Jump to content
Home
Forum
Articles
About Us
Tapestry

Ofsted Have Been! Talk About Being Thrown In At The Deep End.....


mrsbat
 Share

Recommended Posts

Has anyone else had theirs post new EYFS??

 

The inspector turned up halfway through yesterdays session thinking we were open all day! so had to come back again this morning as she would only have been there an hour and a half otherwise.

 

Although we have all been dreading it and had hoped for it to happen before summer with the old eyfs which we were all very comfortable with I have to say that it wasn't too bad and also she was actually nice - never thought I'd say that about OFSTED!!

 

Obviously I can't say our actual grade but I am really happy :D

 

They (or the inspector we had anyway) were very interested in behaviour management strategies and VERY interested in tracking/showing individual childs progress and how we move "advanced" children on in their development.

 

We only had 1 recommendation which was for the key person to spend time getting to know the parent before the child starts - with possible home visits or asking them to come in without the child - not sure on that one! :blink:

 

Also does anyone have photo's of children on their website which anyone can see? that's something we have and she said they are looking really seriously into it. They won't put anything on the report because it's not stated in the eyfs but she said it's something we need to seriously think about....

 

Oh and apart from the learning stories and policies she didn't want to see any paperwork!! Bit gutted after spending 60 hours in the holidays lol.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh well, it sounds a fairly positive experience, on balance! I bet you didn't sleep last night though!

 

We don't have ny pictures of children on the website, that's always been a 'no-no' for me. I have them in the prospectus, but they are not identifiable children, (too far away or backs of heads etc)

 

I'm not sure how my staff would feel about getting to know parents like that. Fortunately quite a lot of ours are from the village so we know them anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh wow congratulations mrsbat, sounds like you did well!! Bet you are enormously relieved thats out of the way! Thanks for the 'what they looked for' tips - always good to be forewarned etc etc, and good to hear Mrs O had her Happy Hat on too! Good for you :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have pictures of our children on our facebook page and website with faces blanked out. It was a suggestion from our parents and they all love to see what their children have been doing.

 

Should we remove them? or would it be ok to write a permission form and get parents to sign?

We have a permission form for all children to use photos for promotional purposes but I suppose that doesn't count although I do tell new parents about the facebook page.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all.

 

Cait I had permission etc from all parents so thought it would be ok - I have already solved the problem now though as I have password protected the page so only parents can access it (Ofsted said this would be great) I would hate to stop it as it is a daily blog about what we have done and was initially started for those parents who don't bring/collect their children to see and hear what they have done each day - the parents love it so it's staying ;)

 

I was really frustrated with the idea of getting to know parents better initially, she was suggesting they come in without the child the day before they start to go through the registration form, talk about any worries etc etc.

I explained that we do that when they register etc but she said maybe it should be done again at the time of them starting.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have pictures of our children on our facebook page and website with faces blanked out. It was a suggestion from our parents and they all love to see what their children have been doing.

 

Should we remove them? or would it be ok to write a permission form and get parents to sign?

We have a permission form for all children to use photos for promotional purposes but I suppose that doesn't count although I do tell new parents about the facebook page.

The lady said only put on what needs to be put on - so no names, likes etc etc so I would say that faces blanked out is fine?

Is your facebook page locked so people can only see it if you give them access? if so I would definitely say that is fine :)

 

I'm a bit gutted really as I gave her the website address to read all our policies, if I hadn't of given it to her she wouldn't have seen the photo's!

 

never mind :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mrs Bat. Can I ask when you had your last inspection. Were you due them coming or were you overdue them coming? We are expecting them in October so just trying to work out if they are behind still on inspections. Big thank you for the heads up on what they are keen on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WoW mrsbat - I can remember being first in the firing line with the old EYFS not a happy position to be in, however, our circle of inspection seems to have moved more towards Spring than Autumn due to Ofsted running well behind in my area. We were last inspected in 2010 so not due and hopefully by the time we are we will all be secure rather than developing!! :ph34r: :blink: :D ::1a #

 

It sounds a positive experience for you all and I am glad that you are REALLY pleased with the result you had today. Well done to you and your team, it must have been so nerve jangling when the knock came at the door!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like you we wanted them to come in the summer term(the school were done) So I have been desperate for them not to come for the first couple of weeks of term as we have so many newbies. Now I would just love them to come and get it over with!!! Did the manager have an interview and go through paperwork or was she really looking at all the adults and children?

Well done and hope you have a glass/bottle/bucket of wine to celebrate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mrs Bat. Can I ask when you had your last inspection. Were you due them coming or were you overdue them coming? We are expecting them in October so just trying to work out if they are behind still on inspections. Big thank you for the heads up on what they are keen on.

Well it's a bit complicated.... We were due in February but then we re-registered as a workers co-operative in March this year so the old pre-school was de-registered so this inspection was for the new group and it had to be inspected within 7 months of registering - hope that makes sense!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WoW mrsbat - I can remember being first in the firing line with the old EYFS not a happy position to be in, however, our circle of inspection seems to have moved more towards Spring than Autumn due to Ofsted running well behind in my area. We were last inspected in 2010 so not due and hopefully by the time we are we will all be secure rather than developing!! :ph34r: :blink: :D ::1a #

 

It sounds a positive experience for you all and I am glad that you are REALLY pleased with the result you had today. Well done to you and your team, it must have been so nerve jangling when the knock came at the door!

haha well I was outside when she turned up so another member of staff let her in, I walked indoors to see them chatting as if they were friends, my staff member then came to me and introduced her saying this is ***** from ofsted, I nearly died on the spot then showed myself up by giggling and saying "oh how lovely"!
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like you we wanted them to come in the summer term(the school were done) So I have been desperate for them not to come for the first couple of weeks of term as we have so many newbies. Now I would just love them to come and get it over with!!! Did the manager have an interview and go through paperwork or was she really looking at all the adults and children?

Well done and hope you have a glass/bottle/bucket of wine to celebrate.

I'm the manager, we spoke while I was showing her round yesterday then we sat for an hour at the end and she asked lots of questions about how I manage the staff and setting then today I had to observe an activity with her and she questioned me about what I thought went well, could have gone better, what I thought the children were getting out of it etc. She was very hot on self evaluation as well so she asked me a lot about what we had done since the last inspection and what our future plans were. She did spend a lot more time watching and talking to the children rather then talking to the adults :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Well it's a bit complicated.... We were due in February but then we re-registered as a workers co-operative in March this year so the old pre-school was de-registered so this inspection was for the new group and it had to be inspected within 7 months of registering - hope that makes sense!

 

We also registered as a new setting expecting them within 7 months........that was 18 months ago !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haha maybe ! We moved onto a school and I'm not convinced they don't now think we,re part of the school even though independent.

 

A couple of years back I rang them about something (can't for the life of me remember what) anyway - they said they had no record of me anywhere - I had been running my setting for 30 years xD next day my invoice came in the post and I just had to ring and make a very sarcastic remark about that.......the person i spoke to apologised and said "I'm looking at all of your details now, and I have no idea why you couldn't be 'found' yesterday - so there we go they do lose us from time to time :blink: xD :lol: xD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow Mrsbat well done thanks for the heads up we are due an inspection any time .can I say that we too are a workers co-op there are very few of us about we became one i 2005welcome to the club.

really appreciate the tips I will pass this on to my team as I amstillon sick leave they will find this very interesting well done again.

sue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. (Privacy Policy)