to use for exercise. Practitioners teach children about good hygiene practices, including how to wash their hands correctly with soap and water. They set a positive example by washing their hands after helping to wipe children's noses. This demonstrates practitioners' ability to be excellent role models for children.

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provision

The management team have a thorough understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and they ensure that the legal requirements are consistently met to a high standard. Practitioners' safeguarding knowledge is robust and children's welfare is paramount. The whole nursery team, including the chef, are required to attend yearly safeguarding refresher training to ensure that they have up-to-date knowledge of current child protection issues. Practitioners are fully aware of the signs and symptoms of abuse and who they should report their concerns to. Practitioners follow strict guidelines regarding the use of mobile phones, social networking and the internet, to ensure that children are kept safe from the inappropriate use of technology. Over half of the practitioners in the nursery hold an up-to-date first-aid qualification and they are appropriately deployed to ensure that accidents are responded to immediately.

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provision

Practitioners supervise children extremely well, which minimises the risk of accidents. Consequently, children's safety and welfare is well protected at all times.

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provision

Practitioners are highly motivated and dedicated to continuously improve the quality of teaching and care. They are extremely reflective and support each other to develop experiences for children, for example, by sharing ideas of excellent practice. The manager has exceedingly high expectations of all practitioners and encourages them to attend regular training sessions to build upon their already superior knowledge. Both the manager and training mentor successfully identify training that will enhance practitioner's teaching and benefit children's learning, development and care. For example, one practitioner recently attended a course on interacting with children aged three to five years. She then cascaded the information to her colleagues in a team meeting, which supports all practitioners to provide teaching and care to a high standard. The manager has highly successful monitoring systems in place, for both staff performance and

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provision

assessing children's progress. She ensures that the quality of teaching and care is consistently first class by observing practitioners and having regular supervision meetings with them. The manager guarantees that children make excellent progress in their learning and development by identifying any gaps and providing additional support. For example, she shares ideas, arranges further training and buys more resources. Consequently, children's individual needs are met exceptionally well.

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provision

Practitioners have highly effective partnerships with other professionals, in order to support children's learning and development. They ensure that the outstanding teaching and care that is in place is shared so that it can complement the activities that are provided by other professionals. Since the last inspection, practitioners have improved the outdoor learning environment and ensure that it is full of rich, varied and interesting experiences for children at all times. The management team invites all practitioners, parents and children to be involved in the self-evaluation process. Everyone's views and opinions are valued. Practitioners have recently identified that they would like to extend opportunities to enhance children's learning about the world that they live in by inviting professionals, such as doctors and vets, into the nursery to teach children about their occupations. Managers meet regularly with the parent partnership group, made up of

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provision

current parents, where they discuss what the nursery team's strengths are and how they can improve. Consequently, partnerships with parents are exemplary. Parents say that their children are 'in safe hands' at nursery and that the practitioners 'are investing' in their children. Parents express that they cannot thank practitioners enough for the care they provide and they happily recommend the nursery to their friends and family.

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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 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. We re-inspect nurseries and pre-schools judged as requires improvement within 12 months of the date of inspection. 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

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Grade Judgement Description

is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. 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 148131 Local authority Hertfordshire Inspection number 854238

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 46 Number of children on roll 70 Name of provider Busy Bees Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 27/01/2009 Telephone number 01438 840138

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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

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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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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