sarah707
10-11-2015, 07:46 AM
After the meeting with the Ofsted Big Conversation group - and Ofsted - on Friday, I have come away with the following information…
What do Ofsted expect us to do about the Prevent duty? They expect us to have taken a training course - added local Channel links to our safeguarding procedures – know who to contact if we are concerned about a child or family – protect children online - actively promote British values.
Interesting fact – according to Ofsted 3% of early years inspections end up with complaints… and more complaints are being upheld (reports changed, providers listened to) than ever before!
I mentioned that childminders request they give us more detail when they make changes to documents – but this is DfE’s remit rather than Ofsted - so we need to speak to them.
'Poor' behaviour (as stated in the new EY inspection handbook) – I asked for more clarification about how this should be inspected. I was told that if a child was displaying ‘poor’ behaviour the inspector would want to see evidence that it was recorded (observations; incident reports if children are hurt; physical intervention reports if children are stopped from hurting themselves or others), managed well (working with parents and other professionals), monitored (through observation, assessment and planning) and not impacting on the child’s learning or other children’s learning.
British values was discussed – there are still companies selling childminders flags and bunting (and inspectors making incorrect comments about what they want to see) when British values is about respect, following rules, democracy etc. It is important that British values are embedded in everything we do. Flags, telephone boxes, pictures of the royal family etc are great for teaching children about 'life in modern Britain' but have nothing to do with British values.
Childminders with 'requires improvement' grades are asking for quicker (12 month) re-inspection to bring childminders in line with nurseries. In some instances inspectors have given the wrong information and told the childminders that they will be re-inspected within 12 months ... Ofsted state that they are still catching up with 'satisfactory' re-inspections - but they are aware of the issue and it is something they are discussing.
I gave Ofsted information about –
• Nurseries who won’t work with us – we need to see nurseries being downgraded when they refuse to work with us - not just childminders being downgraded for not trying hard enough!
• Requests from childminders for a dedicated person at Ofsted who can answer our questions because we are getting conflicting information from the helpline - I gave lots of examples.
• Requests from childminders for longer before we have to respond to reports because many say that 24 hours is not long enough.
• Concerns over old CRB checks being lost – members have been reporting concerns which I have passed on.
• Timing of phone calls from inspectors – with a note that Saturday night and Christmas Eve are really not acceptable.
• Requests for more information about the new law which will allow us to work half the week off premises – how will childminders be inspected? How will it be legislated? What evidence will Ofsted expect to see?
Ofsted have said that they will come back to me with further information about the points I raised.
The next meeting of the North West Ofsted Big Conversation steering group will be in early January 2016 - we will be meeting a new Ofsted liaison as our current lady (who has been brilliant and really listened) is retiring.
The next Ofsted Big Conversation North West open meeting will be in March 2016 … we had over 600 delegates attend last time and it was a huge success… I am sure we can do it again!
If there is anything members would like me to raise please let me know. It's good to talk - and Ofsted are listening! :D
What do Ofsted expect us to do about the Prevent duty? They expect us to have taken a training course - added local Channel links to our safeguarding procedures – know who to contact if we are concerned about a child or family – protect children online - actively promote British values.
Interesting fact – according to Ofsted 3% of early years inspections end up with complaints… and more complaints are being upheld (reports changed, providers listened to) than ever before!
I mentioned that childminders request they give us more detail when they make changes to documents – but this is DfE’s remit rather than Ofsted - so we need to speak to them.
'Poor' behaviour (as stated in the new EY inspection handbook) – I asked for more clarification about how this should be inspected. I was told that if a child was displaying ‘poor’ behaviour the inspector would want to see evidence that it was recorded (observations; incident reports if children are hurt; physical intervention reports if children are stopped from hurting themselves or others), managed well (working with parents and other professionals), monitored (through observation, assessment and planning) and not impacting on the child’s learning or other children’s learning.
British values was discussed – there are still companies selling childminders flags and bunting (and inspectors making incorrect comments about what they want to see) when British values is about respect, following rules, democracy etc. It is important that British values are embedded in everything we do. Flags, telephone boxes, pictures of the royal family etc are great for teaching children about 'life in modern Britain' but have nothing to do with British values.
Childminders with 'requires improvement' grades are asking for quicker (12 month) re-inspection to bring childminders in line with nurseries. In some instances inspectors have given the wrong information and told the childminders that they will be re-inspected within 12 months ... Ofsted state that they are still catching up with 'satisfactory' re-inspections - but they are aware of the issue and it is something they are discussing.
I gave Ofsted information about –
• Nurseries who won’t work with us – we need to see nurseries being downgraded when they refuse to work with us - not just childminders being downgraded for not trying hard enough!
• Requests from childminders for a dedicated person at Ofsted who can answer our questions because we are getting conflicting information from the helpline - I gave lots of examples.
• Requests from childminders for longer before we have to respond to reports because many say that 24 hours is not long enough.
• Concerns over old CRB checks being lost – members have been reporting concerns which I have passed on.
• Timing of phone calls from inspectors – with a note that Saturday night and Christmas Eve are really not acceptable.
• Requests for more information about the new law which will allow us to work half the week off premises – how will childminders be inspected? How will it be legislated? What evidence will Ofsted expect to see?
Ofsted have said that they will come back to me with further information about the points I raised.
The next meeting of the North West Ofsted Big Conversation steering group will be in early January 2016 - we will be meeting a new Ofsted liaison as our current lady (who has been brilliant and really listened) is retiring.
The next Ofsted Big Conversation North West open meeting will be in March 2016 … we had over 600 delegates attend last time and it was a huge success… I am sure we can do it again!
If there is anything members would like me to raise please let me know. It's good to talk - and Ofsted are listening! :D