Questions Ofsted might ask you and your nursery staff in 2025

From November 2025, Ofsted will inspect your provision in eight new evaluation areas:

• Leadership and management/ governance
• Curriculum
• Developing teaching 
• Achievement
• Behaviour, attitudes, and establishing routines
• Children's welfare and wellbeing,
• Inclusion
• Safeguarding

To help you get the most out of this article, we've also split the questions up into these categories.

What questions will Ofsted ask on The Call?

The famous Ofsted notification call will now be used to better understand the context of the setting. Oftsed’s Early Years Regulatory Inspector, Sam Sleeman-Boss, explains that Ofsted want to collaborate better with settings and use the call to find out:

• The context in which your setting is working (the area, the type of families who attend, funding, setting type etc.)
• What you and your team see as their strengths 
• What your setting’s priorities are 
• What you and the team are working to improve or develop, and why 
• What your curriculum looks like
• Any areas of the practice or provision you’d really like to focus on 

The Call is also to cover the logistics of the inspection and make any practical arrangements, such as which documents the inspector would like to see. Of course, you will also have the opportunity to ask questions.

You can find out more about what will be discussed on The Call in Ofsted’s guidance, “Early years inspection operating guide for inspectors”

Ofted’s guidance, “Early years inspection information”, tells us that settings will also receive an email, following the call. In this email, you’ll receive further information about how the inspection will be conducted, including how to raise any concerns.

The email will also ask for:

• The age range and number of children on roll​
• The number of 5-year-olds on roll
• Your setting’s operating times​
• The number of staff and their levels of qualification​
• The number and age of children receiving additional funding, including the early years pupil premium and disability access funding
• The number of children with SEND

What questions will Ofsted ask about leadership and management?

According to the Early Years Toolkit, this evaluation area is to find out about:

• Whether leaders and governors understand and meet the statutory requirements set out in the EYFS
• The commitment of leaders and those responsible for governance to provide high standards of education and care to improve the lives of all children, especially those:
  
  • Receiving statutory support, including disadvantaged children
  • With SEND
  • Who are known (or previously known) to children’s social care 
  • Who may face barriers to their learning and/or well-being

Want to brush up on your leadership skills? Check out this article on Famly where we interview Early Years educator Kelly Hill. She shares 4 tips on how to be a better leader in the Early Years.

What questions might Ofsted ask?

• What does your recruitment process look like?
• How do you manage staff supervision and appraisals?
• How are you monitoring staff performance?
• How do you embed high expectations for all children at the setting in your practice?
• What are your setting’s strengths?
• What are your key areas for development?
• How do you evaluate and maintain high standards of education and care?
• How do you create positive relationships with parents and carers to support children’s education and care?
• How do you monitor the workload and well-being of your team?

How can I help my staff prepare for Ofsted's questions?

It’s really natural for staff to be nervous when they find out Ofsted are on their way. Take a moment to remind staff is that it’s okay to not have all the answers - we can all forget things under pressure. Just let the inspector know you need a minute to think, or tell them exactly how you’d find out what you need to know.  

What questions will Ofsted ask about our curriculum and teaching?

The Early Years Toolkit explains that this evaluation area helps inspectors to find out:

• Whether leaders ensure that they provide all children with a high-quality, ambitious curriculum
• Whether leaders and practitioners plan, design and implement the educational programmes of the EYFS statutory framework to create a coherent and sequential curriculum that builds on what children know and can do 
• The extent to which the setting’s curriculum meets the needs of the range of ages and stages of children who attend

During the inspection, Ofsted closely observes various activities and interactions between staff and children. They aim to identify strengths in the nursery's approach as well as areas that require improvement to provide better support for children's development.

What questions might Ofsted ask?

• Tell me about how you’ve constructed your curriculum
• How do you ensure that children have the skills and the knowledge they need to be ready for their next stage in education?
• Show me your planning
• How do you support your educators to learn about child development? 
• How does your curriculum and provision meet the requirements of EYFS educational programmes?
• How do you ensure your team is delivering high-quality provision, interactions, and teaching?
• How do you check children’s understanding?
• How do you support communication and language?
• What are some of the ways that you work on parent partnerships to enhance their child's learning?

