They have updated the Early Years Inspection handbook to reflect changes to inspection for Covid-19 and to explain the revised 6 yearly inspection windows which will replace the current 4 yearly inspection cycles.
The inspection handbook also notes which providers are prioritised for inspection including those who are left over from the previous cycle due to lockdown, those who are over 30 months from initial registration and providers who are currently judged less than good. You will find the inspection handbook here –
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-inspection-handbook-eif.
Over the last few weeks, I have delivered a series of Ofsted inspection webinars which are now available for Childcare.co.uk gold members to watch again here –
www.childcare.co.uk/webinarplayer.
The next series of webinars will focus on the revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, 2021) and inspection from September 2021.
Reflecting on the webinars, here are some of the main points I answered in the question and answer sections of the webinars.
Ofsted’s learning walk
When they arrive in the setting, Ofsted will conduct a learning walk. Providers report that they are worried about this because it is a new addition to inspection and they are not sure what will be expected.
According to practitioners who have been through a learning walk (which Ofsted have stated can be a 'learning sit' for childminders), it covers –
- How you work and what you do
- Your curriculum – be ready to talk about your intent, implementation, impact
- Staff development including wellbeing and workload
- Your resources – why do you have them? What’s the plan for them? How do they support children’s learning?
- Children’s progress from their starting points – Ofsted will ask you to explain how the children are getting on but they will not look at paperwork beyond the statutory Progress Check at 2 for learning and development.
- A colleague noted that the inspector asked her about her displays and their impact on children – why are they there? What is their purpose?
Key point: providers who have been inspected under the new framework advise providers to keep talking – keep selling yourself just like you would during a new parent visit.
Let’s look at some of the positives and negatives that have been picked up during the last series of inspections...
Positives – inspectors praised…
**Snuffle stations – tissues, lidded foot pedal operated bin, regular effective hand washing
**A voting activity to help children learn about democracy
**A ‘Wow! Cloud’ used by a childminder to raise self-esteem. You can read more about it in my blog here - https://independentchildminders.weebly.com/blog/how-a-wow-cloud-is-used.
**Children being encouraged to risk assess their own play
**Books read to children as part of daily routines and through the day
**Children who are happy and playful in the setting, arriving ready to learn
**Settings which prioritise health and safety
**Staff supervision that discusses workload and wellbeing as well as safeguarding and professional development
**Staff training linked to child development.
Key point – as you can see, some of the positives are quite random and reflect the inspector’s time in individual settings. We all work differently and it is that uniqueness that gives parents choice.
Negatives – the following subjects are repeating themselves as needing more focus…
**Missed opportunities for maths
Make sure you count and use maths vocabulary throughout the inspection. For example, talk about half when children are cutting up their sandwiches for lunch.
**Not enough effective working with other settings
You don’t need partnership working in writing, but you do need to talk about how you work in close partnership with other settings children attend – for example, how you liaised with nursery or pre-school to support a child.
**Not enough support for children’s home learning
Think about all the ways you supported children’s home learning during lockdown as well as how you routinely make suggestions to support home learning and be ready to talk about them with the inspector.
**Staff not giving children time to think and respond or time to reply to questions
When you ask children a question, the temptation can be to rush in and rephrase if they don’t answer immediately because you are feeling nervous. Take a breath and let them process – they will be feeling a little strange with someone new in the setting as well.
**Lack of robust 2 year progress checks
Every child between the ages of 2 and 3 must have a written Progress Check at 2. Your Progress Check at 2 must cover the 3 prime areas, saying what the child can and cannot yet do and highlighting any concerns. The EYFS 2021 has not changed this requirement.
**Not enough evidence of the impact of professional development – for management as well as staff
You don’t need to print every certificate but you do need to be able to talk about how professional development has raised outcomes for children – I did this training and made that change and as a result the children have learned something new or the daily routines flow better or ...
**Staff not encouraging children to find solutions to their own problems
It is sometimes tempting to solve a problem for a child, especially if they are taking a while to respond or solve it for themselves. Try to resist this temptation.
**Not enough good vocabulary used and shared
We know there is a focus on reading books and vocabulary – Ofsted have said during training that the more words children know makes them smarter. Think about how you share new words from books as well as conversation and during activities and repeat them so children hear them and learn them.
**Curriculum not as effective as it should be across all 7 areas of learning
All 7 areas of learning are equally important in all age ranges. Your curriculum must be robust, knowledge rich and well sequenced for each child – we know this is a focus area for inspectors and the single most common reason why providers lost their outstanding grade in the last series of inspections from Sept 2019.
Key point – I talked about all these and more in my webinars and I will raise them in the future. Let’s learn from the mistakes of others and think now about how we can put them right.
Ofsted inspection focus areas
The areas and recommendations focused most on included –
- Planning the curriculum – not enough challenge for the children; lack of knowledge of how to use the 7 areas of learning when planning the curriculum; not enough quality teaching opportunities through the day.
- Poor behaviour in the behaviour and attitudes judgement because poor behaviour leads to children disturbing their own and other children’s learning.
- Staff management – should be used to raise the quality of teaching and learning and to monitor staff performance.
- Safeguarding knowledge and practice – for example, staff were unable to confidently answer safeguarding questions. Staff or childminder professional development plays a big part in ensuring staff know what is expected of them when they are, for example, supporting children’s behaviour, planning the curriculum or teaching children new vocabulary.
Less paperwork – more practice
Ofsted’s buzzwords from the start of the new inspection handbook were to focus less on paperwork and more on practice. You can hear Ofsted talk about it in this webinar from January 2020 –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXKk373Yyv4.
You should consider this when you are putting together evidence for inspection
Key point – instead of having graphs and data to show your inspector, you will be expected to talk about each child’s progress from their starting points and to explain verbally how you support them.
Final thoughts
The current Ofsted focus on curriculum and quality teaching assumes you and your staff have a good understanding of child development and a deep knowledge of each child – their current interests, learning characteristics and the progress they are making (or not) from their starting points.
My advice is to have a ‘story in your head about every child’ – and stories in your head to share with your inspector about, for example, a time when parent partnership benefitted a child or when working with another setting went well. Stories in your head might also cover, for example, how you set out your curriculum or what areas of practice you want to focus on during your learning walk. The more you practice and say things out loud to yourself, the better prepared you will feel when you get the Ofsted ‘we are coming’ phone call.
I have a NEW webinar coming up at the end of July which will talk about feedback from inspections in more detail. It will be free here - www.childcare.co.uk/webinars.
I hope this helps. Sarah.