Ofsted’s renewed early years inspections: what the report card grades and what to have ready

In short

The renewed framework is for use on inspections from 10 November 2025. It replaced the early years inspection handbook on that date.
There are 7 evaluation areas. Six are graded on a 5-point scale (exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention, urgent improvement). Safeguarding is met or not met.
There is no overall effectiveness grade (framework, “The evaluation scale used for inspection”).
The inspector usually phones by 10am. For group settings that call is the working day before the inspection.
You do not need to write a special pack. Have the records the inspector asks for to hand, starting with DBS records and paediatric first aid.

Notification call

Usually by 10am. Group settings: the working day before.

Planning call

Later the same day, about 30 minutes, usually by video. Context, priorities, timetable.

On site

DBS records early. Shared observations, case sampling, a halfway reflection.

Grading and feedback

Provisional grades discussed. Report card to follow.

The shape of an inspection for a group setting, from the operating guide and the inspection information page (both for use from 1 September 2026).

1. What changed from the previous framework

The old early years inspection handbook has been replaced. The landing page for the guidance says so in one line, and the framework says what the inspection is now built around.

This guidance replaced the early years inspection handbook from 10 November 2025.
Early years inspection: toolkit, operating guide and information (GOV.UK page)

We use a 5-point scale to grade different areas of a provider’s work. From November 2025, we no longer provide an overall effectiveness grade for any provider inspected under the framework. Safeguarding is evaluated on a ‘met’/‘not met’ scale for providers.
Education inspection framework 2025, “The evaluation scale used for inspection”

Our renewed inspections reflect a significant shift in inspection culture. There is a stronger emphasis on leadership as a driver of sustained improvement, and on inclusion.
Early years inspection information, “Information about the inspection process”

There are two layers of dates. The framework applies to inspections from 10 November 2025. The current toolkit (v2.0), operating guide and information page apply to inspections from 1 September 2026. Among the changes listed in the summary of changes is an added standard in children’s welfare and wellbeing on safer sleeping, eating and weaning arrangements. See also our guide to food allergies and choking.

2. What the report card grades

The 7 evaluation areas for registered early years providers

Safeguarding

Met or not met. An open culture, trained staff, safer recruitment, referrals.

Inclusion

Disadvantaged children, SEND, children known to children’s social care, other barriers.

Curriculum and teaching

An ambitious curriculum built from the EYFS educational programmes.

Achievement

Progress from starting points across the 7 areas of learning.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines

Emotions, behaviour, routines, attendance.

Children’s welfare and wellbeing

Key person relationships, health, and care routines.

Leadership and governance

Whether leaders understand and meet the EYFS requirements.

The areas are listed in the framework, “The evaluation areas graded on inspection”, and described in the toolkit v2.0. Before- and after-school and holiday settings are not graded on areas 3 and 4 (inspection information page).

Six areas get a grade. The grade words, lowest to highest, are these:

Grade	What the framework says it means
Urgent improvement	The area “needs urgent action to provide a suitable standard of education and/or care”. The lowest quality provision.
Needs attention	The expected standard “has not been met because some aspects of provision are inconsistent, limited in scope or impact and/or not fully meeting the legal requirements”.
Expected standard	“All the standards are met”, including the legal requirements and the expectations in statutory guidance.
Strong standard	All the expected standards and all the strong standards have been met.
Exceptional	All the strong standards are met, plus all the additional standards in the “exceptional” section of the toolkit. The highest quality provision.

The expected standard is where the inspector starts. The operating guide says: “The ‘expected standard’ in the evaluation areas in the toolkit is the starting point for planning your inspection activities” (“Key principles”, principle 3).

The grade also sets when you are next inspected. Settings on the Early Years Register “will normally be inspected at least once within a 4-year window”, introduced from April 2026 and phased in over 4 years. Settings “will usually be inspected again within” 4 years if every area is at expected standard or above, 12 months if any area is “needs attention”, and 6 months if any area is “urgent improvement” (inspection information, “When we inspect registered early years settings”).

3. How notice works

The inspector phones, tells you an inspection is under way, and agrees a time for a longer call. For a group setting this happens the working day before. For a childminder, it is no more than 5 working days before.

