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Whether this is your first experience with Ofsted or you've experienced your fair share of Ofsted inspections, ‘the call’ can strike fear into any Early Years manager’s heart. But it needn’t be that way.
Ofsted should be a chance for you to shine and show the very best your setting has to offer. It's your chance to showcase the work you and your team do to support children's learning, day-in and day-out.
But with so much to think about, how do you know what to focus on in order to get the grading you know you deserve? And, more importantly, how can you make sure your setting is 'Outstanding' every day (not just on the day of your next inspection)?
Well, some advice from the people who’ve been there and done it might not be a bad starting point.
We’ve spoken to some of the very best managers, owners, and leaders in the country, all of whom have achieved an Outstanding Ofsted judgement at their own nurseries. We’ve also got contributions from Ofsted themselves!
As ever, please get in touch and let us know what you think! And if you like what you read, we’d love for you to pass the guide on to your friends, colleagues and anyone in Early Years who might want a helping hand at their next Ofsted inspection.
Gill Jones
Deputy Director of Schools and Early Education, Ofsted
Gill Jones has worked in various roles within early education and is now Ofsted’s Deputy Director of Schools and Early Education, having worked at Ofsted since 2007. We spoke to her while the education inspection framework was out for review. She discussed why the changes to an Early Years Ofsted inspection had been made and what they’ll mean for registered early years providers.
Wendy Ratcliff
HMI, Ofsted
Wendy is an Ofsted inspector, and has played a key role in developing the new Early Years framework alongside Gill Jones and her team. She discussed with us what’s changed on inspection day and how Ofsted have been working to dispel myths about the inspection process at Early Years settings.
Becky Pike & Lizzy Barlow
Partner & Nursery Group Leader, Hollies Day Nurseries
Rated 'Outstanding' in 2022
Hollies Day Nurseries are Early Years providers Nottingham, with five settings. They hold one 'Outstanding' a 'Good', and three settings awaiting their first inspection. Hollies are progressive and forward-thinking, making sure that each child has a unique journey towards becoming a life-long learner.
“Children are curious and excited, and they are exceptionally well motivated in their learning. They quickly develop the skills they need for the next stage of their learning and for their eventual move on to school.”
Ailsa Monk
Principal, Cotswold Montessori School
Rated 'Outstanding' in 2018
Cotswold Montessori School is located in specially converted farm buildings in the beautiful North Cotswolds. They aim to create a safe and caring home environment for children filled with opportunities to engage and learn.
“Staff provide an exceptional learning environment where children benefit from the vast range of high-quality, stimulating resources. Children have an excellent sense of belonging.”
Michelle Tuddenham
Manager/Director, Little Acorns Montessori
Rated 'outstanding' in 2018
Little Acorns Montessori has been providing care for children in Windsor for well over two decades. They aim to provide structured learning in a fun, relaxed and caring environment every day.
“Staff have exceptional relationships with children and their families. New children settle quickly, show high levels of confidence and eagerly explore the stimulating play areas.”
In the most recent Early Years education inspection framework, the new section ‘Quality of Education’ replaces, and takes elements from ‘Teaching, Learning and Assessment’, ‘Outcomes’, and ‘Development, Behaviour and Welfare’. It’s now covered by three main criteria Intent, Implementation and Impact.
These three aspects won't be inspected individually, but are part of the inspection processes for determining the overall quality of education. Inspectors will be looking for how you've considered the intent, implementation, and impact of your Early Years provision throughout their inspection activities.
Expanding the EYFS
In terms of ‘Intent’, providers have to put the flesh on the EYFS they do that already by deciding which resources they have in their settings, and they decide whether they’re going to take a “topic” approach, a “follow the child’s interests” approach or a mixture of the two. So that is their curriculum intent.
- Gill Jones
Next steps
Staff need to think for themselves when it comes to next steps. Because if you’re just given an automatic next step, that might not be the right one for that child. And the inspector said she agreed with that.
