Honey Bees Nursery

Inspection of Honey Bees Nursery Hitcham Village Hall, The Causeway, Hitcham, Ipswich, Suffolk IP7 7NE

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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The provision requires improvement

Staff welcome children with a smile as they enter the nursery. Children confidently wave goodbye to their parents, which shows they feel safe and comfortable in their environment. Children develop skills to support their independence. For instance, they hang up their belongings on their named peg, before finding their written name to self-register their arrival. This also supports children's sense of belonging, in addition to circle time, where staff help children learn each other's names.

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The provision requires improvement

Children benefit from focused group activities and have some positive learning experiences, which helps prepare them for starting school. However, children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not benefit from a consistently well-planned and successfully implemented curriculum. Staff do not plan well enough to challenge children's learning and build on what they already know and can do. Although children enjoy making choices in their play and have fun, their learning is mostly incidental.

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The provision requires improvement

Sometimes, children's behaviour shows that they need extra support to help them manage their emotions and behaviour. Managers do not provide adequate support to ensure that staff understand how to manage children's behaviour effectively. Despite this, older children demonstrate they are beginning to accept the needs of others, when solving a dispute over a popular toy themselves.

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need to do better?

n The quality of education across the nursery is not consistently good. The monitoring of staff's practice is not robust enough to help them develop the knowledge they need to become skilful practitioners. This means children do not always make the good progress they are capable of. n Children are creative and inquisitive learners. They show confidence in their abilities by testing out their ideas. For example, children build a tower of soft bricks at the bottom of the slide, before challenging themselves to try and knock them all down at once. However, staff do not make the most out of children's interests and natural curiosities during play, to support them to explore their ideas in greater depth and extend their learning. n While children happily dig in the sand, staff gently remind them to be careful that sand does not flick into their eyes. Children respond by slowing down their arm movements to reduce this risk. This shows that children are learning to play

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need to do better?

safely and know how to reduce potential risks to themselves and others. n The arrangements for supporting children with SEND are not consistently effective. Appropriate plans are not followed well enough to support children's care and learning. In addition, these plans are not regularly shared with parents and other agencies involved in the children's care, to ensure children with SEND

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need to do better?

24 March 2025 achieve their best possible outcomes. n Generally, staff encourage children to become independent. Older children competently wash their hands before eating and after visiting the toilet. Younger children are supported well by staff to carry out handwashing routines to the end, which increases their competence and understanding of good hygiene. n Healthy lifestyles are promoted with lots of physical play opportunities. Staff provide healthy snacks and children pour themselves a drink of water or milk. However, there are inconsistencies in how staff manage snack time. Because of this, children are not consistently learning what a balanced diet looks like and how this contributes to their overall health and fitness. n Staff do not implement the nursery's behaviour management policy effectively. As a result, those children who have difficulties in regulating their emotions are not supported well enough. This means their emotional needs are not

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need to do better?

consistently met and they do not learn appropriate ways to manage their feelings. n Managers are very reflective on their leadership and display a willingness to swiftly improve on their existing performance management system. Staff say that they enjoy working at the nursery and their well-being is supported.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

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Due date

improve arrangements for supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and ensure parents and/or carers are kept up to date with their child's progress and development 23/06/2025

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Due date

ensure staff implement the pre-school's behaviour policy to support and manage children's behaviour appropriately 23/06/2025

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Due date

24 March 2025 ensure all staff understand and implement a curriculum that clearly identifies the intentions for children's learning, so all children are offered appropriately challenging and engaging activities and experiences. 23/06/2025

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should:

n improve the monitoring of staff practice to develop their knowledge and understanding of how children learn so that all children benefit from consistently good-quality learning experiences n support staff to help children to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of eating well and how this contributes to their good health.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 251521 Local authority Suffolk Inspection number 10376117 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Day care type Sessional day care

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inspection

Total number of places 36 Number of children on roll 23 Name of registered person Scarfe, Sharon

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reference number

Telephone number 01449 740764 Date of previous inspection 17 May 2019

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Information about this early years setting

Honey Bees Nursery registered in 1995. The nursery employs seven members of childcare staff. Of these, six hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 or above. The nursery operates during school term times only. It opens from 8am until 3pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and from 8am to 1pm on Tuesday and Thursday. The nursery provides government funded early education for all eligible children.

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Inspection activities

n The manager and the inspector completed a tour of the nursery, both indoors and outdoors, to understand how the early years provision and curriculum are organised. Additionally, the manager showed the inspector the premises and discussed how they ensure they are safe and suitable. n The inspector observed the quality of teaching during activities indoors and outdoors and assessed the impact that this had on children's learning. n The inspector carried out a joint observation of group activities with the manager and also discussed self-evaluation. n The special educational needs coordinator spoke to the inspector about how they support children with SEND. n Children communicated with the inspector during the inspection. The inspector spoke with parents and carers during the inspection and took account of their views. n The inspector held a meeting with the manager and also discussed self- evaluation. The inspector looked at relevant documentation, such as evidence of

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Inspection activities

the suitability of the staff working in the nursery and a selection of other records.

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Inspection activities

We carried out this inspection 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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Inspection activities

24 March 2025 regulates and inspects to 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 and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, 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, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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