To receive a list of daycare providers which have been inspected since the last meeting and the judgements awarded and to consider the main themes arising from the inspections.

The Subgroup received a list of all Manchester daycare providers which had been inspected since the last meeting and the judgements awarded.

The Early Years Quality Assurance Lead provided Members with an overview of the inspections which had taken place since the last meeting.  She reported that 97% of settings in Manchester were now judged to be good or outstanding, which was an improvement of 2% since the last meeting.  She highlighted that Happy Kids had maintained their outstanding judgement.  She drew Members’ attention to key points from the inspections of the two settings which had been judged to require improvement, Bubbly Bear and Rainbows Day Nursery, and advised that her team were supporting the settings with these issues.  In response to a question from the Chair, she confirmed that Rainbows Day Nursery had a good out-of-school provision.  The Chair advised that out-of-school provision was important for parents and could improve settings’ viability.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People highlighted issues with sufficiency in the Early Years sector and gaps in eligibility for free childcare. 

The Early Years Quality Assurance Lead advised that childcare funding was complex and difficult for families, providers and local authorities.  She informed Members about the closure of some settings due to staffing issues, while advising that the picture was more positive than the previous year.  She highlighted the main themes from the recent Ofsted reports, advising that, overall, leaders and managers were now better at devising a sequenced curriculum, that curricula were based around language and communication and settings were now generally better at promoting independence for younger children.  She advised that an area for improvement for some settings was implementation of the curriculum and she outlined how this was being addressed, including the production of six videos on specific areas of practice as part of the Kickstarter Project.  She reported that, for settings that were judged to require improvement, there tended to be issues identified with leadership and staffing.  She advised that healthy foods had been identified as an issue in recent reports and this would be addressed through the Forums.  In relation to recruitment and retention, she reported that her service was promoting the low-cost recruitment agency funded through the Greater Manchester Innovation Fund to its providers and that there had been positive feedback regarding this.  She reported that she and another officer had visited the Job Centre in Rusholme to deliver a presentation to Job Centre Advisors on roles in childcare and that they were looking to expand this work.  She also highlighted the national campaign to attract people to the early years sector and strategic work taking place at a Greater Manchester level.  She informed Members that job security, the hours and terms and conditions were issues which affected recruitment and retention.  In response to comments from the Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People about children starting school in nappies, she reported that children’s centres and health visitors did focus on toilet training but she acknowledged that there was not a consistent message to parents on the best approach to this and she highlighted that not all children starting school would have attended an early years setting.  She provided an update on the Early Years Professional Development Programme (PDP) and information on the Kickstarter Project, which would provide extra support to settings on speech and language and social and emotional development.

The Chair informed the Subgroup about a recent visit to Winstanley Day Nursery, stating that it had a very good ethos and was well-organised and well-thought-through.  She advised that the nursery had found the Rodney House Outreach Service Early Years (RHOSEY) very useful, which was something which other settings had also commented on.

Decision

To note report.