Completing the picture
Ofsted has published Leading to excellence, its third national report on childcare and early years, which is based on evidence from the 90,000 inspections of all childcare and early education providers.
The report completes a series of three that look at the ways effective childcare and early education can deliver the best possible outcomes for every child. It uses evidence from inspections of settings during the three years to March 2008.
Previous reports have covered specific aspects of the Every Child Matters agenda. Safe and sound (August 2006) focused on how good providers can help the very young to stay safe and be healthy, and Getting on well (August 2007) focused on how they can maximise children’s enjoyment and sense of achievement.
Leading to excellence now provides a complete picture of how well early years and childcare settings are helping children to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy themselves, achieve and make a positive contribution.
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, Christine Gilbert, said, '
I am pleased to say that overall providers are doing well and they are getting better. I am particularly impressed with the level of improvement in meeting the national standards. In 2005 we reported that less than 80% of registered early years and childcare settings met the national standards. Now almost all do.
Clearly there is more to do before we see our early years and childcare provision becoming the best in the world, something I am determined to see for all our children and families. I want to see more good and less satisfactory provision. Improvement requires provision to be well organised, well led and well managed. This is an area of challenge for many providers if they are to promote positive outcomes for children.'
Ray Langley (above right), Divisional Manager for Children for the North of England, Ofsted at the early years national report launch, Ark Family Centre, Scunthorpe.
Leading to excellence shows that in the best settings:
- children are at the heart of all that happens
- adults have a firm approach to keeping children safe
- providers further improve on already outstanding practice
- stimulating environments enable children to thrive safely
- records are used extremely well to support children.
The report includes features and examples of how the best settings are organised, led and managed, to promote good experiences and outcomes for children. The Leading to excellence 
website contains resources to help providers and those that support them assess how well they're currently doing, and what might help them improve. These include questions and a presentation. Early years providers will find these useful as they work to the Early Years Foundation Stage framework.
Michael Hart, Director, Children, at Ofsted commented, ‘Pursuing quality involves a journey of continual improvement. The journey requires commitment and good organisation. It starts by reflecting on practice, evaluating current outcomes for children, taking steps to do better and reviewing the impact of these steps. I hope providers, local authorities and others who promote quality find Leading to excellence a helpful guide for the improvement journey.'
See the full report at www.ofsted.gov.uk/leadingtoexcellence
