Busy Bees Nursery School
Good★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Open for decades
A day nursery in Bury St. Edmunds for children from birth to 8+, open 06:45 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They do not publish prices, so that is the first thing to ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in October 2022. Open since 1983, with 111 places.
What you might pay
This setting does not publish its fees, and no national dataset holds them. This is what childcare costs across the council, as a starting point for the call.
What childcare usually costs in Suffolk
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Suffolk from the Department for Education's 2025 provider survey. No national data holds what an individual nursery charges, so ring and ask.
Places, hours and the day
Who they take, when they are open, and what a day there includes.
Where it is
IP28 8AAWhat the inspector found
One grade is one visit. A run of them tells you whether it has been good for years or has only just got there.
Ofsted inspector, 13 October 2022 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children show good attitudes to learning. They have access to activities that are well planned and linked to their individual needs. Older children show high levels of engagement and concentration. For example, they focus intently as they use pipettes to transport water from one container to another. They show increasing skills, as they use tweezers to pick up small pasta shapes from underneath their
'spider's web'. They chat with their friends as they use play dough to roll and squeeze their creations to make dinosaur birthday cakes. This helps to develop children's hand muscles and hand-to-eye coordination, to aid their early writing abilities.
Children benefit from plenty of opportunities throughout the day for fresh air and exercise in the extensive outdoor area. The children can participate in forest school sessions daily and explore a range of exciting activities, which support their knowledge of the world. Children show great enjoyment when searching for different leaves in the woodland area to use in their creative activity. They excitedly show staff and friends what they have found. They show high levels of interest, when staff point out the features of the leaves, for example the veins.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to promote children's positive behaviour and to help children gain a better understanding of how their behaviour affects others n strengthen personal care and hygiene routines, to ensure that children's needs are consistently met.
- 13 October 2022Good
- 18 October 2016Good
- 30 May 2013Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Busy Bees Nursery School
- What it costs
- Funded hours
- Youngest age taken
- Meals
- Nappies
- Waiting list
No dataset holds any of this. Two parents telling us the same thing puts it on the page for whoever looks next.
What to ask them
None of this is in any national dataset and this setting has not published it, which is exactly why it is worth asking.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- Can I use my funded hours here? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Is there a place for my child's age? Baby rooms fill first and waiting lists are common.
- Who would my child's key person be? And how long have the staff been there. No dataset holds this and it matters more than anything above.
- Can I visit at a busy time? Mid-morning on a weekday tells you far more than an empty room after hours.
Day nurseries within a couple of miles
This one is first. Tick it and one or two others to see them side by side.