Ofsted Inspection Visits

Ofsted inspection visits!  It’s one of the most nerve-racking parts of running a nursery.

One day which judges years of practice.

You need to be at your best, and you need to be prepared.

If the thought of the Ofsted inspection fills you with dread, nervous about Ofsted firing questions at you and your nursery or childcare team? Well, you’re not alone.

Ofsted inspections can be stressful times for Early Years and Nursery Managers as well as Nursery Owners, but with proper preparation it can help ease the worry and stress that comes with Ofsted inspections.  So that you’re ready for anything Ofsted throw at you.

After doing extensive research, as well as speaking with representatives from Ofsted, I will help you to best prepare for your Ofsted inspection visit in this video, so you and your staff can know what to expect.

But first, welcome to the channel…

(Intro Video)

Welcome to the channel Open A Nursery, with myself Curtly Ania.  Where I teach you to open run and grow your childcare business.

If you’re new here, I hope you gain lots from the video and if you do, make sure to subscribe and check out my other videos, I post regular videos helping those that work in childcare.

Today, we’re discussing Ofsted inspection visits and what Ofsted might ask you during an inspection so that you and your childcare or nursery team can be best prepared.

We’ll start with the learning walk.

Learning Walk – preparing your staff

The learning walk is an important part of the inspection.  This is a key opportunity for you to really show of your setting.  The inspector will give you the chance to show them what you do and why you do everything the way that you do.

This is where Ofsted are trying to gather evidence to really see what it is like being a child in your setting.

Here they won’t just want to know whether you know the statutory framework or have read up on the inspection handbook, but will want to see whether you and your staff know about the EYFS, safeguarding and welfare requirements and their own specific roles and responsibilities.

They may ask staff specifically why they do or do not do certain things.  Most of the time there will be no correct answer, but they will be simply looking to see whether staff have considered any safeguarding or welfare requirements when undertaking any action.

Knowing that there are usually no correct or incorrect answers should help to reassure you and your team.

If you, your team or your nursery staff don’t know how to answer a question, it’s important to try not to panic and be honest with the Ofsted inspector.

Let them know that it may be down to nerves and that you can’t remember at that moment.  Just don’t forget that if you can’t remember at that time, you should let them know how you would usually find out this information and then move on and confidently answer questions you are surer about.

Just remember that despite it being an Ofsted inspection, Ofsted are not trying to catch you or your team out, and knowing how to handle the pressure should make the Ofsted inspection much easier.

Knowing this should help you to be better mentally prepared for your Ofsted inspection.

We will now go over some of the questions they are likely to ask, so that you can start preparing for them.

They usually start with some initial simply questions about your setting. Like asking:

• How many children are enrolled at your nursery?
• How many children are present on the day?
• What are the qualifications held by staff?
• How many staff you have in?
• And how many staff have a paediatric first aid?

They will also ask you questions about how you deliver your learning to the children in your setting.  Although, this will be specific to your nursery and what they see on the day some questions they ask will be around:

• How do you take steps to provide an inclusive, broad, and varied curriculum for all children at the setting, including SEND, EAL, and recipients of EYPP?
• How do you work with the relevant agencies with regards to the SEND children in the setting?
• How are you meeting the specific needs of your EAL children?
• How is the funding you receive through the EYPP being used in the setting? This can be an important focus of Ofsted’s questions as they will want to know how funding is being spent so you’ll want to show how it has really made a difference to your nursery.
• How do you monitor these children’s learning and development and measure the impact of the strategies you have in place?

You are likely to get more specified questions if you have a large cohort of any of these groups.  For example if you have a large number of EAL children or SEN children, then they will ask more questions around how you ensure your curriculum is adapted and inclusive for these groups.

How you manage staff is becoming an increasingly more important topic in Ofsted inspections.  It the latest inspection handbook in the good and outstanding grade descriptors it places an emphasis on managers to actively monitor concerns about staff regarding workload.

The effectiveness of your leadership and management will form a significant part of your rating.

With regards to staffing they may ask questions like:

• What does your recruitment process look like? Make sure you have a recruitment process in place and can show them how you record and store your recruitment records, staff qualifications, DBS and references and staff training.
• How do you manage staff supervision and appraisals?
• How are you monitoring staff performance?
• Do you run any peer-to-peer observations?

They will ask staff about your leadership too, so you have to make sure what you speak about is embedded into your practice.  So, you should have regular supervisions in place and be able to show the impact of them on staff development.

It is important for you to be aware and plan for staff deployment too, ensuring you deploy staff in line with the statutory framework.

The next area of questioning is the most important, and is all around safeguarding.

