In the previous parts of this series, I have highlighted the complexity of early years regulations and legislation. An issue can become very serious very quickly – yet it can be hard to navigate through all you need to know fast enough. Providers often feel the need to go to extreme lengths to provide evidence for inspections and there is a tangible need for common sense.
Terminology has also become confused. Most practitioners I speak to refer to the EYFS, but actually they mean the information and guidelines inDevelopment Matters.
Ofsted took on the role of inspecting and regulating early years in September 2001. Initially it created 10 standards which were easy to follow and had headings such as ‘suitable people’ and ‘suitable premises’. However, the Department for Education took on the role of writing the regulations – with the EYFS as the result – for Ofsted to inspect and, where necessary, enforce.
Both Ofsted and the DfE consider lessons learned from serious cases, and these often inform how the regulations are written – for example, the new requirement that all newly qualified staff undergo first-aid training came about after Millie Thompson’s parents’ campaign following the death of their daughter at nursery in 2012.
The framework is in three sections. The first section describes the learning and development requirements, which includes all the areas of learning and the early learning goals. The second section refers to assessment and looks at the two-year-old progress check, the assessment at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage and what information has to be given to the local authorities. Section three is the safeguarding and welfare requirements, which have been examined in detail in this series. It is this third section that still catches people unaware. These regulations are not written as clearly as they could be.
The best advice I can give is to read only one regulation at a time, and only one sentence at a time. Consider the content and think about how well your setting meets the requirement. For example,3.51 states:
‘Registered providers must notify Ofsted or the childminder agency with which they are registered of any serious accident, illness or injury to, or death of, any child while in their care, and of the action taken. Notification must be made as soon as is reasonably practicable, but in any event within 14 days of the incident occurring. A registered provider, who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with this requirement, commits an offence. Providers must notify local child protection agencies of any serious accident or injury to, or the death of, any child while in their care, and must act on any advice from those agencies.’
The first sentence is asking that both you and your staff know when an accident is counted as a serious accident, illness or injury. This will ensure that both yourself, managers and staff know when an issue will need to be reported to Ofsted. Have your staff and managers seen Ofsted’s interpretation in theEarly Years Compliance Handbook? Or do your policies and procedures reflect what Ofsted states well enough for staff to interpret? Do you need to add examples as suggested by Ofsted to help?
The next sentence states that a notification must be made as soon as is reasonably practicable, but within 14 days. Do you have a system in place to prevent you going over the 14 days? Do your procedures guide staff to understand when they should make the notification and how?
The third sentence is clear in that a failure to notify correctly constitutes an offence.
The fourth sentence is more complex as the requirement is to notify your local child protection agencies. Unless the accident was caused by a member of staff, it may be inappropriate to call the local authority designated officer (LADO). Do you know who you should call and which department in social services to call? Is this in your accident policy or is it only in your child protection policy? Would your own policies and procedures help staff to know exactly what to do?
Lastly, although the requirements no longer state that you must report serious accidents, injuries or deaths to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), this should also be done following the HSE guidelines. Although not a childcare requirement, it is a health and safety requirement.
This requirement is less subjective than others. Others may be difficult to demonstrate as opinions may differ from your own. For example,3.60 states:
‘Providers must ensure there is an adequate number of toilets and hand basins available. Except in childminding settings, there should usually be separate toilet facilities for adults. Providers must ensure there are suitable hygienic changing facilities for changing any children who are in nappies and providers should ensure that an adequate supply of clean bedding, towels, spare clothes and any other necessary items is always available.’
Throughout this requirement, terminology is subjective. What is an adequate number of toilets and hand basins? Ofsted’s old standards stipulated that there must be one toilet and hand basin for every 10 children. This was easy to interpret and manage. But where the requirements are more subjective, you need to look at how things in your setting are organized. If you have 30 pre-school children and you send them all to the toilet at the same time, then two or three toilets will not be enough. But if pre-school children freely access the toilets when they need to, then two or three toilets is often enough.
Further information
The most important document for all owners to have a deep understanding of is theStatutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, available to download at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/596629/EYFS_STATUTORY_FRAMEWORK_2017.pdf
Ofsted’s Early Years Compliance Handbookisavailable to download at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-provider-non-compliance-action-by-ofsted. (Both documents were revised and published in March 2017).