Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive

31 South Drive, Harrogate HG2 8AT
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9.9 66 Reviews
  • Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive, Harrogate
Busy Bees Harrogate, South Drive offers the ideal nursery environment for children to play, learn and explore whilst being provided the best start in life. From a well designed array of activities to the experienced and welcoming team, Busy Bees Harrogate is a great option for families in the local community.

The enthusiastic team ensures that every child’s nursery experience is fun, enjoyable, and safe with a range of fun-filled activities tailored to suit every child’s interest’s and needs. The fun does not stop inside, with a refreshing outdoor area where your child can explore and take safe risks whilst supervised by staff. So, whether your child enjoys the indoors or outdoors, be rest assured they will enjoy every moment during their stay at nursery.

Busy Bees follow the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) framework to help support your child so that they are prepared when making the leap to school. The experienced team select resources and activities in line with the EYFS framework, aimed to engage your child and promote development in all areas.   

You can continue the fun at home by using the ‘UP!’ App. The app is especially for parents of Busy Bees and holds an extensive amount of activity inspiration, experiences or advice and information for you and your child to enjoy.
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Type of Service

  • Day Nursery
  • Open all year
  • Full Day Care

Group/Owner

Person in Charge

  • Samantha Crichton (Manager)

Number of Childcare Staff

  • 15

Total Places for Children

  • 52

Age Range

  • from 0 years 3 months
  • to 5 years 0 months

Opening Times

  • Monday 07:30-18:00
    Tuesday 07:30-18:00
    Wednesday 07:30-18:00
    Thursday 07:30-18:00
    Friday 07:30-18:00

When Closed

  • Bank Holidays

Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive Reviews (66)

9.9

Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive has a Review Score of 9.9 (9.892) out of 10, based on 17 reviews in the last 2 years.
Over all time Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive has 66 reviews.

Overall Experience
  • 61
  • 5
  • 0
  • 0
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Date Published
  • 66
  • 5
  • 8
  • 17
  • 49
Reviewer Connection to Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive
  • 51
  • 15
Total of 66, showing 61-66
Review from Mitchell H (Father of Child) published on 23 May 2017 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
Staff are extremely friendly, caring and amazing with the children. All the food and activities they put together, my son really enjoys.
My son has been going since 2014 since he was a baby. All the other kids have always got a smile on their face and looking like they're all really enjoying themselves.
Highly recommend them to anyone.
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Review from Samantha P (Mother of Child) published on 8 May 2017 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
We have sent both of our children to Kindercare South Drive and would definitely recommend to others. Lovely nursery with very friendly and caring staff. The children were/are always very excited to go.
Reply from Sonia Harvey, Marketing & Events Manager at Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive
Many thanks for your review, we will pass this on to the team.
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Review from L R (Mother of Child) published on 8 March 2017 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
We have two sons at Kindercare South Drive; a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old.


The nursery has a welcoming environment that has really helped our boys develop and grow in confidence.


The staff are friendly, experienced and show a genuine interest in the children. They know our sons well and see the

good in their characters. Both of our children have absolute trust in their key-workers and we have a good relationship with them too.


The Tinies section makes a big effort to make the introduction to nursery positive. It's nurturing, with a good routine and plenty of varied activities to help development.


The Starters section is great preparation for school. The staff have encouraged our eldest to learn to write his name, as well as other letters and numbers. His IT skills have grown and he comes home chatting about imaginative play with his friends, stories, songs, playing outdoors and creative activities that he's enjoyed.


As a family we highly recommend South Drive.