There are hundreds of different questions Ofsted could ask you around safeguarding during an Ofsted inspection.  I’ve done a few videos that can help you and your nursery team to specifically prepare for this area.  Like the British Values, Cultural Capital and the Prevent Duty video.

This is where inspectors will have the highest expectations from your staff and should be your highest priority.

Some questions they will ask are:

• What are your obligations under Prevent duty?
• What should you be looking out for if a child spends a long time away from the setting?
• How do you report a safeguarding issue? Who is the Local Authority Designated Person? Do staff know what to do if the manager is not there?
• What would be some warning signs for you that there was a safeguarding issue with one of your key children?
• How do you safely and securely document safeguarding concerns?
• What would you do if an armed person tried to enter the setting?
• How do you work to promote the British Valuesand support children’s personal development and cultural capital?
• What are your fire safety arrangements?

During the Ofsted inspection there will also be a discussion around the policies and procedures you have created for your nursery.  You will not necessarily have to show them these policies, though, this will become more likely if they have a concern about a specific area.  So, for example, if a safeguarding issue arises or a member of staff gives an answer which they state is part of your policy, they may then want to see the policies and procedures around this.

They will be most interested in how you implement your nursery policies and procedures in your setting more than the actual documents.

Some questions they will ask are:

• How do the relevant policies support your safeguarding practice?
• How do you keep parents updated on policy and procedures?
• Can you talk me through one of your recent risk assessments?
• What is your process for dealing with complaints?
• What happened the last time you had to fill out an accident or incident form?

Remember your policies and procedures will need to align with current statutory requirements, so make sure to check them regularly, especially when Ofsted update the Early Years Inspection handbook or eyfs statutory framework.

Make sure you read up on key policies beforehand as well as refreshing your memory with the details of any recent incidents, accidents, complaints, or risk assessments so you have them fresh in your mind. This is especially important if you have any recent incidents that were reported to Ofsted.

Your inspector might not mention the specific incident, but it’s highly likely that they will run through a similar scenario with the staff to find out what they would do in the situation now. It’s a way of checking that the staff have the proper understanding and procedures in place.

Another key area your staff will be involved in the inspection is where Ofsted will be looking at how you support and monitor children’s development.

And how you implement the early years foundation stage.

The inspector may look at some children’s learning journeys, to gauge what children were like when they started, where they are now, and how you’re supporting them to get where you want them to be.

The Ofsted inspector may do joint observations with you (the nursery manager) of activities, care routines, and staff interactions, to see if you have a good understanding of where practitioners’ knowledge is good, or what needs improving.

Some questions they may ask are:

• How are you supporting child development in the setting?
• What areas of the EYFS do you need to work on with certain cohorts at the moment?
• What are some of the ways that you work on parent partnerships to enhance their child’s learning?
• How are you supporting children when they first start?
• What is your process for planning and what’s next for the children?
• How do you make two-year progress checks?
• How are you supporting the children’s cultural capital?
• How do you evaluate the overall effectiveness of your setting’s EYFS curriculum?

It will be important for all your staff to have a good knowledge of the 7 areas of learning and how your curriculum satisfies the EYFS, as they can ask any staff about this.  They may also ask about how your curriculum is adapted for the children you currently have too.

If there are areas your nursery is struggling with, it will be important that you as a manager is aware of it and can demonstrate any plans you have to improve it.

So, those are the main topics and questions that will Ofsted will be going over with you and your nursery team.

Though, before you head off I will list some of the documents you will need to have ready to potentially show your Ofsted inspector.

These include:

• Paediatric first-aid certificates
• The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) records and any other documents summarising the checks on, and the vetting and employment arrangements of, all staff working at the setting
• A list of current staff and their qualifications
• A register/list showing the date of birth of all children on roll and routine staffing arrangements
• A list of children present at the setting during the inspection (if not shown on the register)
• All logs that record accidents, exclusions, children taken off roll and incidents of poor behaviour
• All logs of incidents of discrimination, including racist incidents
• Complaints log and/or evidence of any complaints and their resolutions
• Safeguarding and child protection policies
• Fire-safety arrangements and other statutory policies relating to health and safety
• A list of any referrals made to the local authority designated person for safeguarding, with brief details of the resolutions
• Details of all children who are an open case to social care/children’s services and for whom there is a multi-agency plan
• It is also good to have some form of self-evaluation. Although, a specific self-evaluation form is no longer required by Ofsted and they will not be specifically looking to see this, it is good practice to have something in place to continuously monitor your nurseries progress and plan for improvements

Following all this should help you to best prepare for your inspection.  I wish you all the best on the day and I hope this has helped you to feel more relaxed about the day.

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God Bless