'Poor provision' in independents

Poor-quality provision for under-fives has been identified in a 'significant minority' of cases by Osted inspections of independent schools in England, according to a report published last week by the Department for Education and Skills. The report, The Regulatory Impact Assessment for Proposals to Extend Children Act Childcare Regulation to Schools, pointed out that although the educational provision for children under five was judged to be satisfactory or good in most independent schools, in some cases it was not, and the inspectors' findings also raised doubts about the standards of childcare provided for under-fives. This particularly applied to independent schools...