An Ofsted inspection is highly important to nursery owners and manager, if the outcome of the inspection is what owners and manager’s hope for, then this can mean everything to a successful business.
Ofsted reports are accessible to the public therefore anyone can read the report and gain an insight of the nursery. Some parents will choose a nursery based on its latest Ofsted report, therefore this is why owners and managers need to ensure the nursery is running to its highest ability.
What Are Ofsted Inspections?
All Childcare establishments except crèches will have an Ofsted inspection at some point, settings will be inspected during a cycle. If Ofsted receive a complaint/concern they may investigate and carry out a full inspection. Ofsted will look at the setting previous recommendations and observe and evaluate if these have been met. It is best practice to be aware of your recommendations and create an action plan/ improvement plan to address these points, as Ofsted may visit the setting at any time so start addressing the recommendations straightaway.
What Are They Looking For?
Below are some comments from nurseries that have recently been inspected
“Safeguarding, key person role & looking at trackers. PE time & sef form. They wanted to see lots of maths too.
We got ‘outstanding”
The day went like this…
“She checked all qualifications where up to date… Then asked the managed to see staff personal files… Details of employment, interview process, DBS checks etc. she then interviewed a member of staff about how she was recruited (I.e. c.v, interview, references, where she saw it advertised, when DBS was done, what happened in induction).
She looked at our parent feedback file and made notes.
She then asked to see a lower ability child and a higher ability child (that was in on the day) she asked questions about each about starting points, development, support, extension, school readiness etc… She also looked at their accident/ incident forms, files and trackers.
She asked safeguarding questions to all staff (in different ways).
She also asked individual staff how / if they were involved in the SEF, how the setting engages with parents.
She wanted to see our ‘verbal’ complaints (moans) log.
She then observed a member of staff alongside the manager and asked what she saw, why it was good/ bad, what could she improve on etc…
After that she went for a meeting with the manager to discuss how many children were on roll, how many were funded, looked at policies and procedures. She then observed for a while and then gave the final feedback”
“This is very similar to ours also. She wanted to see our single central record showing all staff, thirst qualifications, certificate checks, references, dbs numbers, allowed to work in the UK”
” She looked at the planning with regards to the two ‘target’ children she wanted to see where they featured on the planning (either CP plans or focussed activities). I guess she looked at ratios but it wasn’t mentioned as we are only 1 room so it’s clear to see that ratios were all ok smile emotion. She looked at the risk assessment when she looked through the policies smile emotion. She again checked accident/ incident forms of the two ‘target’ children. She asked about staff training / meetings when she looked at the certificates”
How Can Nurseries Prepare?
Ofsted should be able to turn up at any time and the settings should be running the same it did the day before. For good practice managers should be continuously evaluating the environment and visiting policies and documentation to see if all up to date. There is no harm in every now and then asking practitioner’s questions or requesting to see learning journeys planning etc.
Monitoring the quality and standard of the setting should be of a high priority as well as re-evaluating and enhanced it regularly.
Always look back at your last inspection and pick up on any aspects that where mentioned, as these points will be re-assessed by the inspector and if an improvement hasn’t been made this may affect your overall grade