Strong support for children’s centre inspections
Parents, local authorities, organisations representing early years and children’s centres have given the thumbs-up to new proposals for inspecting children’s centres.
Local authorities started to set up government-funded children’s centres in 2004 to provide a range of services for children under five and their families. These include early learning and 
childcare, family support and health services, help with finding employment and links to other specialist services. The Department for Children, Schools and Families wants every community to have a children’s centre by April 2010 and has asked Ofsted to inspect them.
A consultation between July and September 2009, resulted in 289 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire and 914 participants in its survey through the parents’ panel. Respondents to the online consultation strongly agreed on one self-evaluation form for children’s centres covering all recipients. Parents felt that the proposed areas covered by the inspection included all the issues they wanted to see.
We are continuing to develop the framework so that it can focus on a core set of children’s centre services, but is flexible enough to accommodate differences in the way in which the centres are organised and the multi-agency aspects of their work
Ofsted also held a conference in July to evaluate 19 pilot inspections which took place between March and June 2009. Those involved in the trials felt that the arrangements for setting up and carrying out the inspections and the inspection reports were clear and helpful. Centres were generally pleased with the swift responses they received to any queries and the approach taken by inspectors before, during and after the inspection. However, centres and local authorities felt they needed more guidance on what evidence inspectors would look for in judging the impact services had in improving outcomes for children and their families.
Ofsted will take into account all the responses. We have carried out further trial inspections during the autumn to ensure that we cover different models of children’s centres, for example rural centres and centres operating as part of a ‘cluster’. We are also continuing to develop the framework so that it can focus on a core set of children’s centre services, but is flexible enough to accommodate differences in the way in which the centres are organised and the multi-agency aspects of their work.
The report on the responses to the consultation on how Ofsted should inspect children’s centres can be found on the Ofsted website at www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/090309