Contact the setting by telephone, usually by 10am, unless any of the principles for carrying out inspections and regulatory work without notice apply.
Early years inspection operating guide, “Timing of the call”

For group provision, you must call the setting on the working day before the inspection.
Early years inspection operating guide, “Group provision”

Ofsted can still arrive unannounced. The information page says: “We reserve the right to inspect without notice, where necessary.”

The operating guide says it will take “approximately 30 minutes”, and the inspector will explain it in three parts: introduction and practicalities, your setting’s context, and the timetable. Group settings can choose a nominee, a member of staff who knows how the setting runs day to day. It is optional, and settings “will not be at any disadvantage if they do not nominate someone”.

When you are notified, you must tell parents, and let the inspector display a poster. A follow-up email asks for facts about the setting, such as the number on roll, operating times, staff numbers and qualifications, and children with SEND. Inspection findings can feed into funding decisions (“Local authorities may use our inspection findings to make decisions about funding for settings.”). See funded childcare and what you can charge.

4. The inspection day

The inspector should not arrive before 8am and should leave by 5pm unless the setting runs later.

Also arrange to review the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) records and consider the setting’s safer recruitment procedures. Aim to do this as early as possible in the inspection so that any minor administrative omissions can be addressed before the conclusion of on-site activity.
Early years inspection operating guide, “Part 3: planning the timetable”

The inspector looks at your DBS records early so that small gaps can be fixed the same day. Other initial activities include meeting your designated safeguarding lead, discussing recruitment and paediatric first aid, and checking that statutory guidance on safe sleep, weaning and safer eating is understood and applied.

Follow-up activities include “focused leadership discussions”, “shared observations” and “case sampling”. A shared observation means the inspector watches practice with a leader beside them, so you can explain your context. Case sampling means looking closely at the experience of selected children.

Together, where possible, you and the leader may then carry out further inspection activities to see the impact on the ground through shared observations.
Early years inspection operating guide, “Focused leadership discussions and shared observations”

About half-way through the day the inspector meets leaders to reflect on the evidence so far. If managers count in your child-to-adult ratios, the inspector plans around that “to make sure they can be involved in reflective discussions”. For how ratios are counted, see EYFS staff ratios explained.

Any grade mentioned on the day is not final. The operating guide says: “you need to be very clear with leaders that any grading throughout the inspection is indicative/provisional.” The information page adds: “Inspection grades are provisional until the final report card has been sent to the setting.”

5. Safeguarding: met or not met

The operating guide says what the inspector does beyond reading your policies:

When determining whether safeguarding is ‘met’, it is important to go beyond reviewing documents and ensuring that the setting meets statutory requirements.
Early years inspection operating guide, “Evaluating safeguarding in practice”

The toolkit lists what ‘met’ looks like, including: “Leaders manage recruitment safely, ensuring that practitioners have the relevant qualifications and training and have passed any checks required for their roles.” (Toolkit, “Grading safeguarding”.)

Small admin gaps are treated with some sense. If the improvement is minor, does not directly affect children’s safety and can be made before the end of the day, the inspector will “give them every chance to do so”. And if you cannot finish it in time, safeguarding can still be ‘met’ where you have taken the necessary steps, for example where training has been booked but will not take place for a number of weeks.

The setting will likely be reinspected within 6 months if safeguarding is ‘not met’, but there can be enforcement activity in between if required.
Early years inspection operating guide, “If safeguarding is likely to be graded as ‘not met’”

For how staff files are expected to support safer recruitment, see nursery staff files and safer recruitment.

6. What to have to hand

The toolkit says: “We do not need leaders to produce documents specifically for an Ofsted inspection of their setting. This would create unnecessary workload.” What the inspector must be able to see is limited, and can be shown online or on paper.

Inspectors must be able to access, either online or in printed form, information that relates to: paediatric first-aid arrangements; Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) records and any other documents summarising the checks on, and the vetting and employment arrangements of, all staff working at the setting – this includes volunteers who engage in regulated activity with children
Early years inspection information, “Documents that EY settings must provide”

