Busy Bees Apsley

Mill Street, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead HP3 9RG
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8.6 99 Reviews
  • Busy Bees Apsley, Hemel Hempstead
At Busy Bees Apsley nursery in Hemel Hempstead, it is never a dull day, as they offer an extensive variety of exciting activities and resources that cater for every child's individual needs and interests. The nursery welcomes children from babies through to pre-schoolers, with both part-time and full-time places available.

The highly experienced team at Busy Bees Apsley provide a fun-filled, exciting time at the nursery as well as caring for and nurturing the children during their nursery development so that they are ready to take on the next steps in their educational journey.

The enthusiastic team are dedicated to providing the best care for your children ensuring that they stay stimulated every day with the wide range of activities throughout the nursery. At Busy Bees, they also follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum to give your child the best start on their educational journey.

Busy Bees Apsley has an on-site Chef who prepares delicious and nutritious food for your little one to tuck in to throughout the day and caters for individual dietary requirements.

Want to learn more about the fantastic facilities and meet the friendly team at Busy Bees nursery Apsley? Book a visit today, the team will look forward to welcoming you!

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Care Provided by Busy Bees Apsley

  • Type of Service
  • Day Nursery – Privately Owned
  • Open all year
  • Full Day Care
  • Sessional Day Care

Good to Know

  • Person in charge
  • Diane Chichester Miles (Centre Director)
  • Number of Childcare Staff
  • 27
  • Total Places for Children
  • 88
  • Age Range
    • from 0 years 2 months
    • to 5 years 0 months
  • Opening Times
  • Monday 07:30-18:15
    Tuesday 07:30-18:15
    Wednesday 07:30-18:15
    Thursday 07:30-18:15
    Friday 07:30-18:15
  • When Closed
  • Bank Holidays

Funding & Fees Guide for Busy Bees Apsley

  • Please contact us for current fees and available discounts

Busy Bees Apsley Reviews (99)

Total of 99, showing 81-99
8.6

Busy Bees Apsley has a Review Score of 8.6 (8.566) out of 10, based on 8 reviews in the last 2 years. Over all time Busy Bees Apsley has 99 reviews.

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Review from Mark L (Father of Child) published on 22 May 2018
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 4.0 out of 5

Generally a good nursery. The staff are friendly and engage well with the parents regarding what the children have done throughout the day. Care and focus is also given to children with specific nutritional needs.
They focus on learning through a variety of activities to keep the children interested
and given any chance they let the kids use the safe and secure outside space available.

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Review from Jon C (Father of Child) published on 22 May 2018
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 4.0 out of 5

Very friendly team who are very attentive to my son and always make us confident about leaving him there. He loves going.

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Review from Marc W (Father of Child) published on 5 September 2017
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 4.0 out of 5

Since the change from Positive Steps, when Busy Bees took over this nursery, the improvement has been very noticeable. There is more consistency of staff (there was previously a very high turnaround of staff, my child's key worker hasn't changed since Busy Bees took over), the children seem a lot more
engaged with staff and activities, and the feedback of our child's development is great. Most importantly, my child is very happy spending time at this nursery.

Reply from Gemma Kamali, Nursery Manager at Busy Bees Apsley

Many thanks for your feedback.


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Review from S A C (Mother of Child) published on 5 September 2017
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 2.0 out of 5

The staff are caring, but the learning and teaching are weak. Management and communication are inconsistent and poor. The outside space is nice and the kids play outside a lot which is great. It does the job of looking after your kids, they will be safe and cared for, but they will not be stretched
and enriched through the learning and play the way we have experienced elsewhere.

Reply from Gemma Kamali, Nursery Manager at Busy Bees Apsley

Thank you for your valued feedback. We appreciate your kind words. Many thanks.


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Review from A W (Mother of Child) published on 31 August 2017
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

Our son has attended the nursery for 2 years now and has thrived throughout that time. Staff are caring, friendly and supportive, and really know each individual child's personality, interests and needs. They work well with families to help develop skills and manage any issues - they were fantastic
with toilet training, for example. The nursery have made good improvements recently on things like organisation, security, as well as new resources for the children. Meals and snacks provided are good quality/variety, plus my son developed skills like self-feeding, and then serving himself and tidying away his dishes, very quickly from nursery. He always comes home happy - singing songs and telling us about the activities he's done each day.

