QUALITY IMPROVEMENT in DEVON

Presentation for Settings in Receipt of the Early Years Entitlement Funding

AUTUMN TERM 2011

Our Children Deserve the Best

‘The free entitlement should be at the forefront of the drive towards high quality and excellence. This means local authorities being clear and consistent in their expectations of continuous quality improvement, concentrating free entitlement funding wherever possible on the highest quality providers and prioritising support to others.’

(Code of Practice for Local Authorities on the Delivery of Free Early Years Provision for 3 and 4 Year Olds – September 2010)

1. Assess the quality of settings’ provision2. Prioritise funding to settings categorised as good or

above, funding those below that category as needed to secure sufficiency, flexibility & accessibility

3. Prioritise quality improvement support to settings rated below good

4. Set out in Provider Agreements the quality conditions on which inclusion in the delivery of the free entitlement are based.

5. Consider withdrawal of funding from providers who are not demonstrating the agreed commitment to quality improvement in order to continue to deliver the free entitlement.

The Local Authority must:

How DCC will Assess Quality

During the Autumn term 2011 the Locality Teams will be trialling the new Quality Improvement process. A scoring system will be used to make the assessments on evidence that is collected.

Meetings to assess the quality of a setting will be attended by the Early Years & Childcare Advisers, Early Years Consultants & Children's Centre Teachers where Specialist Childminders in Early Learning are being discussed.

Within the year, all settings that are in receipt of the Early Years Entitlement Funding will have been quality assessed.

What evidence will be used?

• OFSTED/ ISIS (Independent schools inspectorate)

• ECERS-R/SACERS/FCCERS

• Annual Review Visit

• Qualifications of Staff

Quality Monitoring Scoreboard

OFSTED/ISIS outcome Inadequate

Satisfactory

Good

Outstanding

4

3

2

1

ECERS-R/SACERS/

FCCERS overall score

Scores between 1-2

Scores between 3-4

Scores between 5-7

3

2

1

Annual Review Visit: Effectiveness of the setting to support children’s learning

No evidence 3

Some evidence 2

Clear evidence 1

3

2

1

Qualifications of staff Inadequately qualified

Minimum qualifications

Beyond minimum qualifications

3

2

1

What the scores mean

High Score [11-13] = Red

Medium Score [8-10] = Amber

Low Score [4-7] = Green

Quality Agreement

• Once the level of support has been identified you may be asked to sign the Quality Agreement.

• The Quality Agreement details the action required, by when and what DCC will do to support the setting to make the improvements required.

• Those settings rated as Green may not need to complete the Quality Agreement.

After the trial…

We hope to add some/all of the following evidence:

Leadership and ManagementCapacity to ImproveSelf SustainabilitySafeguarding & WelfareEngagement with the Local AuthorityTraining PlanStaff Retention

Thank you for listening.