We only get one childhood. And a child’s early education lasts a lifetime. That’s why giving all children ‘the best start in life’ is crucial and one of Ofsted’s strategic priorities.
The benefits of a high-quality early education can be seen throughout childhood and schooling. Similarly, gap in a child’s early years education can have long-term consequences.
This is why your work is vital and deserves recognition. We know how committed early years providers are to educating and looking after the children in your care.
But we also know it’s a very tough time for nurseries. Many of you are struggling with diffi culties including recruitment and retention, fl uctuating demand, and children being less prepared for nursery than they were prior to the pandemic.
We want you to spend as much time as possible with the children you care for because we know that the interactions you have with children help them learn. Frequent, highquality interactions between children and practitioners play a fundamental role in building the knowledge and skills that children will need.
So, we’re doing everything we can to support you and to minimise the impact of our regulatory and inspection activity. If we are inspecting your nursery or childminding setting, there is absolutely no need to do anything other than what you have already planned. If you have an ambitious curriculum and a good plan to deliver it, inspectors will see this.
But we also want to simplify our processes where we can and make them as clear as possible. That’s why we’re taking steps including streamlining the registration process for new providers, clarifying how ratios work and are applied, and publishing a collection of answers to common questions from nursery managers and other early years practitioners.
And to improve understanding of the factors that contribute to a high-quality early education, we’re publishing a series of research reviews on the Best Start in Life. The second part, published in September, focuses on the three prime areas of learning in the EYFS. And the four specifi c areas of learning will be the focus of the third and fi nal report in our series which will be published next month.
If you want to learn more about our work and ask any questions you may have, you can talk to us at the Nursery World Show and Nursery World Business Summit in February at the Business Design Centre in Islington. Speakers Wendy Ratcliff , Phil Minns and Sam Sleeman- Boss will be there and there will be opportunities at both events to hear about the latest developments and have your
questions answered. If you can’t attend these events, you can also keep up with our latest updates through our website (gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted), our dedicated early years blog (earlyyears.blog.gov.uk), and our YouTube channel (youtube.com/Ofstednews).