Reply from Gemma Kamali, Nursery Manager at Busy Bees Apsley

Thank you for your lovely feedback. It has been our pleasure providing your son with quality childcare. Many thanks,


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Review from Jamie S (Father of Child) published on 30 August 2017
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 4.0 out of 5

Busy Bees have made steps to amend problems which have arisen when under previous management and the general consensus is that of a good nursery which is making genuine attempts to improve and progress.


Our son enjoys it and that's pretty much the bottom line from my perspective so I'm happy with

Busy Bees.


One small issue I would raise is that of accessing community areas (ie; local parks, etc) which I would like to see more of, but I appreciate the restraints on resources to be able to facilitate this.


Reply from Gemma Kamali, Nursery Manager at Busy Bees Apsley

Thank you very much for your valued feedback. We aim to continue to develop our nursery further. From September we do have plans for our pre-school children within the community such as; local parks, pet shop and nature walks.


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Review from Fiona (Mother of Child) published on 30 August 2017
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

My son has attended the nursery for 4 years, and my daughter has been in the nursery for the past 1.5yrs (both started full time at 10 months old).


The staff are very caring, understanding, and compassionate. They have taken time to get to know my children, their needs, their likes/dislikes, put

plans in place to support their medical needs and have made suggestions when we have needed support to tackle behaviour, potty training or sleep issues.


The new manager has developed the nursery, and enabled the staff to grow in ability and confidence. My children are very happy and skip into nursery most days.


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Review from Susan D (Stepmother of Child) published on 19 July 2017
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

A fantastic nursery, all the staff are so caring and have a strong management team in place.
A brilliant nursery and couldn't recommend higher. Every day my son comes home happy and gets excited to go back in the morning.

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Review from I R (Mother of Child) published on 15 December 2016
Submitted via Postal Card • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

My daughter has been attending this nursery for almost a year and she really loves it! I really appreciate all the effort the manager and her team make to give the best service possible. The results can be seen everywhere: in the clean and warm premises, in the great educational material they provide
but above all, in the development of my child. I am happy to leave my daughter in their hands every morning because I know they look after her in a loving and professional manner. The buy 4 get the 5th session for free is great, extremely useful.

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Review from Na k (Mother of Child) published on 25 November 2016
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 4.0 out of 5

My son quite enjoys attending to nursery every day, there are all kinds of interesting activities every day, singing, drawing, gardening and story time are his favourite.
I believe the nursery has very good food, my son eats all his meals and snack every day.
The staff are very kind.

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Review from Mark C (Father of Child) published on 3 November 2016
Submitted via Postal Card • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

I am so happy with the way my child is being treated. She is learning so much singing to her sister.

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Review from C P (Mother of Child) published on 27 October 2016
Submitted via Postal Card • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

My son is ahead in almost all learning categories and loves learning and being here. Staff are happy and positive!

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Review from Alexandra Diana Z (Mother of Child) published on 26 October 2016
Submitted via Postal Card • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

I have seen a couple of other nurseries before deciding to choose positive steps in Apsley. From the very first time, the manager was very friendly and made us feel like this is the place for us. We are very happy to see our son has grown so much and he has improved a lot since he went to nursery. All
the staff are very friendly and work individually with the children to meet their needs. Many activities and very clean and caring environment. The place we wanted for our child. Thank you!

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Review from Ayala S (Mother of Child) published on 15 August 2016
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 4.0 out of 5

The nursery is great for us for a few reasons - its opening hours (we both work full time), location and activities/settings.
I've only a few minor frustrations, but they are likely to occur regardless of nursery; staff turnover is high, parking can be challenging, moving your child from 1 group to
the next can mean more work than a parent should have to make in my opinion, and perhaps jam sandwiches should not be offered.
The main staff are very helpful though and always on hand with suggestions if we have any queries. They help with small things like getting them out of nursery into the car when both mine go in opposite directions. The only suggestion is to facilitate a Facebook page for parents to get to know each other, ask questions etc.

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Review from Rhys C (Father of Child) published on 5 August 2016
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

Positive steps have been amazing with my 9month old. The staff have been amazing through the whole process and the settling in sessions really helped. Each day she comes home so happy and we feel so comfortable leaving her with such passionate staff. The staff provide so much for her to learn and to
play with. All staff take the time to welcome us and give great feedback at the end of the day.

