• Find an early years and childcare inspection report
• Understanding an early years and childcare inspection report
• Types of early years and childcare Ofsted inspects
• Inspecting early years and childcare
  • Inspecting registered early years providers
    • Before an Early Years Register inspection
    • Early Years Register self-evaluation form and guidance
    • During an Early Years Register inspection
    • After an Early Years Register inspection
  • Inspecting registered childcare providers
• Types of early years and childcare Ofsted regulates
• Regulating early years and childcare; applying to be a provider
• Children's centres
• Safeguarding children
• About our survey reports
• How to complain

After an Early Years Register inspection

Immediately after the inspection the inspector writes a short report that includes:

• a summary with the judgements and the overall quality and standards of the provision, including any areas for development
• a description of the provider
• any actions or recommendations made to help improve the quality of provision
• how well the provision meets the needs of the children
• the contribution to children’s well-being.

If you are also on the Childcare Register, the report will also confirm your compliance with the requirements of that register and any actions needed to make sure that you do comply.

The inspection report

Soon after the inspection we will send you your report, which you should check to make sure you agree that it is factually correct.

We publish all inspection reports on our website within 20 days of the end of the inspection. You must give a copy of the report to each parent of the children you look after, and to anyone else who asks for a copy.

There is an overall judgement.

• Grade 1 – Outstanding
  Highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning.
• Grade 2 – Good
  Effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning.
• Grade 3 – Satisfactory
  Performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good.
• Grade 4 – Inadequate
  Requires significant improvement and/or enforcement. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

Where there are no children on roll at the time of the inspection the judgements are:

• Met
  the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration
• Not met
  the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

If the judgement is inadequate

If the judgement is inadequate inspectors must decide whether we need to take enforcement action and/or whether a notice to improve is needed in relation to children’s learning and development. The inspector may issue a welfare requirements notice if there are significant safeguarding and welfare issues that we do not believe you can deal with just through a notice to improve.

Providers judged as inadequate will receive a series of monitoring visits and will be re-inspected no more than 12 months later.

Where we have taken formal enforcement action we will include information about this in the inspection report.

If we judge your setting to be inadequate we will tell your local authority. This may affect your eligibility for funding from them.

Outstanding providers

Outstanding providers are entitled to use the special Ofsted outstanding provider logo on a range of communications, from their stationery to their website. If you are judged outstanding, we will send you a pack after your report appears on our website.