Have to hand	Why	Where Ofsted says so
Paediatric first-aid arrangements	The inspector must be able to access them. The planning call plans a check.	Information page, “Documents that EY settings must provide”
DBS records and the summary of checks, vetting and employment arrangements for every member of staff, including volunteers in regulated activity	Reviewed early, as a priority.	Information page; operating guide, “Structure of the inspection”
Referrals made to the LADO, and their resolution	The inspector may ask to see them.	Information page, “Documents that inspectors may need to see”
Details of children with an open case to children’s services and a multi-agency plan	Part of case sampling and inclusion.	Information page, same section
Children present on the day, if not shown on the register	To know who is in the setting.	Information page, same section
Records of accidents	May be asked for.	Information page, same section
Records where children have been refused a place	May be asked for.	Information page, same section
Logs of incidents of discrimination, including racist incidents	May be asked for.	Information page, same section
Records of complaints and their resolution	May be asked for.	Information page, same section
The policies the EYFS requires	The inspector may need to see them.	Operating guide, “Confirming key information about the setting”
The factual details in the notification email	Discussed during the inspection.	Information page, “What happens when a setting is notified of an inspection”

A working list, not an Ofsted form. Only the first two rows are documents inspectors “must” be able to access; the rest are ones they “may need to see”. Providers should refer to the relevant EYFS requirements to check which documents they are required to have.

One more point may calm the day before: “We do not require photographic evidence of what children are doing and learning in settings.”

7. After the inspection

The report card is sent to you after moderation, quality assurance and consistency checking, and “in most circumstances, this will be within 18 working days of the end of the inspection”. You have 5 working days to comment on the draft, on points of clarity or factual accuracy. The final report card is normally published on Ofsted’s reports website 5 working days after it is sent to you. Until then, do not share the findings with parents.

How NurseryGuard fits

NurseryGuard keeps the records an inspector asks for in one place. Each member of staff has one record for their DBS check, safeguarding training, first aid and references, and renewals are chased before they lapse. DBS checks carry no official expiry, so they are recorded rather than counted down. A statutory diary holds accidents, medication, safeguarding concerns and fire drills, timestamped and exportable. A 15-second Room Check gives a dated answer on ratios per room. The policy pack is e-signed by your DSL and staff, with a record of who signed what and when. NurseryGuard does not predict a grade, and it does not replace your nursery app.

Questions people ask

Will we get notice of the inspection?

Usually, yes, but only a short one. Operating guide, “Notification”: “Contact the setting by telephone, usually by 10am, unless any of the principles for carrying out inspections and regulatory work without notice apply.” For group provision the inspector “must call the setting on the working day before the inspection”. The information page adds: “We reserve the right to inspect without notice, where necessary.”

Do we still get one overall grade?

No. The framework, “The evaluation scale used for inspection”, says: “From November 2025, we no longer provide an overall effectiveness grade for any provider inspected under the framework.” Each evaluation area is graded on its own, and safeguarding is “met” or “not met”.

Do we have to write a self-evaluation or prepare a pack for the inspector?

No. Information page, “Potential misconceptions about inspection”: “We do not expect providers to have completed any formal self-evaluation using the toolkit.” The inspector will still need to see the records in the table above.

What happens if safeguarding is graded “not met”?

Operating guide, “If safeguarding is likely to be graded as ‘not met’”: “The setting will likely be reinspected within 6 months if safeguarding is ‘not met’, but there can be enforcement activity in between if required.” A “not met” does not automatically mean the lowest grade in the other areas, because the inspector evaluates the impact of the breaches for each one.

We were “Good” or “Outstanding” before. Can we keep using the logo?

Information page, “Use of Ofsted logos”: settings judged outstanding or good for overall effectiveness before November 2025 can keep using those logos until their next graded inspection. After that they must remove them, because overall effectiveness is no longer part of the grading.

Sources

Education inspection framework 2025 (Ofsted)For use on inspections from 10 November 2025 (GOV.UK page updated 18 September 2026); retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
Early years inspection toolkit (Ofsted)v2.0, updated June 2026, for use on inspections from 1 September 2026; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
Early years inspection operating guide for inspectors (Ofsted)For use on inspections from 1 September 2026 (GOV.UK page updated 28 August 2026); retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
Early years inspection information (Ofsted)For use on inspections from 1 September 2026 (GOV.UK page updated 28 August 2026); retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK
Early years inspection: summary of changes (Ofsted)Published June and August 2026; retrieved 2 October 2026 · GOV.UK

NurseryGuard is software, not a legal adviser or an Ofsted inspector; it does not give legal advice. This page describes what the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework, Ofsted’s published guidance and the Department for Education’s guidance say, with the paragraph for each point, so you can read the source yourself. Versions and dates are those in force on the date shown; the documents change, so check the current version before you rely on any of it.