Preparing for your Ofsted inspection (the calm version)

Ofsted inspections give most childminders a wobble. They shouldn't. If you're doing the everyday job well, your inspection is just a couple of hours where someone watches the day you already deliver. The trick is preparation, not performance.

What's actually being judged

Under the current Education Inspection Framework, you're judged on:

• Quality of education — your curriculum, what children are learning, how you adapt to each child
• Behaviour and attitudes — how children behave, settle and engage
• Personal development — wider experiences, healthy lifestyles, British values, independence
• Leadership and management — your safeguarding, professional development and partnerships with parents

From these you get an overall judgement: Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate. Safeguarding effectiveness sits above all of it — if safeguarding is judged ineffective, no other grade matters.

The 4 weeks before

Documents to refresh

• Safeguarding policy — re-read it, make sure dates and DSL details are current
• Risk assessments for the home, outings and the school run
• Fire evacuation plan, with a recent drill recorded
• Accident and incident book — tidy, signed by parents
• Medication records
• Attendance register — accurate to the minute
• Children's records: contracts, permissions, allergies, dietary needs, photos signed by parents
• SEND/EHCP paperwork where relevant
• Your CPD log — courses, dates, what you took from each one
• Parent questionnaires or recent feedback

Practical checks

• First aid certificate in date
• DBS and any household member DBS in date
• Public liability insurance in date
• Smoke and CO alarms tested in the last month
• Fridge/freezer thermometers in place if you use them for food planning

The week of the call

Inspectors usually phone the day before. You have the right to ask reasonable questions about timing, but you can't refuse the inspection. After the call:

1. Email parents to let them know — inspectors will often want to speak to them by phone or in person at pickup.
2. Print fresh copies of attendance, the day's plan and your latest observations.
3. Have your Self-Evaluation Form (or equivalent reflection) ready.
4. Run your fire drill if it's been more than 6 months.
5. Sleep. Seriously — tired you is not your best you.

On the day

Inspections for childminders typically last around 3 hours. Expect:

• A tour of the spaces children use
• A learning walk while you're with children — they watch how you interact, not how Pinterest your shelves are
• A joint observation of an activity, with a conversation afterwards about what you saw and what you'd do next
• A safeguarding conversation, including scenarios ("what would you do if…?")
• A look at children's records and your CPD
• Feedback at the end with the headline judgement

Safeguarding questions to be ready for

• Who is your local Designated Safeguarding Lead and what's their number?
• What are the signs of FGM, CSE or county lines you'd watch for?
• What would you do if a child disclosed abuse to you?
• What would you do if an allegation was made against you, or a member of your household?
• How do you stay current on Prevent and British values?

You don't need to recite definitions — you need to show you'd act, quickly and to the right person.

The questions parents will be asked

• How do you communicate with them about their child's development
• How quickly you respond when something happens (a bump, a tricky day)
• Whether their child is happy
• What their child is learning that they wouldn't be learning at home

After the inspection

You'll get a draft report within about 18 working days. You have 5 working days to challenge factual inaccuracies. Once published, the report stays on the Ofsted site indefinitely. If you get something less than Good, you have the right to complain and to be re-inspected sooner.