Make sure that everyone (including yourself) has a great working knowledge of all 7 areas of learning, and how your setting's curriculum meets the requirements of the EYFS.‍

‍What questions will Ofsted ask about achievement?

How is this area different from curriculum and teaching? Let’s go back to the Early Years Toolkit…

This evaluation area aims to support inspectors to find out about:  

• Whether the setting provides a high-quality education that gives all children the necessary knowledge so they are ready for the next stage in education, 
• The progress that children make from their starting points, so that they know more, remember more, and can do more

What questions might Ofsted ask?

• How are you assessing children’s starting points? 
• How do you ensure children are gaining detailed knowledge across the 7 areas of learning? 
• Show me how you adapt your provision for different ages and stages of development 
• How are children being supported to make the best possible start in their learning and development? 
• How do you learn what children already know and can do?
• What is your process for planning what's next for the children?
• How do you make two-year progress checks?
• Run me through a specific observation you might make on a child.
• What areas of the EYFS do you need to work on with certain cohorts at the moment?

‍What questions will Ofsted ask about behaviour, attitudes, and establishing routines?

The Early Years Toolkit tells us that this evaluation area is where inspectors judge:

• Whether leaders and practitioners create an environment that positively supports children’s learning, development and care
• How leaders and practitioners support children’s behaviour and attitudes, including how they teach children to understand and manage their own emotions and behaviour and to relate to others
• How settings work with parents and carers to establish routines, including by promoting attendance, so that children form good habits for future learning
• How the setting has an impact on the behaviour, attitudes and routines of children receiving additional support.

What questions might Ofsted ask?

• How do you support children’s behaviour and attitudes?
• Do you have a behaviour policy? 
• What routines do you follow in the setting?
• What are your key person arrangements?
• Tell me about your care routines 
• How do you support children to settle into the setting well? 
• Explain how you support children to develop their confidence, resilience and independence.
• How do you foster a culture of treating others with kindness, care and respect? 
• How do you teach emotional awareness? 
• How are you monitoring and supporting children’s attendance?
• How do you support children to develop executive function, conflict management, and self-regulation?
• How do you create an environment that supports children’s motivation and positive attitudes to learning?
• How do you ensure that all children benefit from the setting’s experiences and education?
• How do you demonstrate clear expectations of behaviour and attendance?
• How do you remove barriers to consistent attendance for children and families?
• How do you ensure that all practitioners apply the rules consistently, fairly and effectively?  
• How have you created a positive, inclusive and respectful culture? 
• How do you evaluate how well staff know, support and care about children?

What questions will Ofsted ask about children's welfare and well-being?

The Early Years Toolkit tells us that this evaluation area is where inspectors judge how the setting:

• Promotes children’s welfare and well-being  
• Ensures that children receive the care and support they need to achieve and thrive in the setting and beyond

What questions might Ofsted ask?

• What are the ways that you establish warm, positive relationships between key persons and babies and children?
• What do secure attachments look like in this setting? 
• How do you support children’s developing understanding of how to keep physically healthy and maintain an active lifestyle?
• How do you support risky play?
• What kind of opportunities do you offer to children to be active during the day?
• What does your menu look like? 
• How are you promoting a healthy diet?
• How do you ensure that you’re providing care that is appropriate to children’s needs, ages and/or stages of development?
• How do you promote safe use of technology to children and their families?
• What do your sleep routines look like?
• What do respectful hygiene routines look like in this setting?
• How is weaning supported? 
• How do you ensure equality of opportunity and belonging? 

What questions will Ofsted ask about inclusion

According to the Early Years Toolkit, the inspection area “Inclusion” covers the following aspects:

• How leaders and practitioners identify and support socioeconomically disadvantaged children (those in receipt of EYPP)  
• How leaders and practitioners identify and support children with SEND
• How leaders and practitioners identify and support children who are known (or previously known) to children’s social care
• How leaders and practitioners identify and support children who may face other barriers to their learning

What questions might Ofsted ask about inclusion?

