CYP Now - Ofsted to end single-word judgments for children’s social care and early years providers

Ofsted will stop the use of single-word judgments for children’s social care providers and early years settings.

Councils warn that 'an acute rise in the costs of placing children in care mean in-year spending on children’s services is spiralling out of control'. Picture: Adobe Stock

Inspectors will take lessons from ungraded inspections including SEND inspections and JTAIs, Ofsted has said - ADOBE STOCK

The inspectorate announced the changes 24 hours after the Department for Education scrapped one-word judgments for inspections of state schools with immediate effect.

The judgments will be replaced by a report-card giving greater detail on the performance of settings across areas including behaviour and personal development.

Report cards will also be introduced for further education settings from around September 2025, Ofsted’s chief inspector of education Sir Martyn Oliver told a media briefing.

However, a date for the introduction of changes for the inspection of early years settings which will see the introduction of a new early years inspection framework which is “more flexible to apply to different types of settings” has not yet been set out.

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