Ofsted Inspection Reports Outcomes (part 3)

We can pick out comments from recent Ofsted inspection cards and talk about them - that's what we have done when reviewing reports in part 1 and part 2 of our inspection outcome blogs series for childminder inspections. We must, of course, be cautious - sometimes, inspection outcomes are very specific to what the inspector sees in the specific early years setting.

However, it can also be useful to look at the bigger picture of what early inspections are telling us.

The new Ofsted early years inspection report cards use a 'traffic light' grading system and you will notice if you browse through them on the Ofsted website that there are a range of grades for early years providers. Under the 2025 inspection framework, Ofsted now grades providers on a 5-point scale for each evaluation area: 'exceptional', 'strong standard', 'expected standard', 'needs attention' and 'urgent improvement'.

Safeguarding will be graded 'met' or 'not met' and you might spot a few 'not met' for safeguarding report cards, but in most of the inspection report cards Childcare.co.uk have evaluated since the new inspection framework was introduced on 10th November 2025, safeguarding is described as 'met'. Childcare.co.uk has a blog on the most common concerns for safeguarding.

Beyond this, we can see that most report cards show that settings are meeting the 'expected standard' with a few 'strong standard' grades for some areas, which suggests that most early years providers inspected since November 2026 have met or exceeded expectations in every area of their provision.

Ofsted are keen to reassure providers that the 'expected standard' grade is a high bar and does not equate to previous inspection outcomes. Providers are also reminded that inspection is now 'secure fit' rather than 'best fit', which means that the inspector has to see the same thing happening consistently to award the grade. This means that they cannot use their professional judgement as they might have done previously - if they don't see the same practice happening all the time, you will not receive 'expected'.

Looking at report cards that show mostly 'expected standard' and a few 'strong standard' outcomes tells us that there is generally consistency in inspections. Where a provider is getting it right in one inspection area it will likely be shown in others. For example, if inclusion is 'expected' or 'strong', the theme will run through other inspection areas and influence those grades as well. Similarly, lower grades in 'behaviour, attitudes and routines' will impact on other grades - if children aren't attending, they cannot do well with their 'achievement' and 'leadership' will likely be impacted because leaders are not getting children into the setting regularly to benefit from the setting's 'curriculum and teaching.'

Unpicking some of the grades

Let's look at some of the grades we have evaluated and comments that might be useful to focus on.

Where providers have got 'inclusion' right, Ofsted note that children's needs are quickly and accurately identified, additional funding is used to remove barriers to learning and achievement and providers are working effectively with external professionals to support children's progress.

Where providers have got 'children's welfare and wellbeing' right, inspectors note that children feel safe and are healthy in the setting, they are kept safe online and have high-quality support from practitioners to ensure strong mental health. There is also a reference to the setting's compliance with British values in some reports.

Feedback is very specific where 'next steps' are set out to help providers improve. For example, if a setting receives 'needs attention' for the 'curriculum and teaching' part of inspection, the 'next steps' might state, for example, that while the curriculum is secure, teaching needs to improve or that there are certain parts of the curriculum that need more work because they are not currently supporting children's learning, development or progress.

When looking at 'next steps' for 'children's welfare and wellbeing' we can see frequent references to lack of healthy, balanced and nutritious diets for children to 'help them develop healthy eating habits'. The DfE Early Years Foundation Stage Nutrition statutory guidance will help you to ensure food provided for children meets the EYFS statutory requirements.

Another comment that is coming up regularly in inspection reports relates to oral health, linked to the 'Ofsted: explore the context' data. Inspectors might grade the setting 'expected standard' for children's welfare and wellbeing' but will still want to see improvements in oral health - for example, a report card states for 'next steps', 'The childminder should consider embedding positive oral health routines to help foster children's healthy habits for their self-care.'

Childcare.co.uk has a page of useful oral health resources for gold members.

Similarly, when 'behaviour attitudes and establishing routines' has been graded 'needs attention' inspectors might note that while behaviour is generally good in the setting, providers need to review their daily routines to 'support children's transitions'. This is often linked to children being asked to wait around for too long when moving from one activity to another. When reflecting on what inspection reports tell us, this should prompt you to look at your current practice around transitions and how you smoothly support every child through the day. When a child is struggling, what adaptations are you making to help them?

