Over their lifetime, early childhood settings in England will go through regular inspections from Ofsted. The Education and Training Inspectorate in Northern Ireland, Education Scotland (previously HM Inspectorate of Education) in Scotland, and Estyn in Wales perform similar functions within the devolved education systems.

Ofsted inspections can typically happen once within a six-year cycle of inspections, but there is no set time between inspections.  Inspections can often feel overwhelming, especially when trying to ensure that every aspect of the service meets the necessary quality standards and requirements of the Statutory framework for the EYFS. Ofsted follows the Early Inspection Framework when inspecting settings that cater for children from birth to 31st August following their 5th birthday.  The inspectors will judge the overall effectiveness of the setting, the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.

Being well-prepared is crucial. Thankfully, having a system like Child Paths can make a world of difference in helping services maintain compliance and uphold high standards. Taking guidance from the Early Years Inspection Handbook here’s how Child Paths can make the process much smoother. 

Child Protection and Safeguarding 

Ofsted will focus on seeking a culture in early years settings that puts children’s interests first.  Settings must protect children from serious harm both online and offline.  Managers will need to ensure that those who are hired to work with children are trained well, understand processes and they are empowered to speak out when they may have a concern with regard to safeguarding. Settings are expected to have arrangements in place that facilitate their identification of children who may be at risk of being harmed, e.g. neglect, abuse, exploitation and timely referral of these children to the relevant bodies which can help.  EY settings will need to demonstrate how they deal with children’s care arrangements, including intimate care, the levels of privacy afforded to children and the supervision arrangements when undertaking personal hygiene tasks.   In addition, settings need to record the number of places they can offer and the ages of the children who attend.  They will need to present all risk assessments and safety protocols for inspections also.

How Child Paths can help:

• Child Paths can track and maintain records pertaining to all risk assessments for outdoor areas, fire safety procedures and first-aid protocols. Regular reviewing via reminders of these is possible on the software.
• Child Paths can store all essential documents, e.g. child protection policies and staff vetting records, in one secure location. During inspections, required documents can be easily retrieved.
• The system stores up-to-date staff training records ensuring compliance on training, including paediatric first aid.
• EY professionals can record care arrangements on Child Paths, e.g. nappy changing, feeding, sleeping. This data will be available to Ofsted inspectors, so all protocols are fully visible.
• Although attendance at a setting is not mandatory, inspectors will explore how well providers work with parents to promote children’s attendance so that the children form good habits for future learning. In particular, inspectors will consider the attendance of children for whom the provider receives early years pupil premium. Child Paths’ attendance tracker ensures compliance with staff-to-child ratios and tracking of attendance at the setting.
• The incident and accident reporting feature on Child Paths logs records of safety and safeguarding protocols and in the setting, which can be presented during inspections.

Quality of Early Childhood Education

Ofsted inspectors will focus on the quality of early childhood education.  The inspections are thorough, and evaluate if the service meets the necessary quality standards and requirements of the Statutory framework for the EYFS. They will evaluate the extent to which leaders plan, design, implement and evaluate their approach to the EYFS curriculum.  EY professionals do not need to produce a written self-evaluation but should be prepared to discuss the quality of education and care they provide – and how well they meet the needs of the children – with the inspector. Inspectors will examine the progress children are making in their learning and development relative to their starting points.  Settings will need to provide comprehensive information on their approach to the key person system.

 Inspectors will gather evidence by:

• observing the children at play
• observing the interactions between practitioners and children
• talking to the children and practitioners about what they are learning from the activities and experiences provided
• gauging children’s levels of understanding and their engagement in learning
• talking to practitioners about their assessment of what children know and can do and how they are building on it
• observing care routines and how they are used to support children’s personal development, including the setting’s approach to toilet training

The evidence that will be examined must demonstrate:

• the practitioner’s knowledge of each child
• the progress check for any children aged 2
• the discussions held with each child’s key person and how they decide what to teach
• how well children are developing in the prime and specific areas of learning that help them to be ready for their next stage of education, including school
• the impact of any early years pupil premium funding on the children’s development
• the quality of support for any children with SEND
• the reason why children may not be receiving their full entitlement to early education and the impact that has on them, particularly children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who may get left behind in their learning and development

How Child Paths can help:

• The observation tool can be a substantial help for showcasing children’s progress. Each child’s development and how that is linked to the EYFS can be shown during inspections.
• Every learning experience is documented in Child Paths, including the aims and rationale for the setting’s approach to the EYFS curriculum, thus ensuring compliance. Child-led learning provision which supports independence, creativity which can encourage children to test ideas and solve problems, and exploratory enabling learning environments specifically created by the individual setting can be detailed on Child Paths.
• A child’s key person(s) can share this information with parents and families so that interactions with families can be enhanced and the family is fully aware of who their child works with each day. Secure attachments between the child and key person can be supported in the home.  In addition, should a primary key person be absent on a particular day, information on what the child is working on can flow seamlessly to a secondary key worker via Child Paths.
• EY professionals can explain readily why they have decided to collect whatever assessment data they collect, what they are drawing from and how that informs their curriculum planning.
• Child Paths has a storage facility where all policies and procedures can be archived and stored in accordance with what is expected in the EYFS.
• Through the observation feature on Child Paths, settings can document the extent to which the curriculum and care they provide meets the needs of the range of children who attend, particularly children with SEND. A milestones function can alert professionals to any specific areas for development.  This can be communicated to parents and potential plans can be enacted to support individual children, or to contact outside agencies that may be required.

Leadership and Management

Ofsted will inspect how well leaders and managers understand their legal responsibilities and the extent to which they cascade these to their teams.  EY setting managers will need to illustrate how they supervise and support their staff.   They will need to show clear and progressive opportunities for continuing professional development for their staff.  A clear strategy with evidence of supportive practices is important and would need to be available to Ofsted. Ofsted will require evidence of educational leadership in the setting with regard to curricular planning also.

How Child Paths can help:

• Employee profiles are easily accessible with recruitment records, staff qualifications, deployment and performance management all captured on Child Paths.
• Child Paths allows setting leaders to manage and curate the setting’s curricular approaches to the EYFS and sets out, via the planning feature, how this is operationalised.
• The software can document complaints and how they have been addressed by leaders and managers in the setting. Plans of action are easily created and communications around these complaints are stored.

Parental Engagement

The Ofsted inspector will discuss how the provider evaluates the quality of its provision, specifically checking whether they take account of the views of parents. Settings need to demonstrate that they are receptive to challenge and within this, actively seek and hear the views of parents and review policies accordingly.

How Child Paths can help:

• Child Paths has a parental communication tool, which can be invaluable in order to gain parent views on the quality of care and education provided.
• This feature allows settings to keep parents updated about their child’s activities, milestones, and learning. This demonstrates to Ofsted inspectors that strong communication channels exist between the service and families.
• The software can show records of any complaints made by parents which Ofsted inspectors can view during inspections.

Final Thoughts

Each inspection brings its own challenges, but with Child Paths, settings can be organised, efficient, and confident that their service is always compliant. Child Paths can ensure that high standards are maintained when it comes to documenting safeguarding policies, curriculum tracking and effective leadership.  Inspections can be viewed by the setting as an opportunity to showcase the outstanding quality of care and education they provide rather than a source of stress.   Having a system that simplifies the inspection process is important.  But raising the bar for quality of care delivered to children is even more pertinent.  Child Paths’ aim is not to only support EY settings when the inspector calls, but is invested in building strong relationships with families and higher quality in early childhood education over time.

Explore more at childpaths.co.uk/blog/