• How do you take steps to provide an inclusive, broad, and varied curriculum for all children at your setting, including SEND, EAL, and recipients of EYPP?
• How are you working with the families or carers of this cohort of children?
• How do you monitor and support the well-being of your most disadvantaged children?
• How do you partner with parents and carers to signpost additional support?
• How are you working with the relevant agencies to further support this cohort of children? 
• Who is your SENCo?
• What does the SENCo’s role look like?
• How do you identify children with emerging SEN?
• How and when do you share information with other agencies, such as the Local Authority?
• How do you meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010?
• How are you meeting the specific needs of your EAL children?
• How are you using the funding you receive through the EYPP?
• How do you learn about the most effective ways to use EYPP?
• How do you monitor and support progress in this cohort of children's learning and development?

Understanding how any funding is being spent is an important one. More importantly, you want to be able to provide clear evidence about how the money you’ve spent is making a difference.‍

“The EYFS requires settings to meet the needs of all children at their settings, and that's not going to change,” says Sam, “If you are secure in your inclusive practice, then you are meeting the requirements of the EYFS. So we're not asking for anything over and above that in terms of you being secure, and that's what we'll expect to see for those children.”

‍‍What questions will Ofsted ask about Safeguarding?

The Early Years Toolkit explains that this evaluation area considers:  

• Whether the setting establishes an open and positive safeguarding culture that puts children’s interests first  
• The extent to which leaders take an effective, whole-setting approach to safeguarding

To grade the safeguarding in your setting as ‘met’ or ‘not met’, Ofsted inspectors will be looking to gather evidence around:

• The safeguarding culture in your setting and amongst your team
• Whether staff have all the safeguarding information they need and can act on it
• The management of safeguarding in your setting
• Safer recruitment
• How your setting would respond to safeguarding concerns or allegations

What questions might Ofsted ask?

• How can the team access safeguarding polices?
• How do you evaluate and monitor how your safeguarding policies and procedures are being followed?
• How do you report a safeguarding concern?
• When might you share appropriate information about a child with an outside agency, like the Local Authority? 
• Do staff know what to do about a safeguarding concern if the manager or DSL is not present?
• What would be some warning signs for you that there was a safeguarding issue with one of your key children?
• What does your safeguarding training look like?
• Who delivers your safeguarding training?
• Who is your DSL?
• How do you safely and securely document safeguarding concerns?
• What would you do if an armed person tried to enter the setting?
• What do your recruitment procedures look like?
• What are your fire safety arrangements?
• How do you ensure staff adhere to your code of conduct?
• What is Prevent Duty?
• What is transferable risk?
• What arrangements are in place to receive and share records at points of transfer?
• What is the harm threshold?
• How would you refer a concern to the LADO?
• To what extent are you alert to the potential needs and vulnerabilities of the children that arrive at your setting?
• How do you inform receiving schools of any concerns or support you have provided?

Inspectors expect practitioners to prioritise safeguarding children in Early Years settings and have an “it could happen here” attitude. While it might feel a bit over the top to be talking about guns and preventative strategies, Ofsted is clear that it is important to be prepared for every “possible” outcome.

What documents will Ofsted ask to see?

The Early Years Toolkit tells us that, “ Inspectors are required to view specific documentation. This should be limited to documents relating to the setting’s statutory requirements or documents it produces as part of its normal business processes. Inspectors do not need information to be presented in any specific format, as long as it is easily accessible. We do not need leaders to produce documents specifically for an Ofsted inspection of their setting. This would create unnecessary workload.” So what do they actually want to see?

What documents will Ofsted ask for?

According to Ofsted’s guidance, “Early Years inspection information”, you must provide your inspectors with the following documentation, either online or in printed form:

• Paediatric first-aid arrangements
• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) records
• Any other documents summarising the checks on, and the vetting and employment arrangements of, all staff working at the setting

What other documents might Ofsted ask for?

• Any referrals made to the LADO (local authority designated officer) for safeguarding, and their resolution
• The details of all children who are an open case to social care/children’s services and for whom there is a multi-agency plan
• Details of the children present at the setting during the inspection
• Your records of accidents
• Your records of any instances where children have been refused a place
• Your logs of incidents of discrimination, including racist incidents
• The records of any complaints and their resolution
• Any other documents providers are required to have to meet the EYFS