Where safeguarding practice is graded as 'met', early years providers have an open and positive culture of safeguarding, strong safeguarding policies which are shared with parents and knowledge of how to deliver effective safeguarding in day-to-day practice. Much of the work you do around safeguarding is linked to safeguarding confidence - not simply knowing what to do but also being confident about your procedures and able to explain how you follow safeguarding procedures in practice.

The Childcare.co.uk safeguarding Q&A and quick reference cards are useful tools to show the inspector how you develop your safeguarding knowledge and confidence and would, for example, look things up if you were unsure about how to manage a safeguarding concern.

If you receive a 'not met' inspection grade for safeguarding, it is possible you will lose your Local Authority funding (each LA has the power to make this decision). If that happens, your setting will struggle to be financially viable, so you need to focus on getting safeguarding right. In addition to 2 yearly statutory safeguarding training following the requirements in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Annex C, you should also do refresher training, especially if there have been any concerns raised. You will find the regular Childcare.co.uk safeguarding refresher webinars useful to demonstrate ongoing compliance with the EYFS and show how you update your professional development.

Inspectors will take your 'context' into account

What is happening with the much-discussed 'context' information? Ofsted has said they will take the context of your setting into account and ask providers to look at the 'Ofsted: explore an area' website for more specific information in relation to, for example, LA figures on oral health and obesity. This will be brought up during the inspection planning call (before inspection) and discussed during inspection.

You should familiarise yourself with your local area data ahead of inspection*. Think about how the data impacts on barriers children face in the community and how you intend to use the information to raise outcomes for children in your setting. For example, we can see reference to children's starting points in some inspection report cards and how providers have impacted outcomes - this is often linked to the community context in which the provider works. In one report card, for example, published information showed that obesity levels in the provider's LA are high, but the inspector notes that through the setting's work with parents on their menu and promoting children's healthy eating habits at home etc outcomes for children in the setting do not reflect the LA trend.

*Note that this is different from the LA safeguarding priorities which will be on your Local Safeguarding Partners (LSP) website and / or delivered during Local Authority safeguarding training. If you are unsure about your local safeguarding priorities, you should ask your LA safeguarding team for more information.

What about 'next steps'?

There are some common 'next steps' themes coming through on recently published inspection report cards which we should be aware of as well. However, providers who have looked through report cards state that the 'next steps' on some report cards are sometimes unclear suggesting that, for example, when inspectors haven't been able to give the 'exceptional' grade they have struggled to provide any areas of improvement beyond 'keep doing what you are doing.'

One of Ofsted's 7 Cs for inspection in their Response to the Big Listen is 'care and wellbeing'. This was introduced to better support the mental health and well-being of leaders and staff being inspected. Poor management of the 'exceptional' grade strikes at the heart of provider wellbeing during inspection and this is something that we believe should be urgently addressed by Ofsted. Many providers have stated that if inspectors cannot be trusted to award the grade, then Ofsted need to review and possibly remove the grade.

Some of the frequent areas of provision highlighted in 'next steps' include early years settings which need to do better to ensure children with vulnerabilities including, for example, special educational needs or disabilities are quickly identified and supported. Ofsted has stated that parent refusal to accept support for their child must not be a barrier to providers getting children help when it is needed.

Professional development is a common 'next steps' theme in early years report cards. Providers need to ensure they are confident in what they are doing - not just the day-to-day practice but also explaining how you work and why it improves outcomes for children to Ofsted. For example, you should be ready to talk about your curriculum and how you have sequenced it - know how to explain your teaching approach and how it works for the children in your setting. Childcare.co.uk webinars and childminder documents will support you with this.

When we are reading recently published inspection reports, early insights are useful. They suggest what inspectors might focus on when they inspect your setting. However, you must bear in mind that no two inspections are the same and inspectors will look at different areas of practice depending on what they see on the day. Inspectors have a pre-determined list in the inspection toolkit that you must achieve in the 'expected standard' but they will also pull threads depending on what is happening during the inspection.

Ofsted advise providers to use the 'expected standard' section of the inspection toolkit as a starting point for your professional development audits. By working through it one paragraph at a time, you can see where you might need more support from training or where an action plan might be useful.

Childcare.co.uk has sample 'expected standard' and 'strong standard' audits as part of their gold member inspection preparation guidance.