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Ofsted

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) are independent and impartial and inspect and inspect and regulate services which care for children and young people, and those providing education and skills for learners of all ages.

The Education Inspection Framework sets out how Ofsted inspects maintained schools, academies, non-association independent schools, further education and skills provision and registered early years settings in England.

The Ofsted Early Years Inspection Handbook provides guidance on inspecting registered early years and childcare providers under the Education Inspection Framework.

As stated in the current Provider Agreement, Nottingham City Early Years and Childcare Providers should inform the Early Years Team when they are being inspected by Ofsted with the date and time of the Ofsted feedback to enable a member of the Team to be present if possible (with the exception of childminders).

Early years providers can register with Ofsted to receive daily, weekly or monthly email alerts about:

Inspection Reports
Publications
Inspection and Regulation Forms and Guides
Videos and Podcasts
Consultations
News and Newsletter

The Early Years Team recommend that all early years providers regularly visit the Ofsted website to ensure they have the most current information.

The Early Years Team analyse Ofsted Inspection Reports to identify Ofsted trends which we hope local early years and childcare providers will find useful, particularly in preparing for their inspection.

Good Practice Guides

Getting It Right First Time - An Ofsted survey report describing features of strong leadership and achieving and maintaining high quality in early years provision.

Videos and Webinars

This Ofsted Webinar covers what what the Education Inspection Framework means for Childminders (please note the polls in the Webinar are no longer active)
This Ofsted Video is about inspecting early years providers who provide care before and after the school day or during holidays
This Ofsted Video explains what 'cultural capital' means for early years and how this gives children the knowledge and skills to prepare them for future success.

Useful Documents

Other Ofsted guidance documents can be found on the Ofsted website.

Also see

Ofsted Inspection Trends