EYFS has made my DDs Nursery drop it's wonderful OFSTED

[callmeovercautious]

I am really for our DDs Nursery staff and I need to vent a bit.

They had an unannounced OFSTED a few weeks ago - just after the new EYFS came in.

The young girls that work there are wonderful with the DC but they are struggling to do all the paperwork and know what to do with it once it is filled in!

Come on these girls are not (in general) accademics who can translate one outcome to future learning plans - I find training needs analysis hard enough and I am trained for it!

The inspection seemed to specifically look at this area. The Nursery has never had a complaint made and the Health, Safety and Welfare things all came up really well.

But you know what - future parents will see the report and go else where when in reality the care is fantastic.

Sorry for the essay - I sound like an OFSTED inspector

Hopefully, people will take more from visiting than the report (which will also explain why they are not Outstanding/Good). The lovely playgroup my dd is about to go to, only got a Satisfactory with Good features which surprised me until I read why - and is exactly the same - they spend more time actually looking after the kids than writing reports about it. And you know what? That's fine by me

(PS Don't hold much truck with Ofsted since they have changed to self-evaluation and do the whole school in 2 days. Dh is Head of Technology in a Technology school and he didn't see an Inspector - even in his department - once! )

I had exactlly the same situation with Ofsted as a cm, I too have come to the conclusion I would rather parents read on my report that the children are enjoying and acheiving, and get my attention, rather than sat with a pen and paper!

I don't hold ofsted reports well either TBH, think you get a much better idea from visiting and asking Qs.

I think people are begining to realise that OFSTED reaports are not always spot on....with childminders, nurserys and schools.

Overcautious, I would have thought it was the nursery managers responsibility to make sure paper work was in place.

The trouble is Overcautious that there has been lots and lots of extra training put on in each area, there are area early years teams assigned to each nursery and if a nursery is near a children's centre, then they are also able to call on support through the children's centres. In many areas, there are also Early Years Cluster groups or networks who meet regularly to share ideas and concerns.

Nurseries have known for at least a year that Ofsted inspections after September 2008 would be done using the EYFS framework. There was no need for nurseries to suddenly change to doing EYFS from 1st September, most have been gradually changing over for at least a year.

None of that is meant as a criticism of the nursery staff who you've said are wonderful, and care well for your dcs. It is, however, a criticism of the nursery management team as it doesn't sound like they have supported their staff well enough.

Littlefish - were nurseries allowed to use EYFS before 1st Sept?

We childminders were specifically forbidden - I asked to run the 2 (b23 & EFYS) side by side and was expressly forbidden (By OFSTED, DCFS, NCMA, Local council)

I am very that nurseries were allowed too

Plus courses in many areas were very hit & miss

I know someone who booked on one in Oct last year & the course has been cancelled & rearranged so many time - she is due to attend next Feb

I realised OFSTED reports were cr*p after DSs school had one of the 1 day visits last school year.

From a nursery POV, I don't send my children there to be educated in any way at all. I wanted them to be cared for.

My CM had her ofsted on friday (I am also a CM but not working as one as I have started Uni)

She got a satisfactory, and the inspector made it clear she had only scraped that. There were a few very petty things, and a few that were specifically related to the EYFS.

We only took our course at the end of September for the EYFS, and that was only by pressuring our council for an additional one. The two people taking the course (one is my CM network coordinator) didn't really understand the pack themselves. And when my CM was told her inspection was yesterday, she asked a few specific questions, received answers and was then failed as apparently the answers weren't right.

I feel awful for her, she's quite upset. The inspector informed her that they've been told to make it hard and she hasn't given out any excellents.

Katymac - I don't know what the official line was, bute were told by the early years team to start working towards it, make ourselves extremely familiar with it etc. To be honest, although I didn't think that the nursery was a good one (in terms of practice), our assessment, planning and recording was good.

We were told that it became statutory from 1st September but that it would be false to do a big "switch over" in one day.

I also think that if a nursery was already doing regular informal observations, using these to inform planning, sharing this with parents, provind open ended, exploratory, child led opportunities, following children's interests etc. etc etc. then there is not much more in the EYFS. Just my opinion though!

The nursery my daughter goes to has just had an ofsted inspection. They were graded good (with outstanding areas). They fell down on some silly pieces of policy work where the EYFS wasn't mentioned.

Thanks for replying. I was just so cross on their behalf. They are doing all the required paperwork etc it it the then translating it to future learning opportunities that they stuggle with. On paper anyway. They know that if a child can count to 5 then the next step is 10 etc. Once at 20 they start going backwards.

If a child can say abc they start on the rest of the alpabet etc. Very basic examples I know! The issue seemed to be how they were planning this. Planned learning for a 2 year old seems ott to me

Exactly CMOC, I am sure most of the childminders on here previously planned as in the examples you have given but just not on paper but now everything is on paper. Imagine planned learning for 0-12 months then (grin)...

KatyMac - the nursery I sent my DS to is a new one, started mid year, and rather than starting on the old sytem they started straight onto EYFS.