40 Years of Busy Bees
The Busy Bees Difference

Experience
The Busy Bees Difference

Better, Fun, Recognise

Here at Busy Bees, we understand you want the very best for your child, and so do we.

Did you know that Busy Bees follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework* in England? The EYFS framework includes seven areas of learning that are pivotal to your child's learning and development.

But we don't just stop there because we know just how precious their childhood is. After all, they only get one.

From our health and wellbeing to our learning through play activities, our passionate and experienced team goes beyond Government's standards. We want to ensure your child’s learning journey is full of wonderful experiences that they can carry with them throughout their early years.

Don't just take our word for it. Come and experience the Busy Bees difference with us.

* Busy Bees also follows the Curriculum for Excellence and other relevant guidance in Scotland and The Foundation Phase in Wales.



Better

Busy Bees are better because...

We go beyond Government standards to provide your child with a range of diverse experiences and activities to support them on their learning journey.



Here at Busy Bees, we follow the EYFS framework. But our expertise, experience and skill set allow us to go one step further for your child. For starters, here's how:

  • Sharing Best Practice Globally - we spend time immersed in our nursery settings to ensure we can share best practice globally and provide your child with the best start in life.
  • Delivering Excellence - we ensure all our nurseries provide a high quality of care and excellence to your children through our internal quality assurance programme.
  • Busy Bees Education and Training - enhanced training and development courses for all our nursery staff so that your child gets the very best learning experience.
  • Internal Quality Assessment - an annual assessment of each centre to celebrate and acknowledge excellence and identify areas for development.
  • Speak Up - we encourage our educators to speak up so that we can protect children's wellbeing.
  • UP - our exclusive learning programme for families and educators. Full of exciting and inspirational learning activities that are used across our nurseries and at home.
  • ParentZone - we provide daily updates on your child's learning and development so that you don't miss a single moment.

Tap each EYFS framework category to find out more about the added Busy Bees Difference below:

EYFS

Listening, attention, and understanding

  • Listening attentively and responding to what they hear.
  • Hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges.

Speaking

  • Participate in small group, class, and one-to-one discussions.
  • Offer explanations for why things might happen.
  • Express their ideas and feelings.

The Busy Bees Difference

Signing with Buzz

Working alongside a qualified Makaton tutor, our educators and parents are taught Makaton signs to help support your child’s communication development.

Makaton is a visual way to develop communication skills and helps to stimulate sounds and words.

It can help children and adults in a variety of ways including:

  • Communicating what they want and how they feel
  • Paying attention
  • Remembering sequencing
  • Understanding speech

Be a Communicator (ICAN accreditation)

Developed in partnership with speech and language advisors ICAN, our bespoke programme supports your child’s communication and language skills in nursery and at home, including supporting those with communication difficulties.

I CAN said: "We are delighted to work in partnership with Busy Bees to develop UP. The development of speech and language is a key life skill for children and of critical importance in early years. The venture has resulted in a tool that will equip Busy Bees staff and parents with the knowledge and skills to support every stage of a young child's communication development, in nursery and at home."

EYFS

Gross motor skills

  • Negotiate space and obstacles safely.
  • Demonstrate strength, balance, and coordination when playing.
  • Move energetically such as running, jumping, and dancing.

Fine motor skills

  • Hold a pencil effortlessly in preparation for fluent writing.
  • Use a range of small tools including scissors, paintbrushes and cutlery.
  • Begin to show accuracy and care when drawing.

The Busy Bees Difference

NHS Accredited Menus

Accredited by nutritionists at NHS Startwell, we take huge pride in our food credentials and ensure all our meals are nutritionally balanced.

Each nursery has a dedicated on-site chef who prepares fresh meals daily.

UP and Active with Buzz

Did you know? Children who can walk should be active for at least three hours in the day - and we are huge advocates of this at Busy Bees.

Each Busy Bees centre has had significant investment in physical equipment to encourage your child to be active.

  1. Yoga - developed with a qualified yoga teacher.
  2. Gross motor movement - written by Laurissa Hyner-Anderson; academic researcher and gymnastics teacher, and Kenny Churchill; educator and Paralympic gold medalist.
  3. Dance - created by a qualified dance teacher as well as routines created by former pussycat doll, Kimberly Wyatt.

