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Press release: Most Foundation Stage settings are effective but there is room for improvement

Children are achieving well in most of the early learning goals, but in one third of settings standards in communication, language and literacy are lower than expected and speaking and listening skills are weak, according to the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted).

Ofsted’s first major survey of the Foundation Stage since 2001, The Foundation Stage: a survey of 144 settings, found that most of the settings visited provided effective education and care.

Standards were higher than expected in personal, social, emotional and physical development and within expected levels for knowledge and understanding of the world, creative development, and mathematical development, but there are weaknesses in calculation skills.

Miriam Rosen, Ofsted's Director for Education, said:

“Parents need to be assured that the quality of integrated learning and care is consistent, regardless of which setting their child attends. Children’s low achievement in early reading, writing and calculation in some settings must be tackled so they are able to achieve the best possible outcomes to set them on the right path for their future education.”

Teaching was at least good in seven out of ten settings, thanks to excellent planning, high expectations and a successful combination of skills teaching and imaginative activities. Leadership and management were good or better in almost two thirds of settings and were characterised by well qualified staff and a commitment to improvement.

Achievement was good in half the settings visited and outstanding in nine. However, achievement in some schools varied between nursery and reception classes, with children sometimes repeating work across these classes. Parental involvement was found to be an important factor in promoting learning, but the settings did not give them enough information.

Inspectors found the quality of the curriculum was good or better in half of the settings visited. It was most successful in special schools and settings dealing exclusively with the Foundation Stage. In half of the primary schools visited the curriculum was effective but the remainder had notable weaknesses.

Girls achieved better than boys across all the areas of learning. Not all settings were sufficiently aware of the impact of girls’ and boys’ different choices of play activity on their progress. In settings where children with English as an additional language received regular and appropriate support their achievement was good, but where settings thought they would just ‘pick it up’ underachievement was considerable.

Arrangements for children to move from one year group to the next were effective in half the settings visited, with pastoral aspects of transition being managed very effectively. However, making sure that children continued to make progress in their learning at points of transition was less successful. The majority of settings had no written policy about transition and only a few evaluated their arrangements. Only a fifth of settings communicated effectively with other settings, and less than one in ten practitioners had received training about transition.

The majority of practitioners passed on the Foundation Stage profile, describing the child’s progress, to their new teacher. However, only a minority of schools gave Foundation Stage and Year 1 practitioners time to discuss children’s progress. Some children arrived at their next setting without records and a few settings took insufficient account of the records they received. Some nurseries reported to inspectors that the schools to which their children moved said they liked to ‘start from scratch’.

In 2004 Ofsted reported that very few Year 1 teachers used the profile when planning work for those children who had failed to attain the early learning goals during the Foundation Stage. Today’s report found that around one third of teachers now do this. Although this indicates progress, there is still room for improvement.

In order to provide a firm foundation for further development of the Foundation Stage, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) should ensure that settings have improved guidance on raising standards in communication, language and literacy; supporting the achievement of boys; and providing effective challenge for more able children.

Staff in settings should raise standards in communication, language and literacy. They should also increase their awareness of the impact of boys’ choices of play activity on their progress and help them to achieve more rapidly by providing opportunities for learning that engage them. More effective and specialist support for children learning English as an additional language should be provided.

Local authorities should ensure that training is provided to improve the links between communication, language and literacy and other areas of learning; play a role in improving procedures for transition between non-maintained and maintained settings, and provide training to help practitioners meet the needs of children for whom English is an additional language.

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Notes For Editors

1. The Foundation Stage: a survey of 144 settings is available on the Ofsted website www.ofsted.gov.uk today.

2. Ofsted published Transition from the Reception Year to Year 1: an evaluation by HMI in May 2004.

3. This is Ofsted’s first major survey of Foundation Stage settings since 2001. Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI), Childcare Inspectors and Additional Inspectors visited 144 settings in 2005 and 2006 to evaluate standards, achievement and the quality of provision for children aged from three to five years old as well as the support the settings received from local authorities. The sample included special schools, primary schools, first schools, nursery schools, children’s centres and private nurseries, selected to represent a range of provision in different areas of the country, serving communities from various socio-economic groups. HMI held discussions with representatives from 18 local authorities.

4. This survey evaluated the quality of provision in the current Foundation Stage curriculum (which since 2002 has formed the first stage of the National Curriculum). This sets out early learning goals in six areas: personal, social and emotional development; communication, language and literacy; mathematical development; knowledge and understanding of the world; physical development, and creative development.

5. The Foundation Stage profileis a way of summing up a child's progress and learning across the six areas of learning at the end of the Foundation Stage. The Foundation Stage Profile is made up of 13 scales based on the early learning goals and stepping stones set out in Curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage. TheFoundation Stage Profile handbook and Observing children - building the profileprovide guidance for practitioners on how to make assessments on the basis of their observations and knowledge of the whole child.

6. Ofsted is a non-ministerial government department established under the Education (Schools) Act 1992 to take responsibility for the inspection of all schools in England. Its role also includes the inspection of further education, local authority children’s services, teacher training institutions and some independent schools. During 2001, Ofsted became responsible for inspecting all 16-19 education and for the regulation of early years childcare, including childminders.

7. On 1 April 2007, the new Ofsted will take responsibility for inspecting children’s social care from the Commission for Social Care Inspection, inspecting adult learning from the Adult Learning Inspectorate, and inspecting the Children and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Court Administration, in addition to Ofsted’s current responsibilities.

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