Childminders and nurseries are getting better

Data comes from inspections by Ofsted

CHILDMINDERS and nurseries in Leicestershire are getting better.

That’s according to the latest data on Ofsted inspections.

One in eight early years childcare providers in Leicester (12.6%) were rated as outstanding at the end of August.

That was up from 11.7% in 2018, although it is still below 19.8% across England as a whole.

In Leicestershire, it rose from 15.6% to 15.9% over the same period.

However, the proportion rated as good fell from 74.1% to 72.8% in Leicester but rose from 78.7% to 79.2% in Leicestershire.

There were eight providers, with 265 places, rated as inadequate in Leicester at the end of August, up from three a year before.

In Leicestershire, there were 11, with 161 places, up from eight at the end of August 2018.

The number of childminders in Leicester has dropped by nearly a third since 2015, when Ofsted’s figures begin.

At the end of August 2015, there were 148 childminders registered in the local authority area. By 2019, that had fallen to 101.

Numbers were down from 644 to 512 in Leicestershire.

However, the number of childcare places available has risen by 13% in Leicester over the same period, up from 5,713 to 6,452, and by a fifth from 15,574 to 18,821 in Leicestershire, due to an increase in places in childcare on non-domestic premises.

Childcare on non-domestic premises includes nurseries, pre-schools, holiday clubs and other group-based settings.

However, it does not include early years provision in schools, for children aged two and up, which is inspected as part of the overall rating for the school.

Across England, one in five providers (19.8%) were rated as outstanding at the end of August.

That’s up from 19.0% in 2018 and 14.7% in 2016, when the current inspection regime was introduced.

The proportion of providers rated as good (75.9%) or inadequate (1.0%) has remained about the same for the past four years.

The percentage that require improvement has dropped steadily from 8.0% in 2016 to 3.3% in 2019.

At their most recent inspection, 23.5% of non-domestic providers were judged outstanding, compared with 17.2% of childminders.

However, the proportion of providers judged either good or outstanding for these two provider types was fairly similar.

There were 38,500 childminders registered with Ofsted at the end of August down by 9,500 (20%) since 2015.

Despite the decreasing numbers of childminders, the number of childcare places increased by 1% since 31 March 2019, due to an increase in the number of places offered at non-domestic premises.

At the end of August, there were around 10,700 statefunded schools with rating for the early years provision as part of their most recent school inspection.

Of these, 82% were judged good or outstanding on the overall effectiveness of the school and 89% were judged to be good or outstanding for early years provision.