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School "first" to offer baby care
Unannounced OFSTED inspections from April 05

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18 November 2004 - School "first" to offer baby care

A school says it is the first to offer care for babies, in an attempt to take the strain off busy parents. The baby unit at Gorringe Park Primary, in Mitcham, south-west London, is thought to be unique as it is run by the school and not a private firm.

Parents can leave their children, aged from three months, on site from 7.30am until 6.30pm from Monday to Friday. The school says parents who normally had to drop their children off at a number of places can now make one stop.

The school says it hopes the unit will be an example that other schools can follow so more parents can take advantage of the idea. Many of our parents had to drive to the other side of the borough to take their younger children to a private nursery and that was before their working day

Lynn Honder-Cole, the school's bursar, says lottery funding made it possible for the school to offer baby care.

She said the school already offered other services like breakfast clubs and after-school play schemes for older children.

"I think there are a few schools that have private providers, however we already manage the unit ourselves and it's run by the school and ultimately the head teacher is responsible.

"Many of our parents were dropping perhaps one or two children with us at say 8am and then having to drive to the other side of the borough or to another borough altogether to take their younger children to a private nursery - and that was before they had begun their working day."

The care costs £28 per day for children aged two to three and £32 for those between three months and two years.

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03 November 2004 - Unannounced OFSTED inspections from April 2005

Nurseries in England are to be inspected without prior warning from next year, the education watchdog Ofsted has announced. They will also be graded in the same way as schools: outstanding, good, satisfactory or inadequate.

Other childcarers, meanwhile, will get a few days' warning that inspectors are going to pay them a visit. Care providers are currently told the month for which an inspection is planned. This, many say, is disruptive.

There are 118,000 registered childminders and nurseries in England. Ofsted has inspected them since 2001. Its poll, to which 281 care providers, organisations and parents responded, found that 94% were in favour of inspections with little or no notice. Some 91% wanted to be graded like schools. Also, 89% were in favour of introducing a simple self-evaluation form to be completed prior to inspections.

David Bell, chief inspector of schools, said he was "delighted" that "teachers, childcarers and parents alike support our vision for a more integrated approach to the inspection of education and care". Inspectors investigated 6,250 concerns about childminders and nurseries between April 2003 and March this year.

Ofsted has also proposed a three-year inspection cycle for schools. The maximum gap between inspections is currently six years. The inspections should also take no longer than two days at the school, Ofsted said.

It is hoped this approach "will reduce the levels of stress" often associated with visits and show schools "as they really are". The changes to nursery and childcare inspections come into force in April 2005.

A Department for Education and Skills spokesperson said: "We welcome the decisions that Ofsted is taking on the way that it will inspect early-years provision in future.

"Our children need the best start in life that they can get and a good inspection regime is one thing that the government can do with Ofsted to encourage improvements in the quality of early-years services."

Anne Nelson, of the British Association for Early Childhood Education, welcomed the plan to reduce notice for inspections.

However, when it came to pre-school carers being graded in the same way as schools, it was important that Ofsted staff had the "same understanding of the criteria" used.

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