Pre-reg visit

[annmariet]

Hi there,
I'm just wondering if anyone can give some feedback on their pre-reg visit and what happens? I'm in the process of applying to Ofsted but dreading the visit! !

Thanks!

[Kidston]

Id be interested to hear this too please

[katie7277]

Hi,
I had my pre reg visit just before Easter....The Inspector came and was really nice.Looked around the house and garden.We sat down and she asked if I prepared the questiones for Inspection-which I did.I could have a look at my notes it took around 3 hours. .....she will be able to tell you if you pass or not......
than they have to send a report to Ofsted,the Ifsted need to sign you off....and than you wait for your certificate.It takes really long time...it took me nearly a year,with application,courses,inspection etc.good luck

[wee_elf]

Thanks for the feedback, really helpful

[annmariet]

Thank you thats really helpful. Could you tell me if you need to have all of your policies to hand and any risk assessments? Is there anything else that you need to have for the pre reg visit?

[katie7277]

I had one risk assessment as an example and few policies.She asked for Equal,Behaviour,Safeguarding and Accidents,Illness and Emergency....as a standard.I had few more but she just looked at them....like No Smoking or Medicine....I also had some references from my previous employers....she looked at those.Generally it looked more like a nice conversation than a test....Good luck

[lucy44]

Hi, iv just joined this forum! Can anyone who has registered and started minding tell me how many observations you do each week and how detailed they are? Iv just started and so confused about it all and what ofsted expect when they come for the 6 month visit!

Also anyone expecting a first visit, don't worry!! I worried over it so much and it really isn't bad! It's just an informal chat really!! Apparently the lady I has too was an inspector that isn't that liked in my area so it can't get worse than that and it really wasn't that bad!! I'm just stressing about my 6 month one now!! I haven't got a clue what they expect so I need to get my IA round to help me!!

[joannes]

I haven't had a graded visit as only had my pre-reg last week BUT I am planning on treating it exactly as I did with my teaching but with less written paperwork. When I was a teacher Ofsted were never interested in the observations per se. They were interested in how well I knew the children- where they were currently and what I was doing to keep them moving forwards in all areas. However you choose to document this is entirely down to the practitioner. I have worked in schools that do planned long observations (2 children a day so every child has an observation every 3 weeks!) this was REALLY hard to keep on top of- often forced as children aren't performing seals and just because you sit down and think "I'll plan in some time to sit and watch "Anna" today" doesn't mean Anna will do anything new that you can use effectively for future planning. I've also worked in schools that don't do any long observations but each activity had a sheet with the objective on, list of names tick who can do it, who can't and next steps. I personally think a picture paints a thousand words. So I'm planning to do a long observation in the first few weeks to get a good overview when I do a baseline assessment. I'll probably then only do long observations for diagnostic assessment (i.e. if I think a child has a problem in a certain area e.g. sharing, I might plan to sit down and watch them for 10-15 mins writing a thorough observation of what they say and do to see if I can gain any extra insight to it). Most of my observations will be incidental observations i.e. me writing on a post it note "Thomas counted 5 bricks out pointing to each one as he counted" and stick these in their file. These will be done daily and I find are much easier to keep on top of. Once a week/two weeks I'll probably go through, look for trends and plan some activities in to help extend the learning/follow the interest. I like to take lots of photos so these will often show what a child can do and write the Development Matters reference on the back. I'm sure Ofsted will waste no time in telling me if its wrong but I dont want to be spending every waking hour filling in long observation sheets.

[annmariet]

Hi
Before some of you were registered roughly how much toys and prep work had you done for kids around the house? I have a son already so I've got his toys and made our house safe but I'm not sure what else to buy for the pre reg visit. Thanks