This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Early Years Advisory Teacher, Karen Loft, for the attention of all schools.
Ofsted Update
We wanted to inform you about a change the government is making to the Ofsted inspection system.
Effective immediately, Ofsted will no longer provide a single overall grade of effectiveness when inspecting state schools. State schools will still receive the existing sub-judgements across different areas of school life. Early Years provision in maintained schools and academies for children aged 2 and above, and Maintained Nursery Schools are included in this change.
The government is committed to replacing single headline grades in all the remits that Ofsted inspects in time, including the entirety of the Early Years sector. This will include considering how this impacts CMA inspections. Until this change is made, all early years settings registered on the Early Years Register, including childminders and private, voluntary and independent providers will continue to receive a single headline grade of overall effectiveness alongside the sub judgements. There will also be no change to Childminder Agency (CMA) inspections at this time. Local authorities, should continue to follow the regulations and statutory guidance in regard to quality in their Early Years settings.