Speaking exclusively to Nursery World, Gill Jones, Ofsted’s deputy director of early education, said the inspectorate is interested in finding out why nurseries in groups of 21 settings plus are more likely to be graded Outstanding by inspectors. The proportion of settings graded outstanding increased as group size increased.
This was a finding highlighted in Ofsted’s annual report, which was published on Tuesday (1 December).
Overall effectiveness of nurseries and pre-schools by group size: 31 August 2020
Number of nurseries and pre-schools in brackets (rounded)
- Includes inspections carried out by 31 August 2020 with a report published by 30 September 2020.
- Overall effectiveness judgement is based on providers within a nursery and pre-school group that had received a full EYR inspection.
- Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
Source: Ofsted Annual Report, 2019/20
Covid-19
On the subject of the pandemic, Ms Jones said that once inspections start again, Ofsted will be sympathetic to requests from early years providers to defer an inspection, especially for settings in areas under tier 3 Covid restrictions.
Following an announcement from the education secretary, Ofsted has today confirmed a phased return to inspections, with no graded inspections for education and social care to take place before the summer term.
A programme of assurance inspections of early years providers will start from the spring term, however.
When asked about reports that some early years settings are struggling to get hold of Covid-19 tests, Ms Jones said they have shared this information with the Department for Education, who they ‘work closely with’.
Going on to talk about how settings are managing throughout the pandemic, Ms Jones said, ‘Most providers have told us that they have changed the way they organise their setting and what they offer in response to Covid guidelines.’
She then referred to previous research by Ofsted, that revealed early years practitioners’ concerns about children regressing after the first lockdown, including returning to settings using dummies, or back in nappies having previously been toilet trained.
