Busy Bee Day Nursery

Shells sorted for pretend cooking and experiments with telephone handsets and plastic tubes: Busy Bee Day Nursery's May 2024 learning experiences gave children practical problems to solve. Play had purpose. At its 13 May 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding overall and found that children made excellent progress through learning adapted to their individual needs.

Based in Ramsey, the nursery has 22 places in total and accepts children from birth to five years. That whole-setting capacity should be kept separate from the number of children taking part in any particular activity.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care; here, the May 2024 examples included learning through stories, conversation and practical play. Children built houses connected with a story, then used their models to recall its events. Books became something to explore and reconstruct.

In May 2024, number learning also grew out of stories, as children discussed the sequence in which houses were built. Other activities encouraged persistence: children tried different combinations of tubes and handsets until their pretend communication arrangement worked. These examples show how familiar materials could support reasoning as well as imagination.

Children also helped create displays about holiday destinations and places they wanted to visit, discussing differences in writing, language and traditions. Their own experiences supplied the starting point.

Storytelling in May 2024 involved animated reading and children noticing small details in stories. Children picked out small details, then returned to the story through making and remembering. The model houses mattered because they gave children a way to revisit the narrative after the book had been put aside. For parents who value books, this is a concrete example of reading extending into play rather than ending with the final page.

Conversation ran through those May 2024 activities. Staff drew children into discussions, and playful changes to the pronunciation of their names prompted them to recognise and correct what they heard. That gave language learning a personal starting point. Sorting shells offered another example: children chose a deeper cooking dish for larger shells and explained their thinking about cooking time. The interest lies in the explanation as much as the sorting. Children were using objects to express an idea, while the experiments with tubes and handsets gave them a problem to keep working on.

At the May 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised sensitive support for children's individual circumstances, including collaboration with other professionals for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

In May 2024, older children helped younger children participate in play by explaining what was happening. Health and safety were made tangible too: glitter illustrated the spread of germs, while children considered their abilities when choosing hurdle heights for an obstacle course. Responsibility was practised through ordinary activities.

Parents contributing to that May 2024 visit valued personalised guidance for continuing learning at home. Communication had a practical use beyond an update on the day.

Support in May 2024 included managers helping practitioners identify both where a child needed assistance and where their interests or abilities called for a further challenge. Subsequent activities were planned around those observations. Additional funding was used to extend learning opportunities, alongside work with other professionals. For a family considering support for a particular need, the useful detail is this combination of individual planning and professional collaboration.

The May 2024 examples also connect care with children's participation. Older children explained their games so younger children could take part meaningfully; inclusion was something children practised themselves. In the hurdle activity, children considered differences in height as well as what they could manage. The glitter demonstration made an everyday health routine visible. Together, these activities gave children reasons for adjusting their behaviour, rather than simply instructions to follow.

The address is 7b Church Green, Ramsey, Huntingdon, PE26 1DW. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays, with closures for bank holidays and two weeks over Christmas.

In May 2024, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four.

• Christmas cover. The two-week Christmas closure needs to fit the family's childcare arrangements, alongside bank holidays.
• Care for the youngest children. With an age range beginning at birth, a visit is the opportunity to ask how settling, sleep and daily communication would work for your child.

Busy Bee suits families who value practical play, stories and opportunities for children to explain their thinking. The May 2024 examples give substance to its Outstanding judgement: learning involved trying, discussing and remembering. Its weekday opening window is useful for working families, while the Christmas closure deserves attention when planning care across the year.