I wanted to share my experience of complaining to Ofsted, as it may help others out there who have been unhappy with their inspection.
I was inspected in Dec after failing miserably on an inspection in April last year, when I had only just had EYFS training, and did not fully understand what was required. I got an inadequate then, and after initially wanting to give up, I upped my game and went all out to get a good grade. I had a lot of help, and really felt I was on par with other childminders in my area to get good in most areas. My NCMA development co-ordinator was convinced I would get a good, and told me I had made the most progress after an inadequate, of anyone in her area.
When I was inspected, the inspector was a very nice lady, and I felt I had done well.
I had to take a mindee to a Xmas party, and the inspector had said she would wait in the car until I got back, in order to give me my feedback. Just before I was about to leave, the inspector told me she was going at the same time, and would phone me with the feedback. I asked if she could give me a bit of feedback which she did, but she made sweeping statements such as 'you don't have many diversity toys out'. I actually have plenty of these toys, which are in various toy boxes. I do not display them, or have a seperate box for these, as this is not the point. They should be toys which the children can choose from within the whole range of toys.
I told her I could have shown her these if she had asked, but she hadn't.
After she left, I brooded about my experience, but did nothing. Then she called to talk though the report. Again I told her that she had raised issues which I did not agree with, I asked her when she was submitting the report, and she replied 'when I hit the button'. She had obviously made up her mind already, and no amount of discussion was going to change this.
I received the report a couple of weeks later, and was even more upset, as there were things in there which weren't accurate, such as she reported that my garden was in the process of being organised. In fact I had an area maybe 2mx2m waiting to be reseeded, but in the depths of Dec, there is not much you can do about that.

After mulling it over, and chatting to other childminders, I realised that they are required to give a full feedback session, and I had certainly not received this, or had I been told the outcome of the judgements, which I should have been told. I decided that I would make an official complaint, despite some childminders saying that this may mean Ofsted would mark my card as a troublemaker, which I am not.
This is my business, and this grading will stay with me for 3 years. On top of that, our county council website area for childcarers, has a clear direct link to Ofsteds last inspection report. I felt that parents looking for childcare would see an inaccurate report, and this could stop parents contacting me.

I wrote everything down in a letter, making clear the areas I was unhappy with. Ofsted dealt with the complaint in a fair and professional way.
I have recently received a letter in which they have upheld 5 out of 8 of my complaints. I obviously still disagree with them over the other 3, but am glad to have made my point on the 5. As a result they have reworded the report, correcting the areas concerned. Thry also apologised for a less the satisfactory inspection, and have issued guidance to all inspectors on their conduct.
I have asked them for a reinspection, which I do not particulary want, however I want to be part of the Network, and offer other services. My NCMA co-ordinator has said it is up to her to make this decision, and not down to the grading, and she is more than happy to put me forward for this. However, I still have this niggling feeling that I could of and should have been graded higher on more areas (I was graded 2 on 3 areas, 3 on all others). This is more important to me with the new county council website which shows childminders, and has a link straight to your inspection report, making a parent more inclined to check your report out.

I wanted to tell you guys this, because it is so easy to moan about Ofsted, and feel something was not right with your inspection. This is proof that they do not always get it right, and it is worth pursuing if you really believe they have not done their job right.

i strongly believe that if an Ofsted inspector says or does something that is wrong, then they should be disagreed with!

Well done for taking a stand! :D

:clapping: :clapping: :clapping:

well done shows how proud you are of your business and how well you think of your mindees

xx x

Thank you. I also realise now that I am not dealing with the inspectors in the right way. By that in the past, if an inspector says they feel I should be doing something in a particular way, and I disagree, I just nod my head and say 'that's a good idea', kind of sheep like.
After talking to others, inspectors seem to respect, and grade better if you can justify your actions.
An example of this is a double outstanding childminder in my area, was being inspected, and the child she had sked for say 3-4 different toys in a 10 minute period. On the request of the 4th play item, I think it was a pirate ship, the childminder said they could not have it, and had to continue playing with the 3rd chosen toy. The inspector queried this with her, and she explained that the child was continually changing their mind, and so she was ensuring the child played with one toy for a longer time, otherwise the child would keep asking for more toys.
In my setting, I would have allowed this child to have had as many toys as they wanted, as long as the previous ones were tidied away of course.
Because this childminder had an answer, the inspector accepted this. She also accepted that the childminder would not have large garden toys in her garden, as it was her home. Again, she explained she gets smaller toys out in the summer. This same childminder's home does not look like there are any children there. There are no wall displays, toys are shut away when the children are not there, and nothing at all in the garden. She has excellent paperwork systems, and spends the week after the inspectors calls to say she will call in the following week, putting displays up, and 'setting her stage'.
As I say, she is an excellent childminder, but if she was visited with no warning, it would be interesting to see how she was graded
It goes to show, some of it is standing up for yourself, and talking the talk!

well done to you

Welldone for standing up for yourself and thats fantastic they agreed with most of your points :clapping: