What the ratings mean.
Since November 2025, Ofsted has moved away from giving early years providers a single overall judgement of Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate.
Instead, inspectors look at different areas of quality and give a judgement for each one:
Quality of education
How well children learn, develop and build knowledge and skills.
Care
How well children are cared for, supported and kept safe.
Inclusion
How well the setting meets the needs of all children, including SEND.
Leadership and governance
How effectively leaders manage and improve the provision.
Safeguarding
Whether children are safe from harm and safeguarding arrangements are effective.
The graded outcomes are:
- 🟢 Exceptional
- 🟢 Strong standard
- 🟡 Expected standard
- 🟠 Needs attention
- 🔴 Urgent improvement
Safeguarding is different: it is judged “met” or “not met”, rather than receiving one of the five grades.
👶 What this means for all nursery's
The new approach is intended to give parents a much clearer picture of what is happening in the setting.
For example, a nursery could receive:
Quality of education: Strong standard
Care: Expected standard
Inclusion: Strong standard
Leadership and governance: Expected standard
Safeguarding: Met
So rather than simply saying “This nursery is Good,” the report tells parents where the nursery is particularly strong and where it needs to improve.
⭐ What inspectors will be looking closely at
For childcare, this means being able to demonstrate things such as:
- Children are safe, happy and well cared for
- Staff understand children's individual needs
- Staff know the children well and understand their development
- Activities and interactions help children learn and develop
- The curriculum is appropriate for the children's age and stage
- Staff support communication and language
- Children with SEND or additional needs receive appropriate support
- Behaviour is managed consistently and positively
- Attendance and settling-in arrangements are effective
- Parents are appropriately involved and informed
- Leaders understand the strengths and weaknesses of the setting
- Safeguarding procedures are understood and followed by staff
Most recent inspection: May 2023.
Our most recent Ofsted inspection took place on 16th May 2023. The outcome was Good across all inspection areas.
We were pleased with the outcome — and we've continued to reflect on the report's observations in the time since. If you have any questions about the inspection or what it found, we're happy to talk them through during a visit.
Previous inspection reports.
Ofsted maintains a full public record of all inspections for every registered childcare provider. You can find our complete inspection history, including all previous reports, on the Ofsted website.