Reply from Sonia Harvey, Marketing & Events Manager at Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive
Many thanks for your review. It is lovely to hear how well your boys have progressed in the nursery.
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Review from D C (Mother of Child) published on 14 February 2017 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
My daughter has been at South Drive since she was 18 months old. The nursery was flexible with the room my child started in to minimise transitions. She had a loving key person who genuinely cared about her.
The staff have always been understanding to me as a parent and done the best by my daughter's
needs including guiding me in the right direction at times!
The nursery has an old feel but I think the character it adds, is personal and homely. The heart of this nursery is the staff; they make the nursery the place it is and build genuine relationships with parents and children alike.
Having used three other nurseries for my children, I know my daughter is happy and settled at South Drive and sees the staff as key figures in her life now. They are definitely helping her become the feisty little lady she's becoming.
Reply from Sonia Harvey, Marketing & Events Manager at Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive
Thank you for your review. It is lovely to hear how at home the team and nursery have made you and your daughter feel. We will pass on your comments to the team.
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Review from Jen (Mother of Child) published on 10 February 2017 Submitted via Website • Report
Overall Experience 5.0 out of 5
Our daughter has been attending South Drive since Sept 2014. She started in Tinies with her key worker. Her key worker is extremely caring, attentive and sympathetic to the needs of parents as well as children. Our daughter moved up to Tweenies where she was with a different key worker - again, a really
caring and nurturing approach to looking after her. The activities on offer are varied and stimulating. Outside space has been greatly improved in recent months and safeguarding improved with additional gate locks so that no-one can come in while the children are playing outside. Our daughter is currently in starters with various key workers who are all caring and highly attentive to what the children need. The permanent staff have gone out of their way to accommodate her special diet. They are helping her to write her name, and she's been using the computer as well - good prep for school. Their years of experience and obvious expertise was one of the reasons we chose South Drive.
Reply from Sonia Harvey, Marketing & Events Manager at Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive
Thank you for your lovely review, it is lovely to hear how well your daughter is progressing at nursery. We will pass on your comments to the team.
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Review from K H (Mother of Child) published on 19 January 2017 Submitted via Postal Card • Report
Overall Experience 4.0 out of 5
The care of my son is excellent and I really feel he is treated as an individual. I am extremely happy with his key worker.
since being taken over by Treetops, the overall look of the nursery has greatly improved. I still have reservations about the amount of sugary snacks i.e teatime, puddings that
are offered.
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Current Review Score: 9.9 (9.892)

Overview of Review Score

The Review Score of 9.9 (9.892) out of 10 for Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive is based on a) the Average Rating and b) the number of positive Reviews.

  1. The Average Rating is 4.9 out of 5 from 17 Reviews in the last 24 months.
  2. The score for the number of positive Reviews is 5.0 out of 5 from 17 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:

  1. 5 Points are available for the Average Rating from all Reviews in the last 24 months. The Average Rating of 4.892 for Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive is calculated as follows: ( (181 Excellents x 5) + (22 Goods x 4) ) ÷ 203 Ratings = 4.892
  2. 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 5 Points relating to the number of positive Reviews for Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive is based on 17 positive Reviews in the last 24 months and is calculated as per below:

    The 5 points available are broken down as follows:

    1. 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 + 0.1 + 0.1 + 0.1 = 4
    2. 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 52 number of registered child places is 10.4, which has been reached with 17 Positive reviews. Points = 1
  3. When a Review is submitted by someone who has previously submitted a Review, only the latest Review will count towards the Review Score.
  4. If a Day Nursery does not have a review in the last 24 months, then it will not have a Review Score.

Child Vacancies

Please contact us for latest vacancies.

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Awards / Recognitions (1)

Meet the Team (1)

Samantha

Samantha Crichton

Job Title: Centre Director Joined: 2012

I started working at Busy Bees in 2009, completing my NVQ, in 2010 I started my family and re-joined after my maternity leave at Busy Bees South Drive. I worked hard to develop my career here progressing to Room Lead, Senior Room Lead then Assistant Centre Director. I was asked to step into the Centre Director role in February 2025 officially securing the role in March 2025. I have a strong passion in providing a safe, homely feeling nursery whilst still offering the best opportunities for children in our care. After spending many years as support SEND I have a big interest in supporting families and children that have SEND needs and thoroughly enjoy watching all children develop and grow into young children ready for their big move to school.
Having my own family really allows me to ensure the care provided is what you would look for as a parent and really understand and support families to settle into nursery life. Having worked with Under 5's for over 15 years I have a great knowledge of child development and love that Busy Bees gives me the opportunities and support to enable great outcomes for all children

Information on this page is displayed without responsibility for its accuracy on the part of daynurseries.co.uk. Please contact Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive to verify any information. View our terms and conditions. Busy Bees Harrogate South Drive has an Enhanced Service - more info.