Nursery World - Inspections will hit target, says Ofsted

The first round of inspections of childcare providers by Ofsted is 'well on track' for completion by next March, says the Early Years Directorate. In its report, Early Years: Early Days, published last week, Ofsted said that in the Directorate's first year of operation it had completed 51,300 transitional inspections. The Directorate also received 28,000 new applications for registration and, of these, just over half (15,000 or 54 per cent) had received a registration visit from an Ofsted inspector.

In its report, Early Years: Early Days, published last week, Ofsted said that in the Directorate's first year of operation it had completed 51,300 transitional inspections. The Directorate also received 28,000 new applications for registration and, of these, just over half (15,000 or 54 per cent) had received a registration visit from an Ofsted inspector.

However, the report acknowledged that the transfer of police checks on early years workers to the Criminal Records Bureau had caused 'teething problems' and 'initially led to delays in returning checks which slowed down Ofsted's registration process'. But the report praised the CRB for being helpful in fast-tracking checks for staff for holiday playschemes, which enabled the majority of schemes to be registered and processed in time for the summer holidays.

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