The Bees Knees Day Nursery & Pre School

Close relationships with babies and practical steps towards independence give The Bees Knees Day Nursery & Pre School its character. At its April 2024 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and recognised the targeted support provided for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The strongest detail is in the everyday work: helping children communicate, manage small tasks and become familiar with their next room.

Based in Cambrian Way, Highfield, Hemel Hempstead, the nursery has 60 places in total and accepts children aged 2 to 60 months. Honey Bees, Bumble Bees and Pre-School Busys organise the day around different stages of development. Families can book full days, mornings or afternoons, with both year-round and term-time attendance offered.

Rooms and Ages

Honey Bees caters for the youngest children, with its room band extending to two years; Bumble Bees serves children aged two to three through play, while Pre-School Busys covers three to five with an emphasis on preparation for primary school. Moving rooms is not tied rigidly to a birthday: the intended move from Honey Bees falls between two and two-and-a-half years, and from Bumble Bees between three and three-and-a-half. That gives families a useful distinction between a room's age label and the intended transition window.

In April 2024, room changes involved progressively longer periods in the next room, with practitioners sharing what each child enjoyed and the support they needed for learning. Familiarity came before the permanent move. For a child who depends on a familiar routine, that sequence matters as much as the destination room.

Learning and Activities

EYFS shapes the nursery's project work and planning: children learn through play, with activities organised to support their individual development. Each room's routine is accessible through the parent app as well as inside the nursery, and a displayed weekly plan explains the activities ahead. Parents therefore have a practical way to connect conversations at home with the nursery day.

In April 2024, language work took different forms across the ages. Babies copied animal sounds during a farm-themed activity, toddlers practised vocabulary through lively singing, and preschool children discussed objects and their starting sounds. These are concrete ways to introduce communication and early literacy through activities children can join in with.

A preschool activity using dough and buttons brought several kinds of learning together in April 2024. Children shaped the dough and heard words describing their actions; those ready for a further challenge counted buttons and grouped them by colour or size. The activity linked hand movements, language and early mathematical ideas, rather than treating them as separate exercises.

Independence also had a practical shape that April. Babies found their shoes, toddlers served their own drinks and used cutlery, and preschool children made snacks and tidied the eating equipment. Small responsibilities gave children opportunities to practise doing things for themselves. Preschool group discussions also explored rules and cooperation, connecting expectations to shared play.

Settling can begin with short separations of 10 minutes and lengthen gradually, with arrangements adapted to the child. A familiar comforter may come along too. This gives families a concrete starting point for the adjustment to nursery, rather than expecting every child to manage the same first session.

In April 2024, the key-person arrangement gave children a familiar adult, and babies responded to close interaction through smiles, laughter and looking towards practitioners. A named relationship matters here: care involves someone getting to know the child's responses, rather than simply moving through a timetable.

Additional support in April 2024 involved the special educational needs coordinator working with individual children and their key practitioners. Extra funding supported targeted activities and individual adult attention. The mechanism is useful for parents to understand: support was organised around the child and the adults already involved in their care.

Communication has practical routes. Parents can telephone during the day, while the app carries room routines and the weekly activity plan is displayed in the nursery. Security arrangements include CCTV, internal security doors and a barrier-controlled car park; a different collector must be authorised through the office and know the agreed password.

Illness rules also affect family planning. Children with an infectious illness must stay at home, and sickness or diarrhoea requires a 48-hour interval after recovery before returning. Absence must be reported to the nursery, so care arrangements and the day's attendance remain connected.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours run from 8am until 6pm, Monday to Friday. The booking choices are a full day from 8am to 6pm, a morning from 8am to 1pm, and afternoons running either from 1pm to 5pm or from 1pm to 6pm. The later afternoon finish gives families a different choice from booking the whole day.

Term-time sessions are offered, although families booking across the year receive priority. The nursery closes over Christmas and New Year and on bank holidays. Enquiries can be made by telephone or through the contact form, and the address is Cambrian Way, Highfield, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 5TD.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 15-hour and 30-hour weekly entitlements delivered over 38 weeks, on a term-time basis, subject to the relevant eligibility conditions. Additional paid attendance can sit alongside funded sessions. Meals, additional activities and consumables are charged separately from funded hours, so funding and the total childcare bill need to be considered separately.

Parents supply nappies, wipes and cream if required, plus a sun hat and sun cream in summer; babies taking formula need measured powder and a bottle from home. Breakfast, hot lunch, a snack and hot tea form the food routine, with menus displayed in the foyer. Meals are charged separately alongside funded sessions.

A deposit equivalent to two weeks' fees is credited against the final two weeks' invoice; funded children have a commitment fee returned when they leave. Payments are made in advance, weekly or monthly, and absence remains chargeable, while nursery closures do not. Leaving or changing sessions requires two weeks' notice. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page explains the charge structure.

• Toddler teaching. The April 2024 improvement action called for better coaching and evaluation of practice in the toddler room so teaching would become consistently strong. Ask how this work now shapes the support given to Bumble Bees practitioners.
• Term-time priority. Year-round bookings take priority over term-time sessions. Families organising care around school terms should discuss how that rule applies to their intended attendance.
• The funded-hours bill. Meals, additional activities and consumables attract separate charges alongside funded sessions, and families also bring personal care supplies. Request a written breakdown for the chosen pattern before committing.
• Starting and moving rooms. Settling visits can build from short separations, and intended room moves extend beyond the headline age bands. Discuss how the starting routine and later transition would be adapted to your child.

The Bees Knees suits families seeking either full-day attendance or shorter morning and afternoon sessions, with year-round care and term-time options serving different routines. Its appeal lies in practical detail: gradual settling, recognisable age-stage rooms, accessible routines and activities that connect language with everyday independence. The toddler-room improvement point deserves attention, as does the distinction between funded hours and separately charged extras. Those are specific decisions to weigh alongside the nursery's April 2024 Good judgement.