First graded inspection

[tarak]

Hiya had my first graded inspection today so thought i would let u all know how it went. She arrived just after 10am and introduced herself to me and my family and mindees. she explained how the inspection would take place and that she would go through her findings at the end. she was really friendly and made me and mindees feel at ease. we just carried on playing as normal with her asking questions as we were playing. we then had snack and she observed the children choosing which fruit they would like-washing hands etc. We then did a painting activity some chose to use brushes some sponge shapes/numbers some their hands. She then asked for all my paperwork acc/emerg, medication, complaints, safeguarding etc. She then asked if i had completed the 'homebased childcare course' and evidence of it being signed off. she had already read my SEF online which i think cut the questioning down. The questions she asked were
a/ was i aware of the poss signs and symptoms of abuse and how would i go about reporting a concern.
b/ how do i communicate with parents and other settings and evidence of that.
c/ how am i preparing my mindees for the transition to reception class (they start in sept)
d/ how am i observing the children and how do i link to development matters (b4 she read lj's)
I think the best piece of advice i can give is to be able to evidence everything that you do. Its not enough to be able to say you do it you have to show u are doing it. Hope that helps a little.
Lasted nearly three hours but only seemed like an hour! Adrenaline got me through! lol

[Rick]

Thanks for your feedback. Ofsted rang me yesterday to find out which mindees I have on which days and said my graded inspection will be March or April so always good to get some tips

[MessybutHappy]

Thank you for this - I'm in also the waiting room for my first inspection! So always good to hear feeback especially when the inspectee is as happy as you seem!! Gives me hope!

[mrstom]

Thank you for this - I'm in also the waiting room for my first inspection! So always good to hear feeback especially when the inspectee is as happy as you seem!! Gives me hope!

This waiting room is getting a bit crowded!

Glad the OP had a positive inspection. Well done xx

[lucyD]

Thanks for posting, what grade did you get by the way? I am still waiting for my first graded insp, overdue as expected a call in Jan eeeeeeeeeeeeek

[-giraffe-]

Well done

I had mine today too. I felt really nervous, but it was such a positive experience. I agree that completing the SEF helped a lot, and I also had indexed folders containing every bit of information she could conceivably ask for. If nothing else it gave me confidence! I provisionally got a good grade, subject to moderation at the quality assurance panel (or something like that!).

My top tip would be to be prepared for some helpful hints and to take any comments as such rather than as criticisms - admitting that something was an honest oversight, or saying that you'd realised as soon as the question was asked that you'd been doing something slightly incorrectly, seems to be seen as a positive thing. Equally, she seemed perfectly happy that some of my plans hadn't yet been actioned due to lack of funds, so don't be afraid to say 'I'd love to get abc because I think it would really improve xyz, but I just can't afford it for a few more months'. Particularly at a grading inspection, they know we're a start up so might not have been able to get everything set up exactly how we'd like it as yet.

[MessybutHappy]

Well done!

[tarak]

Thankyou. Forgot to say i got a good!