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Early years · Report card

Busy Bees Day Nursery at Eastbourne

Inspected 21 Aug 2026 · URN 508972

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Summary

No overall grade in this frameworkSafeguarding met

Liz Caluori

What we read, and from where

Click a reading to see it highlighted in the report.

  • Achievement verified

    Strong standard

  • Behaviour, attitudes and routines verified

    Strong standard

  • Children's welfare and wellbeing verified

    Strong standard

  • Curriculum and teaching verified

    Strong standard

  • Inclusion verified

    Strong standard

  • Leadership and governance verified

    Strong standard

  • Framework verified

    Report card

  • Group verified

    Busy Bees Nurseries Limited

  • Inspection datesingle source

    21 Aug 2026

  • Inspectors verified

    Liz Caluori

  • Postcode verified

    BN23 8BS

  • Name on report verified

    Busy Bees Day Nursery at Eastbourne

  • Safeguarding verified

    Met

  • URN verified

    508972

Page 1 of 8
Page 1 of the report

Deep dive

What this report says

In plain English

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Grade profile

Each judgement on its scale, weakest to strongest.

  • AchievementStrong
  • Behaviour, attitudes and routinesStrong
  • Children's welfare and wellbeingStrong
  • Curriculum and teachingStrong
  • InclusionStrong
  • Leadership and governanceStrong

Tone of the report

How positive or critical the inspectors' language is, from the words they chose. No AI involved.

+80Very positivemore positive than 65% of reports of this type

In line with other reports of this type.

Praiseextremelypositiveeffectiveconfidentlyexcellenthighly effectiveclearsuccessfully
Criticismconcernsdisruptionlimited

How the report reads, start to finish

Every paragraph in order, sized by length. Tap one to see it on the page.

FindingsSafeguardingAbout the inspectionLeadershipWhat needs to improve positive critical
  • Findings1029w+86
  • Leadership231w+67
  • Safeguarding51w−11
  • What needs to improve30w+33

Strengths

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Concerns

Quoted from the report. Tap to see it on the page.

No strong criticism found.

Next steps

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What the report dwells on

Topics by how often they come up, coloured by how they are described. Open one for an example.

Anatomy of the report

How the report is built, against others of the same type and grade.

Pages
8
Words of findings
1,341
shorter than usual (typical 1698)
Reading level
Hard
Flesch 39, typical 43
Average sentence
18 words
Next steps
1
typical 3
Hedged sentences
3%
“some”, “not always”, “most”…

Where the words go

Findings 54%Leadership 12%Safeguarding 3%What needs to improve 2%About the inspection 30%

Full report text

Busy Bees Day Nursery at Eastbourne

Unique reference number (URN): 508972 Address: Larkspur Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 8BS Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 16/06/2000 Registers: EYR Registered person: Busy Bees Nurseries Limited

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Achievement Strong standard

All children progress extremely well in their learning and development. The achievements of those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or other barriers to their learning, are particularly noteworthy.

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Achievement Strong standard

The youngest children very confidently explore their environment, honing their physical coordination as they become increasingly mobile. They understand and practise clear and simple vocabulary and love to look at familiar books with staff. Older children speak confidently and expressively. They use their broad language skills to engage in animated conversations and to share their opinions.