- Michelle Tuddenham
Changes to the environment
If there’s changes to your environment, be aware about how you’ve dealt with that. For example, if you have an influx of children who all have english as an additional language, they’ll want to know what you’ve done about it and how it’s changed your environment. The same with SEND, and EYPP - how are you using that funding to help support that child’s growth?
- Lizzy Barlow
Trends
We even look at the trends in primary and secondary schools and consider how that will filter down to early years. We think, is there anything that we’re doing now that could help with the children’s outcomes later on?
- Becky Pike
Learning from the children
Multiple inspectors have said to me now that they shouldn’t need to talk to a manager or staff member to see if a setting is outstanding. They say that they can learn everything they need to know from the children.
- Lizzy Barlow
Intent in practice
Implementation’ is about how the ‘Intent’ actually works in practice. For example, why might you choose to use a shape sorter or a jigsaw as opposed to doing something else. It’s about the choices that practitioners make.
- Gill Jones
EYFS not the focus?
Ofsted used to go through all of your journals and tracking with a fine tooth comb but I don’t think the EYFS is the focus anymore. It’s more important that you’re looking at where each child is and use that to push them further on.
- Michelle Tuddenham
Renewed focus on vocabulary
The reason we’ve included building vocabularies specifically is because it’s key to everything. The more words a child knows, and understands, the more confident they become and the easier it will be for them to learn to read and access the rest of the curriculum. So the first stages of building vocabulary from babyhood onwards are vital. We want inspectors to ask practitioners and leaders about what they’re doing to ensure that children learn and remember more.
- Gill Jones
How does the implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage actually affect the individual children in your setting? Key factors to consider are how skills such as speech and language, comprehension, mathematical concepts and motor skills have improved, (including how you progress check) and how ready older children are for their transition to Key Stage 1.
Individual learning plans
What really swung it for us was how well we know our children. Every child has an individual learning plan and twice a year we take the time to make assessments on how the children are doing and produce a CoEL report on them. We use our own practitioner knowledge for that which helps us to understand our children really well.
Time in the classroom
At the beginning of each big term I spend a whole day in each class with the teachers to track the children’s development. I also observe how the classroom runs, how the teachers are teaching, how the routines are and so on. That is my monitoring system to make sure no child is left behind and that we always have things to improve on.
- By Alisa Monk
How to be outstanding: The Ofsted Inspection Guide
Liking this so far?. From hitting the ‘3 Is’ to management skills, Early Years managers and Ofsted’s Gill Jones and Wendy Ratcliff have you covered.
Behaviour and attitudes is another new part of the framework which has been separated out and given a renewed focus, where it was previously included as a part of ‘Development, Behaviour and Welfare’. The reason behind this change was that Ofsted Inspectors will make inspection judgements about how children display behaviour and attitudes through the Characteristics of Effective Learning.
It’s important to remember, it’s not about children being regulated all the time, and inspectors won’t penalise settings for instances of children becoming dysregulated. The focus is on ensuring practitioners have effective approaches to support the development of self-regulation in all children.
Behaviour as the building blocks development
Behaviour is key and we separated it out because adults do lots of things that influence children’s behaviour, but ultimately children’s behaviour is their outcome, their input. We separated those judgments for two reasons, to give the emphasis that we feel that it deserves, and also so that we can actually separate the modelling that the adults do and the protocols that they give children from how children actually behave.
- Gill Jones
Inevitably young children do become dysregulated
We often hear concerns from people asking if they’ll be downgraded because children misbehave. We’re clear in our framework that we’re talking about young children here, and what we’re interested in is how adults support children in developing their behaviour.
- Wendy Ratcliff
A flexible schedule
If you’re doing something and the children are really engaged, don’t stop for ‘lunch time’. Lunch can wait. We don’t tend to have strict routines and you need to have that because that’s when the most amazing moments happen.
- Lizzy Barlow
The whole picture
You need to know what’s going on in the rest of your children’s lives, not just in these four walls with you. Because everything that goes on outside affects what happens inside the setting with you.