Busy Hands

Inspired by our Singapore centres, we support the development of fine motor skills, readying the hands for writing.

Yoga with Buzz

Supported by Amy Fergus-Fuller, a trained yoga instructor and early years specialist, our bespoke yoga programme combines stories and traditional nursery rhymes to encourage your child to have fun whilst they move.

Be Active and Healthy

With over 400 active and healthy activities, we focus on your child’s gross and fine motor development. Focuses include:

  • Gross motor development
  • Fine motor development
  • Spatial awareness
  • Healthy eating
  • Healthy body and mind
  • Understanding hygiene
  • Self-care skills

Be Coordinated

A range of physical activities to support your child's focus and concentration skills.

These fun and simple games incorporate cross lateral movements to engage both sides of the brain, waking up the body and mind ready for learning.

EYFS

Self-regulation

  • Show an understanding of their feelings and those of others.
  • Set and work towards simple goals.
  • Give focused attention to what the teacher says.

Managing self

  • Be confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience, and perseverance.
  • Explain the reasons for rules, know right from wrong and try to behave accordingly.
  • Manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs.

Building relationships

  • Work and play cooperatively and take turns with others.
  • Form positive attachments to adults and friendships with peers.
  • Show sensitivity to their own and others' needs.

The Busy Bees Difference

Safety with Buzz

A program designed in-house by our childcare experts to encourage children to use their imaginations whilst learning about keeping themselves and others around them safe.

Be Calm

Inspired by practice in our Canadian centres, our mindfulness activities are offered as part of your child's daily routine to help them relax when they are feeling anxious.

Be an Individual

We are committed to providing your child with fun and enjoyable experiences so they can thrive in any environment.

We have a dedicated programme to support your child’s wellbeing including teaching them how to self-regulate and form close bonds.

Steps to Independence

We continuously evolve our dedicated independence areas to provide engaging and creative activities to encourage your child to become independent.

EYFS

Comprehension

  • Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives.
  • Anticipate key events in stories.
  • Use and understand recently introduced vocabulary during discussions.

Word Reading

  • Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs.
  • Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending.
  • Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge.

Writing

  • Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.
  • Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters.
  • Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.

The Busy Bees Difference

Shake and Write

We're big believers in creating meaningful experiences that your child will cherish.

We combine music and dance to inspire and develop your child's physical skills ready for writing.

Be a Reader and Writer

Our books have been carefully selected following research into the best books to read with young children.

We support your child with their early reading and writing skills through a range of activities such as:

  • Storytelling
  • Developing a love of literacy
  • Early handwriting skills
  • Early reading skills
  • Phonological awareness
  • Pencil grip and letter formation

EYFS

Number

  • Have a deep understanding of numbers to 10, including the composition of each number.
  • Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5.
  • Automatically recall (without reference to rhymes, counting or other aids) number bonds up to 5.

Numerical Patterns

  • Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system.
  • Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts.
  • Explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10.

The Busy Bees Difference

Be a Problem Solver

Our mathematics programme has been endorsed by Neil Griffiths, early years consultant and author.

Our programme has been designed to support your child’s understanding of shape and space, and the use of numbers and patterns.

Neil said: "Busy Bees have shown themselves to be at the forefront of the movement to improve children's understanding. Busy Bees are to be congratulated for the efforts they are making to create the next generation of enthusiastic, confident and passionate mathematicians."

EYFS

Past and Present

  • Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society.
  • Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and present.
  • Understand the past through settings, characters, and events encountered in books read in class/storytelling.

People, Culture and Communities

  • Describe their environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps.
  • Know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country.
  • Explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries.

The Natural World

  • Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.
  • Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments.
  • Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them.

The Busy Bees Difference

Be Aware of The World

Children are born with the innate desire to learn about the world around them - and we take pride in ensuring this is at the forefront of our learning.

We focus on looking after the environment and helping them to understand the community.

Outdoor Explorers

Come rain or shine, we are advocates for outdoor play. We give your child the freedom to explore nature through regular outdoor play.

EYFS

Creating with Materials

  • Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
  • Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.
  • Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.

Being Imaginative and Expressive

  • Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher.
  • Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs.
  • Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – try to move in time with music.

The Busy Bees Difference

Expressive Arts and Design

Designed by our childcare experts to enhance your child's creativity through art, dance, music, and imaginative play.