Ofsted 'rules' About Books?

[narnia]

my grandson's nursery has just THREE (tatty) books on a shelf....................my daughter,who was bothered by this, questioned why and was told it is Ofsted rules to have only three books on any shelf, they must be pointing foward and not touching each other,It is also good practice to photocopy the cover of the book and put it on the shelf so the children know where it goes! has anyone else been told this??

[Guest SamG]

I've heard about photocopying the cover to show where each book goes, but not about 3 books on a shelf. Sounds like an excuse for not having enough resources out!!

[sunnyday]

WHAT????????????

 

No never, sounds like a load of old ******** to me

[Cait]

Sounds most bizarre to me. Are they particularly weighty tomes?

[narnia]

Yes, War and Peace; The encyclopedia Britannica and room on the broom ( unedited version!!)

[Froglet]

It does remind me a little of one of the ECERS statements which says something about not having so many out that children can't see to choose. It definitely doesn't say have only 3 though!

[sunnyday]

Yes, War and Peace; The encyclopedia Britannica and room on the broom ( unedited version!!)

 

Oh well - that's different then! :lol:

[Froglet]

Yes, War and Peace; The encyclopedia Britannica and room on the broom ( unedited version!!)

 

Ah, now I understand. It was clearly just a mis-labelling of the new resources for the construction area!

[garrison]

what a load of tosh

[JacquieL]

Good grief what complete rubbish! It might be fun to ask them for chapter and verse. A bit worrying really in terms of what else they do.

[finleysmaid]

you know the Health and safety executive has a myth of the month well........................!!!!!!

[Guest]

Children need to see books everywhere not just in a "the book area" - we have laods and loads of books in all areas of our pre-school - as long as they learn to look after books thats the expectation - dont think there is a development matters point which says "when the child has finished with a book, they know to find its picture on the rack and put it back" - sorry to rant a bit but cannot believe that some pre-schools would think that 3 books is enough, and that to say that Ofsted think that is complete rubbish........ Sorry to rant again

[Stargrower]

Ofsted's 'rules' are whatever the EYFS statutory framework say, so if its not in there (and if it is, I've definitely missed it!!!) then its not an Ofsted rule!

Beehive

[Fredbear]

Now that's a new one on me, as well as a bit scary that a provision would also subscribe to it. Think I would have to challenge that one at the nursery, or buy them a new book as a gift.

[Guest]

Shocking ! - I say give them details of "The Book People" - can often get packs of 10 books for around £10. Can also get good quality 'as new' children's books from many charity shops for as little as 50p each. What if child is not interested in the 3 books available ! No excuse to skimp on books.

[Guest]

Hi Narnia (hope all ok with you)

 

I was shocked about this books thing!!

 

I can't decide if someone has lied to your daughter at the nursery or if someone has misinterpreted something from OFSTED they have read!!

 

I cannot imagine ANY decent nursery or preschool only having 3 books out!!! I can imagine 3 books out maybe in a specific area to support play on say firefighting or space etc, but 3 books in a book corner????

 

I shall be interested to see how this turns out!

 

It does sound a little ECERSy but I know even then there's no way 3 books would be acceptable!

 

Keep us posted please!

 

X

[narnia]

will do...............I told my daughter this is a load of rubbish, butthey insist that Ofsted inspector and thier lead teacher told them exactly the same thing. I know their lead teacher, so will phone her t ask.

[Cait]

I love books, I can't go into a bookshop without coming away with at least one for preschool, even when we are on holiday and Zebedee is giving me black looks. It took me nearly three days to do the book inventory this year - I think I must slow down a bit!

[louby loo]

As a pack-away, we have a point in the day were we need to encourage 'quiet reading' ..................... with 26 children and three books :o :o

...............We'd be reenacting war and peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ::1a

[Guest]

Im actually speechless!!

 

I cant believe that Ofsted would inspect a setting and be satisfied with only 3 books on display. Im a child minder and on my first inspection (to inspect suitability of premises, so before having any children there) I was told that I didnt have enough books or variety of books. I had far more than 3!

 

I would be questioning the quality of the provision in other areas. If they are scrimping on the things you can see, what about the things you dont.

[Guest]

:huh:

[SueJ]

And the three books that will ensure that children have access to fiction, non-fiction, poetry, awareness of cultures that may differ from their own, multi-lingual stories, social stories, home made stories etc. ARE?????????

[Guest]

what rot! if we just had 3 books the children would fight over them

Edited August 9, 2012 by suewhit

[Guest]

I've also had something like this suggested to me but not with the Ofsted tag attached. I also think it might have been linked to ECERS but it wasn't limited to just three books. I have always had a huge number of books on the book trolley and lots of others in other areas too. To have the covers photocopied and displayed would have been impossible so I accepted the suggestion as advice and ignored it because I knew our children all accessed the books (around the room) regularly and effectively. In fact this last year we had boys making up 98% of the children attending and visitors always commented on how well they used the books and how engaged they were with them independently so I know it was working how we ran it.

[Sue R]

Oh, Narnia - I had a chuckle!!

 

What rubbish we are fed - but sometimes people actually believe it!!

 

If I were an Ofsted Inspector and was met with the scenario you describe - "Where is the noose!!!?"

 

Sorry - extreme response - but - for goodness sake!!!!!

 

Sue

[zigzag]

Cannot believe that a pre-school can and would find this acceptable advice. Madness, now must go and DRAG out our huge trunk on wheels that contains our books!!!

[catma]

If I was in there looking i'd say it was inadequate provision.

 

Cx

[lashes2508]

the saying ' don't judge a book by it's cover' is out the window here - you can judge the 'cover' by its lack of books - mmm very worrying me thinks - keep us updated on the outcome narnia

[narnia]

well, my daughter went in with a pile of new books for the nursery...................explained again her worries and that she felt, after listening to what I said, that maybe the setting had misinterpreted what the Ofsted inspector had said so would they like the new books she had bought as a leaving present from her child to the setting? Guess what they said...................

 

WE haven't misinterpreted anything, the inspector was very clear and we are sticking to her ideas. And, no thank you, we don't need any more books......we have plenty ............

 

Incidentally, I read the settings last Ofsted report.........................and the laugh of it all is that they had the SAME inspector that we had. She told us that we had 'one of the nicest, cosiest book corners she had ever seen'....................and we certainly DON'T have three books to a shelf!

Edited August 11, 2012 by narnia

[redjayne]

Think this a case of "we hear what we choose to hear if it means it makes less work for us mentality !" If they are putting up a template for each book that can be a bit time consuming so three books = less time ! :1b