- Becky Pike
‘Personal Development’ focuses on how your provision helps children’s all-round progress in relation to their age and current stage of development. Inspectors consider whether practitioners offer a rich variety of learning experiences to promote understanding, emotional literacy and learning.
The building blocks of development
We know that the most effective adults who work with children are those that fully understand the pathways children take from not being able to do something, to being able to do it whether that be in terms of potty training, or learning to write. Whatever it is, there are certainly tiny steps that a really skilled practitioner will be able to identify, and just know innately what they need to do.
- Gill Jones
Child interests
We didn’t get asked anything about the EYFS last time. It’s more about the children’s interests and what inspires them and how you keep them engaged. As long as you can show that they are making progress in line with the EYFS, it’s more about how you’re helping them towards that progress and keeping them engaged.
- Lizzy Barlow
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Communication and language
We have qualified all of our staff in Elklan, which is all about language and communication. It helps children gain really good communication and language skills. I do a cohort of that and ever since we’ve done the course we’re able to see that the children are progressing much better.
Open-ended questions
We use open-ended questions all the time and our staff always give the children the time to come up with an answer. You need to step back and leave them to think about it for a bit and then you can step in and give them a few clues if they haven’t got it. But they will get there if you give them the time and confidence.
Challenging the children
Ofsted are looking for the staff to challenge the children to make predictions, think about what they’re doing and solve problems.
When we spoke to both Gill and Wendy, they made a big emphasis on the fact that paperwork just for the sake isn’t going to help you in an inspection. In fact, the new framework aims to move away from a ‘document everything’ culture.
Of course, if you need to make notes and document things, that's fine, but don't create an unnecessary workload for yourself. Recording evidence should be based on what's necessary for the children's learning.
As such, it’s important to understand the paperwork that can help with Ofsted (and what won’t) so that you won’t be wasting time that could be spent on the stuff that really matters.
Moving away from an Outcomes judgement
We think that there is far too much paperwork going on in the name of assessment, which is very valuable in terms of knowing what children can do, and what they need to do next. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be linked to lots and lots of paperwork. Due to the Outcomes judgement, the current framework is driving people to produce a lot of evidence for us about children’s outcomes which is also driving the paperwork.
- Gill Jones
Policies and procedures
You can buy policies and procedures off the shelf but you will not understand them because they were somebody else’s documents. So when the inspector asks you why they are like that it’s going to be difficult. The inspectors will realise if you know what you’re talking about or not.
- Ailsa Monk
Save time
There’s no point collecting paperwork for paperwork’s sake. Make short observations, but make sure that every word counts.
- Ailsa Monk
Your nursery values
Our job descriptions start with personal attributes. The managers, the leaders, the cleaners, it all starts with the same attributes. Happy and smiling. Love children. Approachable. Caring. Because most other things can be taught, but those attributes can’t be.
- Becky Pike
It can be tough at the top. But to be the very best you need to be an outstanding leader and a great manager.
So, how do outstanding leaders run their nurseries?
Commiting to your setting
If your leadership isn’t there then you won’t get outstanding. Unless you’re into everything at your nursery 100% then you’re wasting your time. You’ve got to have commitment to it.
- Becky Pike
Being in the room
If you’re in the room, you’ve got no choice but to be engaged, because the children will climb on you. And if you can show that you can be silly and play and have a laugh, the staff can be silly and play too.
- Becky Pike
Talk to Outstanding settings
If you’re a setting and you’re not outstanding, phone a setting who is. People are so happy to share their information. They’re not in it to make money or just to be the best. What matters is the children. So if you have a setting down the road who is outstanding, go and ask to see how they do things.
- Lizzy Barlow
Out of office
Our nursery leaders aren’t office based. They have an amount of time to do their office work and a laptop so they can answer emails in the room, but all of the main admin is dealt with by the administration team. Fees, contracts, new starters, funding - none of it’s dealt with by the leaders.
