New Ofsted Inspections Begin

New Ofsted Inspections Begin

Ofsted inspectors have been busy inspecting settings under the requirements of the Revised EYFS 2012 framework, since it was introduced in Spetember.  Several settings in Bristol (both early years and out of school settings) have now been inspected, although at the time of writing, most of the reports hadn’t been published.  Feedback from these Bristol settings, about their experience of the inspection process, has been fairly positive and we look forward to reading the inspection reports. 

Although we haven’t seen many Bristol inspection reports, inspections took place throughout England within a few days of the new framework being introduced and we have been reading the published reports with interest to identify any key points that might be useful to share with Bristol settings.

These reports clearly state what the inspectors focussed on during the inspections, for example:
The inspector observed activities in each of the playrooms, including joint observations with the provider.

• The inspector spoke to the provider, deputy manager, childcare staff throughout the day and recorded observations of their interactions with children.
• The inspector held a meeting with the manager, which included carrying out a joint observation of a story session.
• The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of the suitability of practitioners working within the setting, the provider's self-evaluation form and a range of other documentation.
• The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day and in information in the self-evaluation form.

The inspection reports give information about why the setting has been awarded a particular judgement and why it hasn't been awarded a higher grade.

Detailed information about the findings of the inspection is given under the headings:

How well the early years’ provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend.

• The contribution of the early years’ provision to the well-being of children.
• The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years’ provision. This section particularly focuses on how well practitioners understand and implement the safeguarding procedures, risk assessments, supervision, team work, staff’s  understanding of their roles and responsibilities, monitoring and observation of staff practice, staff appraisals and self evaluation.  

It is very clear that out of school settings are being inspected on the learning and development requirements of the EYFS.

 To see the new style Ofsted inspection reports visit www.ofsted.gov.uk and click on “inspection reports/find an inspection report”.

This post is the lead article from the Winter 2012 edition of BAND News which is due to be mailed out week commencing 10th December 2012 - for more information about this blog or the BAND newsletter please contact the office on 01179542128 or admin@bandltd.org.uk.

PAWS 2012 Illustration Workshop

PAWS 2012 Illustration Workshop, a set on Flickr.

Led by local childrens illustrator Chris Fisher

Photos of the PAWS Fire Workshop led by the Ape Project

PAWS Fire Workshop 2012, a set on Flickr.

EYFS 2012 is here

Following years of consultation and speculation and months of preparation, EYFS 2012 finally came into force on 1st September.

Since the revisions were published in April, settings have had to adapt working practices to meet the changes, “supported” by the Government’s bizarre tactic of producing information and resources in piecemeal fashion over the following months.

At the start of the year, Ofsted also launched a consultation on proposals to revise the regulation and inspection of childcare settings – again to come into force from 1st September 2012. The mid April launch of EYFS 2012 seemed to jump the gun a little – with at least one published revision being part of the consultation on regulation and inspection that only closed on 6th April! What do these changes mean to settings? The Government and Ofsted claim the changes will streamline bureaucracy, make registration and inspection more robust and enable settings to have greater autonomy and flexibility; all with the aim of safeguarding and supporting our children in improved outcomes through promoting high quality care, learning and development. These aims may well be intended, but many take the view that by devolving certain responsibilities to providers, safeguarding is compromised. A very brief summary of changes and concerns includes:  

• Responsibility being transferred from Ofsted to the providers for checking the suitability of the Nominated Person (except for new registrations) and for vetting and checking the suitability of the Manager. Our concern is that providers (whether voluntary managed, trustees, private providers etc.) may not have the skills, experience or time to check suitability, particularly in those settings with a regular change of committee.
• Removing the standard conditions of ages and numbers from registrations, leaving providers free to make their own decisions (subject to compliance around space and staffing). We know that the majority of providers will handle this sensibly, but there are concerns about the odd few that will exploit this revision.
• The claim that Out of School providers will now have clarity about how much of the Learning and Development requirements must be met. There is no clarity and Ofsted have, verbally, admitted that there is actually no change. However, it’s not all bad news. Some revisions are positive:
• The strengthening of Child Protection and Safeguarding requirements: examples of inappropriate behaviour and the use of mobile phones and cameras.
• The new arrangements around “complaints” (now to be called “concerns”) with Ofsted assessing some concerns as minor matters that the provider can deal with. Although there are mixed feelings about Ofsted carrying out full inspections on settings following complaints that are not deemed to be minor matters.
• Confirmation, at last, that providers may choose their own self-evaluation framework, not just Ofsted’s.

BAND has run, and continues to run, EYFS 2012 briefings, designed to help providers assess what action they need to take to ensure their settings meet all the revised requirements.  Feedback from participants has been positive, with many participants saying that our “action plan” style of briefing has been useful in enabling them to take the first steps.

The BAND DS team spent many hours over the summer revising sample policies and procedures to reflect the EYFS 2012 revisions; these documents are available to settings on request.

Information about updated documents is available on the BAND website.  We’ve also used the BAND website, Facebook and Twitter to advertise the publication of documents and resources that have been drip fed by the Government and Ofsted. Of course, change of any kind can be unsettling but hopefully the revisions will lead to improvements in safeguarding and learning and development. By the time this article is published, the new arrangements will have been in force for six weeks. As the first few inspections are published it will be particularly interesting to see how the revised regulation and inspection arrangements work in practice.

This post is the lead article from the Autumn 2012 edition of BAND News which is due to be mailed out week commencing 8th October 2012 - for more information about this blog or the BAND newsletter please contact the office on 01179542128 or admin@bandltd.org.uk.

 

Craft Skills 21st September 2012

Craft Skills 21st September 2012, a set on Flickr.

Photos of the Craft Skills course held last week, thanks to all those involved for making it a great day