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Ofsted to look again at re-inspection of 'requires improvement' childminders

Legislation Inspection Provision
Ofsted’s national lead for early years has agreed to follow-up on concerns that ‘requires improvement’ childminders, unlike nurseries, could wait years to be re-inspected.

During PACEY’s annual conference last week, Lee Owston, Ofsted’s national lead for early years, committed to looking at why under the new Common Inspection Framework (CIF), which came into force in September, childminders have to wait for the next inspection cycle for their re-inspection if they are found to require improvement, while nurseries with the grade will be re-inspected within 12 months.

PACEY’s chief executive Liz Bayram first highlighted the issue in a letter to Ofsted’s national director Sean Harford and Gill Jones, deputy director of early education, at the end of last month, in which she called for childminders to be put on a level-playing field with other early years settings.

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