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Review from Nikki A (Mother of Child) published on 1 August 2016
Submitted via Postal Card • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

A lovely pre-school, staff are amazing, so friendly, would recommend to all my friends.

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Review from Clare R (Mother of Child) published on 1 August 2016
Submitted via Postal Card • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

I have never been keen on the idea of daycare but Positive Steps really changed my mind. Both of my children really love it here and the staff know them so well. They tailor the activities to their interests and are really positive and caring. Thank you to all the team.

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Review from Romina (Mother of Child) published on 29 July 2016
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

My daughter has attend Positive Steps Apsley since April 2016. The management and staff were very helpful and supportive in helping to manage my anxieties about settling my daughter in at 10 months old. She settled in straight away and has always been excited to go to nursery to see her carers and friends.
The staff keep me updated about all aspects of my daughters development and were very respectful of her routine. She has made so much progress in the last 3 months, we are both very happy with the nursery. Thank you my daughter loves you all.

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Review from Prudence M (Mother of Child) published on 27 November 2015
Submitted via Website • Report

Overall Experience  Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5

Fantastic nursery! My daughter has been going for 6 months now and she loves it! She learns so much there and has lots of fun, each day she does Something new, painting, sand play, sticking etc. Can truly say the staff are amazing too! I go to them about everything and anything! They give me advice
about tantrums, potty training, general stuff and they are more than happy to help and it's actually quite nice to get a professional opinion. Friendly, clean and the changes in my daughter is amazing, she now knows her numbers, letters and colours! Please go to an open day and you will see for yourself!

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Current Review Score: 8.6 (8.566)

Overview of Review Score

The Review Score of 8.6 (8.566) out of 10 for Busy Bees Apsley is based on a) the Average Rating and b) the number of positive Reviews.

  • a) The Average Rating is 4.5 out of 5 from 8 Reviews in the last 24 months.

  • b) The score for the number of positive Reviews is 4.1 out of 5 from 7 positive Reviews in the last 24 months.

Detailed Breakdown of Review Score

The maximum Review Score for a Day Nursery is 10, which is made up from the Average Rating of Reviews (maximum of 5 points) and the Number of Reviews (maximum of 5 points) in the last 24 months:

  • a) 5 Points are available for the Average Rating from all Reviews in the last 24 months.

    The Average Rating of 4.468 for Busy Bees Apsley is calculated as follows: ( (58 Excellents x 5) + (25 Goods x 4) + (9 Satisfactorys x 3) + (1 Poors x 2) + (1 Very Poors x 1) ) ÷ 94 Ratings = 4.468

  • b) 5 Points are available for the number of Positive Reviews in the last 24 months. A Positive Review is defined as any Review with an 'Overall Experience' of '4' or '5' (out of a max rating '5').

    The 4.098 Points relating to the number of positive Reviews for Busy Bees Apsley is based on 7 positive Reviews in the last 24 months and is calculated as per below:

    The 5 points available are broken down as follows:

    • i) 4 points are available for the first 10 Positive Reviews in the last 24 months; 3 points for the first Positive Review, and then 0.125 Points for each of the next four Positive Reviews and then 0.1 Points for the next five Positive Reviews. (1st = 3.000, 2nd = 0.125, 3rd = 0.125, 4th = 0.125, 5th = 0.125, 6th = 0.100, 7th = 0.100, 8th = 0.100, 9th = 0.100, 10th = 0.100) 3 + 0.125 + 0.125 + 0.125 + 0.125 + 0.1 + 0.1 = 3.7

    • ii) 1 point is available for the number of Positive Reviews reaching 20% of the number of registered child places in the last 24 months. If this number is partially reached, then that proportion of 1 point is given. eg a Day Nursery registered for a maximum of 50 child places has to reach 10 Positive Reviews to receive 1 point, if it has 7 reviews it will receive 0.7 points. 20% of the 88 number of registered child places is 17.6. 7 Positive Reviews ÷ 17.6 = 0.398

  • When a Review is submitted by someone who has previously submitted a Review, only the latest Review will count towards the Review Score.

  • If a Day Nursery does not have a review in the last 24 months, then it will not have a Review Score.

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Meet the Team (1)

Jasmine

Jasmine Staines - Simmonds

Job Title: Assistant Centre Director

Hi, my name is Jasmine and I am the Assistant Centre Director here at Busy Bees Apsley.


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