New Ofsted Inspection Framework: Part 3 - Feeling happy, safe and secure to learn

The driving force of the Ofsted inspection process is to ensure that providers take the responsibility for delivering quality services very seriously and that they thereby improve outcomes for children's learning.

Inspectors will give an overall grade at the feedback based on the judgements that they arrive at through assessing each of these three areas: the quality of the learning experience, the contribution to children's well-being, and the quality of leadership and management.

Providers need to evaluate their practice and strive towards achieving the highest possible grades in each judgement. The new Self-Evaluation Schedule For Inspections of Registered Early Years Provision guidance on the Ofsted website is very helpful to consult in connection with these expectations.

THE JUDGEMENT

It is essential for providers to acknowledge that children's ability to learn and progress depends directly on nurturing their social and emotional well-being.

This second of the three judgements at inspection is based on a provider's capacity to ensure that children:

• form appropriate bonds and secure emotional attachments with their carers
• learn to behave well and develop good relationships with their peers, and thereby
• develop the Characteristics of Effective Learning.

The principles enshrined in the judgement

1. Children who are happy and secure have greater potential to be successful in learning.

2. Strong bonds with adults and their peers help children develop confidence and self-esteem

3. Fair and clear boundaries for behaviour help children understand what is expected of them and teach them how to play co-operatively and develop respect for adults and each other.

4. Well-developed daily routines encourage children to take responsibility for their environment and develop independence skills.

5. Secure and stimulating environments support children to explore their surroundings and use their imagination.

6. Sensible and caring adults ensure that children experience challenges suited to their age and stage of development.

7. Good hygiene, healthy eating and proactive physical exercise help promote children's health and all-round development.

8. Children who are well settled and happy develop the resilience and the confidence to move on to the next stage of learning.

What can providers do?

It cannot be overstated how important it is to create the best possible environment in which children feel safe and secure. Children are extremely sensitive and seek the approbation and reassurance of the adults who care for them to enhance their self-confidence.

For this reason, practitioners should question how effective their relationships with children and parents are, and how their behaviour and that of their colleagues impacts on the well-being and self-esteem of children.

Regular meetings for staff to discuss their views and concerns are essential, as well as opportunities for parents to be informed about their children's development and progress.

Honesty and open-mindedness are qualities that are strongly valued, so providers need to exhibit the strength and the commitment to listen to and acknowledge a range of views. Good documentation about these interactions with staff and parents is useful to record the ongoing development of the service.

What does it feel like for a child in your setting?

• The setting must be welcoming and well-maintained so that children access resources independently. It needs to have as much natural light as possible and be well ventilated and heated. There should be quality furniture and floor surfaces that inspire children to move around freely and access resources to extend learning.
• A safe environment is one in which the children can access everything that they need and want, where the indoors and outdoors are well maintained, uncluttered and well ordered. It has to offer attractive and cosy spaces, as well as equipment and physical points that promote independent thinking and extensive challenges.
• Providers should choose staff who are well-trained and also know how to show empathy. This is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another - in this case, what it feels like to be a child and a parent. Practitioners should also be aware of the effect that they, the staff, have on others.
• Staff need to understand their 'key person' roles and to know how to forge strong links with their key children and their parents. Being a key person is not only about knowing your children well; it is about being the spokesperson and the most responsible person to assess and plan for children's immediate and future learning.
• Children, like sponges, absorb all aspects of their surroundings and the treatment they receive. They learn best when they are happy and engaged in the experiences that are offered. Adults must therefore focus on creating an atmosphere that is positive and challenging, enabling children to copy, to practise new skills and to explore.
• Daily routines -when children sit together in groups to eat, to share stories and songs - should be social opportunities for children to develop practical skills and enjoy communal activities. Adults should be good role models to emphasise that being part of a community is about being supportive and sharing common values.
• To empower children to be good communicators, adults need to talk as much as possible, to describe what they are doing and to explain the consequences of their actions. Children make sense of their world through listening and talking, and for this reason adults have to be receptive to children's efforts to communicate. They need to lead children to enjoy active enquiry, to research and to speculate.
• The Characteristics of Effective Learning -playing and exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically - are promoted most efficiently when children have the enthusiasm and energy to learn, and when adults have the expectation for them to achieve.
• Similarly, practitioners must support parents to have high aspirations for their children's development, and be united with them in seeking to continue to raise the quality of the service that they offer.

CONCLUSIONS: TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR WELL-BEING

The health and well-being of children lies at the very heart of the EYFS curriculum, and it is the very glue that binds together the relationship between providers, parents and children.

An early years inspection is keenly focused on what it feels like for the children and the adults to be in a setting. Safety and emotional security are tangible and act together as measurable components to establish strong foundations for learning.

So providers must be keenly responsive to what they and their practitioners offer and its impact on children's learning.

They must review the layout of their environment and the accessibility of resources to children, indoors and outside.

They must focus on their impact on children in their position of role model and question their own communication skills to enhance children's learning.

They must promote challenging experiences and raise their expectations for children to develop skills and knowledge.

They must create and share policies and procedures that uphold excellent practice and embrace opportunities to listen to parents and support them as their children's first educators.

Providers that develop the skills to establish good relationships with parents are the ones who will have a head start on this journey of improving outcomes for children.

Human kindness and empathy are a prerequisites in the care of babies and young children, but they are also attributes that are essential to the survival and prosperity of a community.

Nurseries, pre-schools and schools are all microcosms of communities in our society.

They need to show the compassion and the commitment to diversity and individuality that improves the life chances of the children and parents whom they serve.

A good start in life depends on a child feeling wanted and accepted, as well as feeling that he or she has a contribution to make. Providers of childcare and early years education must take on this responsibility with the passion and the commitment that children deserve to achieve well - now and in the future.

Further information

The Evaluation Schedule for Inspections of Registered Early Years Provision, www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/ evaluation-schedule-for-inspections-of-registered-early-years- provision

Part 4, the concluding article of this series, which will be published in Nursery World on 21 April, will examine leadership and management.