This year’s annual report found that overall just under three-quarters of providers inspected between September 2010 and August 2011 were judged outstanding or good.
The proportion of settings that received an outstanding grade has risen slightly from 10 per cent to 12 per cent, while 62 per cent of settings were good, compared with 58 per cent the previous year.
The number of providers found to be inadequate remains at 3 per cent.
This leaves just under a quarter of settings (23 per cent) awarded satisfactory.
Jean Humphrys, Ofsted’s interim director development, education and care, told Nursery World, ‘There is year-on-year improvement.’
However, she said that there were differences between the quality of care provided by childminders and for providers in deprived areas.
Nurseries and pre-schools continue to do better in their Ofsted inspections than childminders.
The number of early years settings judged good or outstanding was higher than for childminders, with 80 per cent of providers achieving these grades, compared with 71 per cent of childminders judged good or outstanding.
However, the gap between the quality of childcare for families living in the 20 per cent most deprived areas and other parts of the country remains, with a lower proportion of providers in these areas achieving good or outstanding: 60 per cent of childminders and 74 per cent of nurseries were rated good or outstanding in poorer areas.
Ms Humphrys said, ‘The gap is slightly narrower, slightly better than it was, but it’s not good enough.’
Providers that have been inspected under the EYFS and subsequently left the early years sector are ten times more likely to have been found inadequate than those who stay in the sector.
Ms Humphrys said this was ‘a sign that inspection against the EYFS is driving up standards.'
She also pointed out that while only a small number of childminders were in quality assurance schemes – 365 out of 11,875 childminders inspected – those that were tended to achieve predominately good or outstanding grades (94 per cent).
‘What we’re seeing is that childminders in a network or a quality assurance scheme do better, probably because they share good practice.’
Providers who have been registered for more than four years are more than twice as likely to be judged as outstanding than providers registered for a year or less, which, Ofsted said, showed that time and experience helps to develop quality.
