CHILDREN'S CENTRES DELIVERING ON EVERY CHILD MATTERS

In total 99 per cent of all childcare services inspected by Ofsted between April 2006 and March 2007 help children make a positive contribution, feel valued and have good relationships with other children and adults.
Providers who offer the government-funded early years education for three and four year olds were also judged to be satisfactory or better in 98 per cent of cases, with 60 per cent good or outstanding.
Getting on well: enjoying, achieving and contributing looked at how childcare settings help fulfill two crucial outcomes: enjoying and achieving; and making a positive contribution.
The report also found improvements across daycare as a whole including a six per cent rise in the number of providers offering good or outstanding early education and a two per cent rise in those offering good or outstanding daycare. Just four per cent of services were found to provide inadequate childcare.
In total Ofsted visited 27,200 childcare providers including children’s centres, day nurseries, sessional providers and childminders.
Examples of good practice included staff understanding how children learn and develop and helping them grow in confidence and engage enthusiastically in challenges.
Effective partnerships with parents, such as improved complaints procedures, were also singled out for praise.
Areas for improvement to be addressed included improving the balance of supervised and free play, and adapting activities more to children’s individual needs and interests.
Christine Gilbert, the chief inspector of education, said: “The vast majority of providers are committed to ensuring that children achieve well, enjoy their learning and development, contribute to their own achievements and have good relationships with other children and adults.”
She added: “Getting on well is a good news story and I hope all early years and childcare providers can learn from it and be encouraged to do even better for children.”
www.ofsted.gov.uk