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Achievement Strong standard

The oldest children demonstrate mature social skills and are enthusiastic, independent learners. They use knowledge and skills that they have gained over time to engage in elaborate games with their friends and to join in with adult-led activities. By the time children are preparing to move on in their education, they have the confidence, emotional resilience, practical skills and knowledge they need.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The day flows seamlessly for all children as staff sensitively organise routines to minimise disruption and to promote their wellbeing. Babies' individual care needs, such as sleep and mealtimes, are fully understood and respected. Leaders and staff also ensure that routines are appropriate and inclusive for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Staff provide clear and consistent guidance that successfully supports children to understand how to behave. The atmosphere within the nursery is extremely friendly and harmonious. Staff are consistently warm and caring in their interactions. Children form positive bonds with staff and develop meaningful friendships.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Throughout the nursery, children of all ages develop very positive attitudes to learning. In addition to a broad range of interesting adult-led activities, children learn through exploration and discovery. For example, children become excited as they mix paints together and create different colours.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders have effective arrangements to monitor children's attendance and follow up promptly if children do not arrive for scheduled sessions. They go to great lengths to support families and provide consistency, helping to ensure that children benefit from the full curriculum.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders use their comprehensive knowledge of each child to prioritise their emotional and physical wellbeing. This is particularly effective for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers to their learning. Staff monitor the nursery to ensure that the learning environment is safe, making adaptations when necessary. For example, changes to the layout of the outdoor space have given children greater freedom to play independently while constantly within sight and hearing of staff.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Staff follow safe sleep practices, ensuring that children have cots or mattress appropriate for their ages. Children are supervised closely and staff ensure that they are able to sleep for as long as they want or need.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders and staff promote children's health extremely well. Children spend a great deal of time outdoors, where they benefit from fresh air and plenty of opportunities to relax. Staff also ensure that children regularly engage in active play each day, indoors and outside. Snacks and meals are prepared on site, and these are healthy and appetising. The menu reflects the varied dietary needs of children. There are robust systems to ensure that children do not eat anything that is not suitable for them.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders have created a clear and ambitious curriculum that is understood and implemented well in all rooms. Leaders provide staff with a structure that supports them to plan and adapt activities to precisely reflect the interests and learning needs of all children taking part. Leaders and staff fully recognise the importance of providing children with time and opportunities to consolidate their learning and embed new skills.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Staff are confident, effective teachers. They consistently recognise when to stand back and allow children to learn through discovery, and when to step in to build on children's interests to extend their learning. At any one time, children are engrossed in a vast variety of activities and games, indoors and out. While some engage in games with rules with staff, others look at books, build with construction bricks or use their imaginations as they enjoy role-play games.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Adult-led activities throughout the nursery very successfully capture children's interests. For example, older children listen intently to activities aimed at teaching them about famous artists, including painters and musicians. Staff ignite children's fascination as they encourage them to consider the colour palettes and individual styles of different artists such as Lowry. Children confidently use the resources, including models of buildings and pictures of stick men, as inspiration as they create their own unique artwork.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders are very attuned to the needs of the local community and the issues that may place some children at a disadvantage. There is a clear and highly successful focus on identifying precisely how to support individual children and their families. This is achieved through extremely effective communication and ongoing observation and assessment. Leaders and staff provide very practical help for families, as well as emotional support, which ultimately promotes children's achievement and wellbeing. For example, leaders have created a well- used 'drop and swap' scheme for parents to donate and take items such as clothing and toys. The provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is very skilfully coordinated. Staff work in partnership with parents and other relevant professionals to provide children with the individualised support they need. The carefully sequenced support that staff provide results in children with SEND achieving beyond the expectations

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Inclusion Strong standard

of parents and other professionals. Staff in each room sensitively adapt activities so that all children can take part. They understand the subtle indicators that individual children may benefit from intervention and are alert to these as children play and join in group activities.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders in the nursery work closely with key staff from the wider organisation to constantly evaluate and improve the quality of the provision. For example, they are implementing plans to place a greater focus on outdoor learning to broaden the experiences available to children.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders appreciate and nurture staff, recognising their expertise and providing mentoring and training to continually enhance their skills and knowledge. Staff benefit from regular supervision meetings where they share their ideas, raise any concerns and identify training they would like to attend. Staff are highly motivated and positive. The excellent teamwork and communication results in efficient and highly effective working practices.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Partnership working with the local community and the families of children that attend is a key strength. Initiatives, such as collecting for food banks, support local residents while also encouraging children to develop positive attitudes to helping others. Space is set aside in the nursery to act as a 'community hub'. Parents have space to sit and talk, or to benefit from the vast array of useful written information and displays. Parents praise the kindness of leaders and staff and appreciate the effective communication. They feel well informed about the day-to-day life of the nursery as well as their child's progress and future learning goals. Feedback from parents of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or who face other barriers to learning is incredibly positive.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those facing other barriers to their learning, have a wonderful time as they play and learn. They progress extremely well as they very enthusiastically take part in the broad and exciting range of activities on offer. Throughout the nursery, children eagerly explore the thoughtfully organised resources, play happily with their friends and engage in lively conversations.

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About this setting

Unique reference number (URN): 508972 There is a significant focus on promoting the emotional wellbeing of all children. The time and care taken to settle babies reaps significant rewards as they form strong and trusting bonds with the familiar staff. This successfully lays the foundation for their future learning. These youngest children benefit from a skilled mixture of targeted teaching and heartfelt encouragement as they develop their physical coordination and early language skills.

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About this setting

As children progress through the nursery, they develop increasing levels of independence and positive attitudes to learning. They gather excitedly for adult-led activities, confident that staff will have planned something enjoyable. For example, children have fun as they follow instructions to dip their index fingers in water and carefully make marks and shapes on different coloured paper. They proudly describe the shapes they have drawn and describe their 'long' and 'short' lines.

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About this setting

By the time children move on from the nursery, they are confident, articulate and emotionally ready. The skills and knowledge they have gained over time prepare them extremely well for moving on in their education, including going to school.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure continued improvement in the setting's successful work to remove barriers for children who need extra help to realise a transformational impact on all children's achievement and wellbeing.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders and staff, including the special educational needs coordinator, during the inspection.

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About this inspection

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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Address:

Larkspur Drive Eastbourne East Sussex BN23 8BS

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Busy Bees Nurseries Limited

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Urgent improvement

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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