Schools set for separate early years rating

The new graded judgment, due to be introduced from September, will assess the quality of school-based nursery services and pupils in reception when the regulator carries out an inspection.

Ofsted says the changes, which would also see a separate judgment introduced for post-16 provision, is designed to ensure inspectors place as much emphasis on early years provision as they do on education for five- to 16-year-olds.

The consultation simply asks whether there should be separate graded judgments for early years and post-16 provision delivered by schools. It runs until 13 May.

It says Ofsted will develop a separate inspection criteria for early years in schools that measures pupils' achievement, the quality of the teaching, behaviour and safety, and leadership and management.

The consultation document says in an "increasingly competitive world" it is "imperative" that children have the best possible start to their education.

Ofsted’s national director for schools, Michael Cladingbowl, said: “We know that the early years of education set children up for life – so it is really important that schools get this right.

“I want our inspection reports to be even clearer about how well children are doing in reception and nursery classes. It’s also important that parents and young people have a clear understanding of how well the school’s sixth form is doing so they can make informed choices about where to continue their studies when they reach 16.
 
“We are keen to hear the views of parents and learners as well as providers about our proposals to bring in these separate judgments.”

The Pre-school Learning Alliance said it broadly supported the creation of a separate early years judgment for schools, but warned the proposed inspection criteria differs from that used in the wider early years sector.

Chief executive Neil Leitch said: "This is likely to set school-based early years provision apart from other services and make a comparison of performance difficult.

"Ofsted’s role is to assess the effectiveness of the delivery of the Early Years Foundation Stage, so their judgements should be made against a consistent criteria to assist benchmarking and ensure the overall fairness of the process across all types of childcare regardless of where the provision is delivered."