EYFS Deep Dive and Evaluation Audit Bundle

Please note: This pack has been designed for EYFS leaders in primary schools who have Reception classes. It can also support you in assessing your provision for your attached nursery / preschool (i.e. 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds who are on your school's roll), if you have one. It follows the structure of Ofsted's Education Inspection Framework (EIF) and how maintained schools and academies are inspected as per the Schools Inspection Handbook. It does not follow the Early Years Inspection Handbook, which is for registered early years and childcare providers, therefore it's less suitable for those working in private nurseries / preschools, childminders or other EYFS settings that are not part of a primary school.

 

What? 

A bundle pack containing guidance of what an Ofsted deep dive entails and how you can utilise a similar internal process in your own EYFS monitoring. While Ofsted don't carry out deep dives specifically into the EYFS like they would do for a curriculum subject, they do explore how effective the EYFS is as part of subject deep dives and as part of the school's overall quality of education, leadership and management, behaviour and attitudes and personal development. This pack is designed for EYFS leaders to explore all of these aspects and contains the following:

 

1. Deep Dive Audits - there are five separate deep dive audits, all tailored to the early years foundation stage, that allow you to explore your school's EYFS provision in relation to the EIF. These cover:

• Quality of Education and Leadership and Management - a combined audit of two EIF areas, and your likely starting point when investigating your EYFS provision.
• Behaviour and Attitudes 
• Personal Development
• Safeguarding
• SEND

 

2. Area for Learning Deep Dives - there are seven documents, one for each area of learning in the EYFS: communication and language, expressive arts and design, literacy, mathematics, personal social and emotional development, physical development and understanding the world. These allow you to explore whichever areas you chose in further depth with questions such as:

• Are all children able to make the same level of progress in communication and language?
• How does the setting differentiate literacy support to meet the diverse needs of individual children? 
• Do all teachers in EYFS feel confident teaching PSED?
• What foundational knowledge do you teach in UW and how does it prepare children for learning in associated subject areas from Year 1 onwards?

 

3. Deep Dive Process Overview - use this to structure your internal deep dive in the early years foundation stage, working through the process of identifying your perceived strengths and weaknesses, observation and questioning, and creating a plan of action. 

 

4. Deep Dive Evidence Exploration - a handy place to collate all your observation notes when conducting your early years deep dive.

 

5. EYFS Subject Knowledge Question Bank - while not always part of an internal deep dive process, these questions can be extremely helpful in probing staff understanding of the EYFS seven areas of learning.

 

Whether you have an Ofsted inspection due or not, conducting an internal deep dive can help you to identify your setting's strengths and weaknesses in its EYFS. Use it as a collaborative process that can support other staff members to develop and use your findings to report back to SLT, governors or trustees as part of your curriculum quality assurance. 

 

 

Who? 

EYFS leads will find this pack extremely useful to explore the effectiveness of their early years provision. Curriculum leaders, KS1 phase leaders, senior leaders, headteachers or anyone else with responsibility for teaching and learning will also find the pack beneficial, whether they use it to conduct a deep dive themselves or support their EYFS leader to prepare for an Ofsted inspection.

 

How long? 

Start as soon as you download the pack, and use it as part of your monitoring and evaluation schedule or to build confidence about a deep dive into the EYFS.

 

When? 

If you’re a new EYFS leader or you’ve never gone through a deep dive process (either internal or conducted by Ofsted) before, this pack will walk you through the steps of what this looks like in practice and what questions you could be asked when Ofsted look at the EYFS. Even if you're a more experienced early years lead, it can be useful to revisit your EYFS curriculum & leadership, and the resulting outcomes, as a form of monitoring and quality assurance, and this deep dive pack is perfect for that. Either way, you don’t have to wait to be due an Ofsted inspection to use the pack - it’s useful at any time to explore the strengths and weaknesses of your EYFS provision.

Why? 

Knowing you may have to go through an Ofsted inspection can cause feelings of stress, anxiety and worry, especially if you’re thinking about what questions Ofsted will ask about EYFS and how you’ll answer. This pack supports that thinking process, especially if you work alongside other leaders to consider what makes great teaching and learning in the EYFS, and how your school does or doesn’t do this. 

 

However, it’s not just about preparing for an Ofsted inspection or doing things because Ofsted might want to see them - it’s about understanding the picture of your EYFS provision and knowing its strengths and weaknesses so you can get amazing outcomes for all of your children. It’s also important to know that even if you conduct an internal deep dive and find there are gaps, you can use this to formulate your next steps in an action plan, which will help to ensure improvement for all.

 

Key questions answered:

• What is a deep dive?

• What is the purpose of Ofsted’s deep dives into areas of your curriculum?

• What does an Ofsted deep dive look like?

• Why might I want to conduct my own internal deep dive into our EYFS provision?

• Who should I involve in an internal deep dive?

• How could I structure an internal deep dive?

• How can I inform staff of the deep dive findings?