Busy Bees At Selly Oak

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy, enthusiastic and show a real desire to learn.

Staff provide nurturing, supportive care to each individual child. Children are happy and confident when entering the nursery. They follow their interests and are inquisitive in their play.

Staff create a stimulating, exciting and challenging environment for all children. Younger children develop skills of exploration and curiosity through a range of activities. Babies use musical instruments to shake, bang and explore sounds.

They dance as staff sing songs to them. Babies explore different textures in water play and sensory play. They feel feat...hers and explore bottles filled with different textures.

Children's communication and language is strong. Children discuss their experiences from home and use this in their imaginative play. They recreate food recipes they have tried at home from the countries they have visited.

Children role play with toy animals they have seen at the safari park. They discuss what meals the animals eat, creating pretend 'raw meat' from salt dough. Children make pancakes, discussing measurements of the ingredients.

They role play in a fire station, talking about using hoses to put out 'fires' in burning buildings and using oxygen tanks to help their friends. Older children make a positive improvement in their physical development. They engage in 'Commonwealth Games' outdoor play, by throwing bean bags into hoops.

Children balance along beams and tyres. They use cars to race their peers. Children use pipettes to squeeze paint and colour mix in science experiments.

They measure ingredients using tools to make a pretend volcano explode.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

Management provides strong leadership in a new staff team. They provide up to date and coherent training to all members of staff.

Staff are knowledgeable about early years education and embed this in their everyday practice. Leaders hold frequent meetings and supervisions to ensure staff well-being is a priority. Staff feel supported in their learning and progression.

A good key-person system allows staff to appreciate each unique child. They assess, observe and plan next steps for individual children effectively. Children make positive improvements in all areas of learning.

Children mostly engage in their activities. However, staff do not use consistent behaviour management strategies to support older children's understanding of right and wrong. At times, this impacts negatively on the emotional well-being of other children and disrupts their play.

Children learn to discuss an array of topics in an environment that extends their life experiences. Children 'camp' in their tent and talk about how torches work and how to build a campfire. They discuss their favourite movies in their role play movie theatre.

Children discuss having to pay for parking and how to use the popcorn or vending machines.Children discuss their celebrations at home, explaining to their peers how to use a prayer mat and tasbih beads. They show pride in showing their friends their mehndi (henna) designs, discussing their home cultures.

Staff provide an environment that supports their home languages also. They provide children with words from their home languages that support children's interests. Staff have a passion for incorporating all languages through songs and counting.

Staff use books to encourage a love of reading throughout the nursery. Babies explore pages, while older children discuss the story. Staff encourage all children to learn about their emotions through stories.

They talk about their feelings and how these impact on others. Children role play the story later in the day. Older children learn about parts of a book.

They discuss what the 'blurb', 'title' and 'spine' of a book are and their purpose.Children use a range of mathematical concepts throughout the day. They count how many sandcastles they have made.

Children measure 'ingredients' when making cakes in the kitchen. They use the language of size, weight and capacity. Children point out the numbers they see in their environment.

Parents are happy with the high-quality care their children receive. They have good, open verbal communication with staff based on respectful relationships. Parents get frequent updates about their children's progression through a daily interactive app.

Staff believe parent partnerships are an integral part of children's learning. Parents play a large roll by sharing experiences at home and by introducing their home cultures and home language into their children's play.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is an open safeguarding culture at this nursery. All staff understand their individual responsibilities to keep children safe. Staff carry out effective risk assessments to ensure no harm comes to the children in their care.

Leaders provide all staff with relevant and up-to-date training. Staff are alert to signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk of harm. Staff are aware of the procedures necessary in case of concern.

All staff have background checks to help ensure they are suitable to work with children. Children are all safe and secure, and staff provide high-quality care.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support staff to manage behaviour in a consistent way, so that expectations are clear across the whole nursery and all behaviour is managed effectively.