Ofsted Inspection Trends
The Early Years Team want to support Nottingham City early years providers for their Ofsted Inspections by researching inspections that have taken place across the sector since September 2022 to identify current Ofsted trends.
See below for Ofsted Trends linked to Early Years, Private, Voluntary and independent sector and Early Years linked to Schools.
It is evident through these recent Ofsted reports that definite trends are emerging regarding:
- Purposeful planning opportunities in order to extend children’s knowledge and skills
- Ensuring activities are challenging
- Quality interactions between practitioners and children
- How practitioners work in partnership with their parent/carers.
This download contains extracts from a selection of recent Early Years Ofsted reports and collates some recommendations that have been highlighted at feedback by Ofsted Inspectors as areas for improvement.
We hope that this information provides an indication of Ofsted’s current inspection focuses. This document could be used as part of your settings development plan and, as always, when preparing for inspection we recommend you begin with any actions and/or recommendations set at your last inspection.
Recommendations from School Ofsted inspections
Ofsted inspections carry out 2 types of inspection: graded inspections and ungraded inspections. The most common is ungraded, the purpose of these inspections is to confirm whether a school remains good or outstanding under the definition of overall effectiveness set out in the grade descriptors. Inspectors evaluate schools against the following key judgements:
quality of education
behaviour and attitudes
personal development
leadership and management
The ‘evaluating the quality of education’ section applies to both graded and ungraded inspections. The other judgement sections are split into specific graded inspections and ungraded inspections sections. These differ from graded inspections, where inspectors make an overall effectiveness judgement, as well as the other 4 key judgements set out in part 3. Follow the link for more information: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook-eif/school-inspection-handbook-for-september-2023#inspection-outcomes
As an Early Years Team, we want to support you to prepare for your inspection by researching inspections that have taken place over the last few years. The information on the slides below have been developed by summarising findings from recent reports and by identifying common recommendations from those findings which sit with the Early Years department of your school.
It is evident through these recent School Ofsted reports, that definite trends are emerging regarding purposeful planning opportunities to extend children’s knowledge and skills and to ensure activities are challenging. Furthermore, the reports identify and discuss the quality of interactions between practitioners and children and how well the schools have continued to work in partnership with parent/carers.
To see an overview of the trends please click the link below;
