OFSTED arrive tomorrow and all the new toys have appeared in DDs nursery!

[misspopov]

Its an absolute con, new parent's noticeboard, new displays everywhere, new activites set out correctly outside when normally its an empty yard with a few ride-ons. DD2 said Mrs XX has been in school all weekend making things fun for us we've got a listening station, a barbecue, a picnic bench and new sports for outside. She's been there all year and no sign of any of this organisation etc and it takes a visit from OFSTED to get their acts together.

DD1 says all the teachers have been in at the weekend preparing for the inspection. So its going to be pull out all the stops for the next two days and then probably relax and do very little on Thursday and Friday as the teachers recover from the frenzied activity which has gone on in the last few days.

How can this be monitoring standards? Why can't inspectors just call the day before and arrive without notice then they would get the real picture?

I assume your nursery is attached to a school? They are the only nurseries I know which have any advance warning, which is blatantly unfair because all other settings have none at all.

And I mean none - literally, the bell rings, we answer the door and lo and behold it's an Ofsted inspector.

Yes, we might suspect we're due to be inspected in the next 6 months or so, but we get no warning. Last time this happened, the Surestart nursery down the road was inspected 2 weeks before us, but since they are on the same site as a school, although totally separate organisations, they were given the same 2 days notice as the school got. It just doesn't fair.

I would actually say something about this as part of the parents' feedback.

Our primary school had 3 days notice
New signs/posters
Friendship stops
Even a new club was miraculously organised

Same with the nursery

They had sensory tables
Disability/ethnic dolls
Double the amount of helpers on the two days

They all disappeared after the ofsted report

Its all a BIG con.

Parents get a chance to have their say though - so just say something like 'it's remarkable how an Ofsted visit has intorduced lots of new things, just this week.'

This is shocking

Good point, Tortoiseshell.

Misspopov, have you complained about lack of activities/displays/noticeboards before? Is the standard of care generally good?

They have actually had 3 working days notice at least as the questionnaires came out on Thursday and I agree this is unfair.
The only opportunity we have for input is via the parent questionnaire which is already sent in.
The whole school is setting up artificial systems which will only run for this week, there are children from school council on the yard carrying out a survey for parents, extra staff available to greet parents at the door when normally you get ignored and treated like a nuisance.
The only consolation I have is that they can't hide the fact that the results are not good enough and that the inspectors will see through the last minute fix.
It is unfair that independent nurseries do not get the same notice as schools as this notice period gives them opportunities to prepare at the last minute rather keep standards consistent throughout.

Unfortunately it's the same with childminders - ofsted threaten request a visit and their houses are suddenly changed beyong recognition into a childrens paradise.

It's all wrong

Misspopov...
I would be tempted to pop in whilst you know the ofsted inspector is there... they LOVE talking to parents. I was parent helper when they came to DS1's nursery... I was totally honest in response to the questions asked..

The standard of care is OK in general but organisation is lax at times, they often seem to be setting up as we go in, the playdough is just going into the microwave, the paint is being put on the painting table as the children arrive rather than ready before the start of the session. These things should all be ready before hand in my opinion and the equipment in place before the children arrive.
I think I am annoyed about the principle of things if we can have all these things during the inspection why can't they do this every day.

any parent can request to speak to the inspector in confidence
I would definitely be speaking to them about this

having said that, why do you send your dd to a nursery that you are so unhappy with?

You are right.. you could always call ofsted and say that there is an inspection going on and you are interested in your opinon being noted.

I am not really unhappy with the nursery although it may sound like it. DD loves nursery and the level of care is OK. We chose the nursery as it is attached to the school which she will be joining in September.
DD1 went to this nursery and we were really happy with it at the time however staff changes have led to lack of organisation. The current teacher is an NQT and she really needs more support in her role which she does not seem to have had (until this weekend).
I have grumbled about the lack of noticeboards and other things in the past some of which have been addressed.
I am unhappy with the system really the nursery is OK but could be better and if the inspectors get an artificial picture then where is the incentive to improve?

