This week I highlight confirmation from Ofsted that schools that have deferred inspections can be notified of the new inspection date on any day of the week, the announcement of new funding primary schools can apply for to set up or expand their nurseries along with the publication of non-statutory guidance and publication of the Government’s response to the EYFS safeguarding consultation that ran earlier this year.

Ofsted deferral guidance updated
Ofsted has made minor updates to its inspection deferrals guidance to bring it in line with the latest updates to the School inspection handbook, clarifying that if Ofsted agrees to a deferral it can notify the school of the new inspection date on any day of the week. The guidance was also updated to confirm that accepted reasons for deferral now include where a state-funded school with a religious character has already been notified of an inspection under section 48 of the Education Act 2005.

School-based nurseries plan kicks off with £15 million funding and new non-statutory guidance
The first stage of the Government’s plan to deliver 3,000 school-based nurseries began yesterday with the announcement that primary schools can now apply for up to £150k of £15 million capital funding, with the first stage of the plan set to support up to 300 new or expanded nurseries across England. According to the DfE’s latest projections, around 70,000 additional places and 35,000 early years educators will still be needed to deliver the expansion to 30 hours of government funded early education from next September.

On the back of that the DfE has published new non-statutory guidance on establishing school-based nursery provision, outlining key considerations and requirements that schools should consider if they want to open or expand a nursery on their site.

Publication of the EYFS safeguarding consultation response
The DfE has published its response to the EYFS safeguarding consultation that ran from 22 April to 17 June this year. The consultation looked to gather views on the department’s proposals to strengthen the safeguarding requirements within the EYFS statutory framework.