Ofsted is carrying out interim visits to all providers who were judged inadequate or requires improvement who were issued actions for a breach of one or more of the EYFS safeguarding and welfare requirements.
One nursery owner, who did not want to be named, told Nursery World her setting received a two-hour interim visit from a regulatory inspector ‘a year to the day’ of their last inspection in September 2019.
‘We were extremely keen to get a new full inspection because of the financial impact the grading of “requires improvement” was having on the business, and that was before the added financial difficulties of the lockdown and the pandemic.
‘The interim visit went really well, and all actions were deemed to have been met. We understood that a paragraph would be added to our latest report explaining why Ofsted are not fulfilling their duties to provide a full inspection and informing the public if actions set at the last inspection were met or not,’ the owner said.
‘Unfair’
However, when the owner saw the update on the Ofsted website, she was ‘astounded at the way it has been done. Instead of titling it “Interim Visit”, they have titled it “Concern: Action taken”. This is unfair treatment of settings during the pandemic. Our profile on the Ofsted inspections website makes us look like we have had concerns and actions taken by Ofsted.
‘I cannot stress enough how unfair of Ofsted this treatment is and the financial impact it is going to have on the business until at least January 2021, or indeed if and when Ofsted do actually decide to carry out full inspections.’
After contacting her MP, the owner said she had received two letters in response to her correspondence, via the MP, from Yvette Stanley, national director, regulation and social care at Ofsted.
The latest letter, dated 17 November, said, ‘I am sorry to read that [name redacted] remains dissatisfied with our approach to publishing the outcome of our interim visits. I understand her frustration, but in the current climate, with temporary arrangements in place, a change to our reporting systems is simply not practical or realistic. This is a temporary arrangement and I remain confident that the outcome summaries for interim visits provide parents and prospective parents with assurance and updates about the setting so that they can make informed choices about their child’s childcare.
‘Please be assured that the timing of the resumption of routine inspections is under constant review within Ofsted and with central government.
‘I am sorry if the content of this response is not what your constituent would hope for, but trust that she accepts that we are operating in very challenging circumstances and doing our best to balance the needs of all concerned.’
In a previous reply in October, Ms Stanley explained why Ofsted could not change inspection grades following interim visits: ‘Whilst all routine inspections are suspended and as part of our phased return to routine inspection during the autumn term, we are carrying out interim visits which are part of our wider regulatory suite of tools rather than inspection. This means that we cannot give new judgements to providers and also that we are restricted in both what and how we publish the outcome of these visits both by the regulations and the systems at our disposal for publication. I do appreciate that this is frustrating for some providers.
‘Due to the nature of the visits we are currently undertaking we are limited to publishing outcome summaries about the steps we, or the provider, have taken to make sure their setting is complying with the requirements for registration.’
Currently outcome summaries are categorised on the Ofsted website under two headings. ‘Concerns: Actions taken’ relates to where the provider has made a notification call to Ofsted or where the outcome summary relates to a compliance monitoring visit. ‘Once you click on the link, this takes you to the heading “Compliance: Action taken for childcare provision”,’ Ms Stanley’s letter said.
The other category is ‘Complaint’, and is the option used where concerns have not come from the provider or from previous Ofsted activity.
The letter continued, ‘This is because this is a regulatory monitoring visit and not an inspection. Currently, this is also what our current infrastructure allows for in terms of publication.’
In the initial reply in October, Ms Stanley said Ofsted was ‘looking to see if this can be changed, but as you can imagine this would be a substantial system change for what we hope to be a relatively short window where inspections are suspended. Until this is possible, the outcome summary itself provides details of the findings. If you encourage parents to click on the hyperlink on the reports page, they will be directed to the outcome summary which highlights the improvements the setting has made.
‘A paragraph will not be added to the already published report from 2019. Instead, for all interim visits, we are publishing an outcome summary.
The nursery owner added in an email, ‘I fear because they say it will “be a relatively short window where inspections are suspended”, this could be a reason not to change it, which is completely unfair. They expect us to “encourage parents to click on the hyperlink”.
‘This is parents we are talking about, not experts in Ofsted report layouts, and we can only encourage existing parents; what about prospective parents? Existing parents are already happy to send their children, it’s new parents who are vital to sustain the business.’
Commenting on the situation given before the most recent letter, an Ofsted spokesperson told Nursery World, ‘Our early years interim visits aim to assure parents that their children are safe, and that the nursery or childminder has met any actions set at the last inspection. The published summary explains that the findings are from an interim visit, rather than a complaint or compliance action, but we appreciate that this could be clearer.
'We have explored various avenues but unfortunately, we are unable to make the substantial system changes needed to rectify this, as inspections will only be suspended temporarily. However, we are confident that the outcome summary provides all the detail that parents need.'
Inspections move to ‘six-year window’
Two weeks ago, Ofsted set out plans to change the inspection cycle for early years providers.
When inspections resume, all early years providers will be inspected in a six-year window from the date of their last inspection.
Under the previous arrangements, inspections could fall at any point within a four-year cycle. In some instances, inspections could occur at the start of one cycle, and towards the end of the next – potentially resulting in an eight-year gap between inspection visits.
The new arrangements will only apply from the date Ofsted resumes full routine early years inspections post-Covid-19.
Wendy Ratcliff, principal officer, early education at Ofsted, told Nursery World, ‘We are carefully considering how to return to routine inspection, including for registered early years provision. The timing and the form of any inspection remain under review.
‘When full routine inspections resume, we’ll be introducing a new approach to inspecting early years providers. Under the new arrangements, all early years providers will be inspected in a six-year window from the date of their last inspection.
‘This means we can be more proportionate and prioritise the re-inspection of the relatively small proportion of nurseries, pre-schools and childminders that are not yet Good.
‘Where possible, childcare providers judged to require improvement will continue to be inspected within a year, and inadequate childcare provision will be inspected within six months.
‘We will continue with our registration and regulatory work for early years and childcare providers.’
Research finds young children regressed in lockdown
Some early years children were back in nappies and using dummies following their return to settings after lockdown, according to research by Ofsted published in its first briefing note for the early years on the impact of coronavirus.
Many children have left early years settings since the first lockdown, and those that have returned have experienced a significant impact on their learning and development.
Almost all of the providers questioned said the first national lockdown had impacted children’s learning and development, and they were particularly concerned about children’s personal, social and emotional development
Some children have returned less confident and more anxious, and in some cases have become less independent.
However, providers reported that children who continued to attend their setting, or who were well supported at home, had made good progress in their learning.
Wendy Ratcliff, principal officer, early education at Ofsted, said, ‘We invited providers to participate in telephone interviews, and in October we made over 200 calls to registered early years providers and maintained nursery schools who usually provide care and education for children in the early years age range. Our next phase of this research will be published in January 2021.’
The early years survey is a second report in a series by Ofsted looking at the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- For more on the research findings, see ‘Ofsted: Children’s learning and development regressed in lockdown’