Can't you have a word with the people at ofsted yourself and point out that it was a sham? That would put a spanner in the works lol

Yep, we had this with some childminders a few years ago. Suddenly they transformed themselves into an all singing all dancing pair of childminders. I had newsletters (?), photos and policies thrust at me continuously day after day just before the Inspector arrived. Even a 'quality assurance questionnaire.'

Once they received their 'Outstanding' report, it all stopped. Biggest con ever.

The preschool that I chair had no notice.

One day an inspector turned up, came past all th eparent sin the foyer and announced she was inspecting us.

Fortunatley we have good staff and committee so did fine, and got "good".

But it was quite scarey!!

misspopov

I would disagree with your point about the playdough needing to be ready before the children arrive and the paints should be out already.

I prefer that ds sees this being done before the activity can start as then its more like a home environment where there is no playdough or paints fairy, someone puts in time and effort to provide them with an activity they enjoy.

If there are insufficient staff numbers to supervise/amuse the children whilst the setting up is taking place, that is another matter.

The inspection report isn't worth the paper it's written on, and that's from the horses' mouth - I'm an outstanding childminder who gained an outstanding by preparing for my inspection, showing ofsted what they wanted to see, borrowing all the equipment I knew ofsted wanted me to have and 'talking the talk'

It's not fair that we can get away with this

Parents are invited in to talk to inspectors as part of the process so if you feel strongly go along and make your feelings known.

We were given a questionnaire to complete and I would have said something if this had happened at our school.

It does happen though and its wrong to get advance warning. I remember seeing a post from a childminder asking for policies, toys and equipment in time for an inspection. If it was a spot check then I wonder how many childminders would actually pass?

The first our pre-school knew OFSTED had arrived was when they turned up in the playground-we still got Outstanding though. Wasn't a surprise for me as knew from day 1 it was brilliant. They work sooo hard and the activities are just lovely,change constantly,well thought out etc etc.

I am slightly miffed that other pre-schools get advanced warning and will of course get an advantage. The rule should be the same for all.

During our feedback the inspector did say she knew instantly that it was Outstanding so I wonder if maybe they can see through a temporary show. I hope so.

you should walk around in amazement commenting loudly at all the new things and how lovely it all looks today.

Pre schools Day Nurseries and Child Minders don't get notice of an inspection schools and school nurseries get max 2 days notice but the inspection process is different. Schools are heavily weighted towards educational standards where pre schools, day nurseries and child minders are weighted towards the care element. The other difference is in pre schools the inspectors must be early years specialists whereas in school nurseries they may know nothing about early education.

Inspection over now and apparently they came out as good / satisfactory, we were not invited in to talk to inspectors although they did talk to some parents on the yard on Wednesday morning. I know I could have requested to go in and speak to them but didn't feel that they would see my grumblings as important.
It seems as though they didn't see through the newness of the displays etc as this is one of the positive comments they made about the school. The nursery nurse said to me this morning that going from our SAT results we should be satisfactory but because of all the things going on and the high quality of our displays and things we have been judged as good. I then said "So it was worth giving up your weekend for then and that now these things are in place they will be easier to maintain and keep up to date."
I think the school is probably satisfactory but it is the system that stinks, they were definitely given three working days notice and did put on a good show for two days. It was their choice to give up their weekends to change display boards, create noticeboards and set up new activities but this did in effect give them 5 days notice which is unfair on those who get less.
I think the actual preparation for the inspection has given them a good shake up and has forced them to put more systems in place in the nursery which have continued for the rest of the week. It may be that the young teacher in charge has finally had some of the support that she needed in managing the nursery as a whole so that is one positive effect which I hope will continue.

mrz, childminders are given notice of their inspections although it is known as short notice- usually two days. We have to have notice to ensure that we are in otherwise alot of inspectors time would be spent chasing round after us. My "short notice" inspection notice was actually a few weeks before my inspection as she rang up just a a couple of days before I broke up for xmas and during the remaining days I had lots of activities/parties planned for the children and I wasn't prepared to cancel them and disapoint my mindees.

I fully agree with Mindingmums post.

hennipenni I assumed that childminders were the same as day nurseries/pre schools as one of our childminders said when she got home from dropping the children off at school there was an inspector waiting on her doorstep (although she didn't say whether or not she was expecting them). Schools get two days notice too.