This is a summary of a government consultation on changes to the national standards for under eights childcare,and details of how childcare provided directly by schools will be registered and inspected in future.
The consultation documents are available from the DfES website at: www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations. The consultation closes on 18 July 2000.
If you have any comments about the documentation please send these to myself, Sue Dale,Care Standards Officer as I am collating responses on behalf of the Education Department . You can enter you response on-line via esinet.
Select School Management Resources
Enter your DfES number and Password
Select Review of childcare standards
and regulations and enter your comments and submit.
If you require any help and assistance to enter your response on-line contact Tina Prince Ext 2449.
I would like the responses by close of 11th July.
Please contact me on 01603 223927 if you would like to discuss anything further
In the summer of 2001 Ofsted took over the responsibility for regulating childcare, under the Children Act 1989, from local authorities in England. The National Standards for Under Eights Day Care and Childminding were introduced in September 2001 and represent a set of minimum standards below which no childcare provider should fall. This consultation focuses on short-term changes that are planned for September 2003 and include minor alterations to the standards and associated secondary legislation. The Government is planning a longer-term review of the national standards and is expected to launch a further consultation later in the year.
Childcare provided directly by maintained and independent schools is currently exempt from these minimum quality requirements, imposed on other childcare providers under the Children Act. Until recently this exception had only applied to independent schools, since the law did not allow maintained schools to run their own childcare provision. However Section 27 of the Education Act 2002, which came into force in September 2002, enables governing bodies of maintained schools to provide childcare facilities themselves under the extended schools initiative.
The Government plans that, from September 2003, the national childcare standards and other aspects of Children Act regulation will apply to the childcare that independent and maintained schools provide directly, to ensure that they are required to meet the same standards as other providers.
There are 14 standards with supporting criteria for each. These criteria vary between five categories of childcare - full day care; sessional care; crèches, out-of-school care and childminding.
The Government proposes to introduce a number of changes to the criteria and other aspects of childcare regulation from September 2003. These include proposals to:
Following a consultation last year on plans to apply the national childcare standards and other aspects of Children Act regulation to childcare that independent and maintained schools provide directly, the Government is proposing to proceed with this. It proposes to phase in the registration of day care in schools over a two year period, starting with the youngest children.
From September 2003, Ofsted will start receiving applications for registration in respect of all existing childcare provision which includes care for children under two years old, and from schools wishing to apply for registration to operate new provision from April 2004. There will be a deadline of 31 March 2004 for receipt of applications in the case of existing provision for under twos.
There will be a similar requirement the following year for children aged two and over. Ofsted will receive applications for registration from existing provision from September 2004, with a deadline of 31 March 2005 for receipt of applications.
The Government has drafted regulations which would give effect to these proposals and comments are invited on these. A full regulatory impact assessment for the regulation of childcare in schools is included with the consultation.
Ofsted childcare inspectors will carry out a registration visit to each school applying for registration, and will normally carry out an initial inspection within six months of registration.
In the proposals the Government makes a commitment to look at how the different inspection arrangements for schools funded nursery education and childcare might be brought together more effectively.