- Lizzy Barlow
While Ofsted cover this under Leadership and Management, everyone we spoke to thought that staff training and development was the number one thing to invest in at any setting.
Let’s see what they have to say…
Performance management
I give every member of staff a sheet with maybe 50 statements on, and get them to rate themselves on a scale of 1-5. This means they’re not scared about performance management, because they already know what we’re going to discuss, and if they’re honest with themselves, they also know what I’m going to say and they can prepare for it.
- Ailsa Monk
Admitting you're wrong
To have a situation where staff don’t cover up anything, you have to have a framework in which it’s safe to say when you’ve gone wrong.
- Ailsa Monk
Talking the talk
Proper training means the staff can talk the theory as well as explain what’s happening in the room. It’s not just about one single child, but about what they’ve learnt about how all children learn.
- Becky Pike
Do they really know it?
If the team do training outside of our internal training they need to be able to evidence what they’ve learnt and present that training back to the rest of the staff. Just because they’ve got a certificate doesn’t mean they know what they’re talking about.
- Becky Pike
Balancing the rooms
You need to balance the skill sets in the room. If you’ve got somebody who is really lively then you can balance them with someone who is more nurturing. If it doesn’t work, then you can always change it.
- Becky Pike
Is this you?
If you like telling people off, this isn’t the business to be in. If something goes wrong it should feel as upsetting to you as it does to them.
- Becky Pike
Worth the investment?
We’re passionate about staff training and it’s all focused on what the children’s needs are. It costs a lot of money to train staff, but the investment has been second to none. If we hadn’t done it then we wouldn’t be where we are now.
- Becky Pike
Simple questions
Inspectors ask simple questions in complicated ways. So if you can prep your staff with the language of Ofsted by using the handbook as part of your training, it just puts them at ease and lets them be themselves.
- Lizzy Barlow
Everyone can improve
We get evaluated on what we might not do well and we have to take that onboard too. Your staff have to able to approach you to say that they need your support.
- Lizzy Barlow
Strengths vs weaknesses
You’ve got to identify people’s strengths but don’t necessarily try to develop their weaknesses. There is no point - because you’re just giving them a job that they don’t want to do. Let them use their passion to share with others who want to improve.
- Lizzy Barlow
Even now that Ofsted have scrapped the SEF, it’s still important that you are evaluating and improving your setting all the time.
You can refer to the Ofsted Early Years inspection handbook, the EYFS, or develop your own evaluation schedule - as long as it helps you identify your areas for improvement and assess your overall effectiveness.
However, it's not enough to just do this in the run-up to inspections, or worse, the day you get the notification call. It's only effective if your self-assessment is a working document and continually updated.
Let's see what the experts say…
Looking inwards
The simplest way we improve is to look at each other and how we do things. It involves taking staff off ratio for half an hour every now and again and get them to observe someone else. Then that helps to inform our reflective practice.
- Michelle Tuddenham
Organic self-evaluation
Our self-evaluation is very organic. If something stops being exciting because the children lose interest, then we address it next time we have an evaluation. We don’t just keep bashing away at the same thing because people say that you should.
- Becky Pike
Who to include?
We include our children, our parents, our families, our environment, and local factors in our evaluation. You need to go outside the doors of your setting and see how the local factors change what you do.
- Becky Pike
Keeping it fresh
I find a working document is better as a self-evaluation because then it’s not going to go out of date the minute you’ve finished it.
- Ailsa Monk
Your parent partnerships are crucial in helping to build a full picture of every child. So how do you make sure they’re outstanding in the eyes of Ofsted, and of course, the parents themselves?
Daily diaries
Try to involve parents as much as possible in everything you do. Famly has really helped with that, tracking sleep times and meal times, all the daily diary stuff. What they really want to know is all the amazing stuff we’ve done in the day and now they don’t need to ask about the daily stuff because they can find out on Famly.
- Lizzy Barlow
Your biggest fan
If a parent loves you, then get them in and ask them why! Or get them to send an email or have a meeting about why they believe you’re outstanding.
- Lizzy Barlow
Parent questionnaires
We also do parent questionnaires based on the Ofsted primary school ones. We compile them for evaluation and we also have evidence to show Ofsted.
- Ailsa Monk
Honesty is the best policy
Having a hugely trusting and confident relationship with parents allows you to have that difficult conversation. You mustn’t say to them that their child has had a good day if they haven’t. The language we use is “WE haven’t had a good day.” Because then it’s about the practitioner taking on those emotions and trying to change it.
- Lizzy Barlow
Parent-teacher meetings
Different parents want different things. So when we send out the reports we ask them if they’d like a parent-teacher meeting. This means it’s efficient, because we only spend our time on the parents who really need it.
- Ailsa Monk
Telling them about the inspection
As soon as I knew that we were going to have an Ofsted inspection I messaged all the parents to let them know. I told them that the inspector might want to speak to them and that they should be completely honest and say whatever they think. We got a huge number of comments back and I even showed that to the inspector. It was incredible what they put and the inspector really liked that.
- Michelle Tuddenham
An open door
They can always come in and talk to us. That’s very important for Ofsted, because parents are leaving their children with us and they need to know that they are secure and safe when they’re here.
- Michelle Tuddenham
It’s not about having a special Ofsted day plan, a neat folder of all your assessment data, or every risk assessment you've ever done. Instead, it’s making sure that you and your staff are confident and capable enough to let the good work you do shine through.
The learning walk
We’ve put a greater emphasis on the learning walk in the new inspection framework, it’s an opportunity for leaders and managers to explain to inspectors their rationale for their EYFS curriculum and how they set out their early years provision.
- Wendy Ratcliff
The child's experience
The most important thing to remember on the day is that inspectors are charged with finding out what it’s like as a child in the setting. We do a range of activities to assess that but have now moved away from prioritising data and paperwork.
- Wendy Ratcliff
Telling the staff
I waited until the end of the day to tell the staff so that they could just go home and relax as much as possible. There’s nothing that we needed to do or change that day specifically for Ofsted’s visit.
- Ailsa Monk
Selling yourself
The call is the first point for you to really sell yourself. To say “Yes, come on, we’re ready for you, we’re looking forward to it, can’t wait to show you around.” Be positive. Be competent. Ordered. Ask questions. Sell yourself, because that’s effectively what you’re doing.
- Ailsa Monk
Finding the answer
If you get put on the spot, just say “You know what, my mind’s gone blank, can you give me a minute?” That’s all you need to do - you don’t need to have every answer every time.
- Lizzy Barlow
The right language
We use a competency framework that runs in levels to assess our staff. It’s more about passion and talent than qualifications. Kind of like a learning journey. Within that we use the kind of language that Ofsted wants you to know so that it’s a part of the staff’s whole process with us.
- Becky Pike
Keep it simple
It’s much better to just do what you do every day. If you run your nursery properly then you don’t need to change anything. Obviously you should check your policies and procedures are up to date, but you should be doing the day-to-day stuff anyway. If you change it for an inspection then it’s going to go wrong.
- Michelle Tuddenham
Your time to shine
The inspector said, this is your time to shine. Because it is your time to shine. Do what you’re good at and don’t put anything in that you’ve never done before. It’s not a day for trying something new.
- Becky Pike
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Guidance from the Danish Health Ministry, translated in full to English.
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The full recommendations from a working group of over 70 nursery chains in the UK.
Please note: here at Famly we love sharing creative activities for you to try with the children at your setting, but you know them best. Take the time to consider adaptions you might need to make so these activities are accessible and developmentally appropriate for the children you work with. Just as you ordinarily would, conduct risk assessments for your children and your setting before undertaking new activities, and ensure you and your staff are following your own health and safety guidelines.
Get top tips from a setting just like yours. Hear from Alphabet House on why and how they use Famly - and why they’ve never looked back.
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