Explaining your curriculum to Ofsted: what curriculum and teaching means for a childminder or small setting

"Tell me about your curriculum" is the question that unsettles small settings most, because it sounds like it wants a document. It does not. The curriculum and teaching evaluation area in the Ofsted early years inspection toolkit asks whether you know what you want children to learn, in what order, and whether you teach it well and check it is landing. A childminder with four children can meet the expected standard by explaining that clearly; a nursery with a beautiful curriculum folder can miss it if the staff cannot. This guide takes the standard apart and shows how to describe your curriculum in your own words.

What the standard says

The toolkit for use from 1 September 2026 says the area considers whether leaders provide all children with a high-quality, ambitious curriculum; whether leaders and practitioners plan, design and implement the EYFS educational programmes to create a coherent and sequential curriculum that builds on what children know and can do; and whether it meets the needs of all the children who attend, especially disadvantaged children, children with SEND, children known to social care and children facing other barriers.

The expected standard is met when the relevant EYFS requirements are met and all of the following apply. Paraphrasing the toolkit:

• Leaders have an accurate understanding of the quality of their curriculum and teaching and a clear plan to improve it.
• Across all areas of learning and development it is clear what you want children to know and be able to do, and in what order, so that they have what they need for the future including being ready for school.
• The curriculum is an entitlement for every child, including part-timers and children who attend more than one setting, with effective action to make sure all children access the same ambition.
• The curriculum is typically taught well, and staff use assessment to check what children know and can do and build on it.

The strong standard adds that the curriculum is inclusive and consistently high quality, with high expectations embedded in routines, care moments, mealtimes and tidying up as well as in activities.

The three questions behind it

Everything in that standard reduces to three questions you should be able to answer for each of the seven areas of learning.

• What do you want children to know and be able to do by the time they leave you? Not a list of activities; the knowledge and skills underneath them.
• In what order do you build it, and why? What comes first because other things depend on it.
• How do you know it is working? How you check what children have taken in, and what you change when they have not.

If you can answer those for communication and language, physical development, personal social and emotional development, literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive arts and design, you have a curriculum, whether or not it is written down.

Saying it in your own words

Here is the shape of a good answer for one area, from a childminder.

"For communication and language, I want every child to leave me able to hold a back-and-forth conversation, follow a two-part instruction, and enjoy books. With babies I start with turn-taking, copying sounds and lots of face-to-face talk during care routines, because that is where language starts. With ones and twos I narrate, add a word to whatever they say, and build vocabulary around what they are into, which at the moment is diggers. With threes I move to longer conversations, asking why, and retelling stories. I know it's working because I hear it: Ava went from ten words to three-word phrases in six months, and I write down the new words so I can see the pattern. When it isn't working I slow down, cut the questions and give more time. For one child it wasn't working and we involved the health visitor."

That is one minute of speech and it meets every line of the expected standard for that area.

What inspectors look for in teaching

Inspectors gather most of their curriculum evidence by watching, often alongside you, and by talking to practitioners. In teaching they look for adults who know what the activity is for, who interact in ways that move learning on, who use the right vocabulary, and who adapt when a child is not getting it. Two specifics were added or clarified in June 2026: a prompt on teaching mathematics explicitly, so be ready to show number, shape and measure being taught on purpose rather than left to the sand tray; and a clarification that the vocabulary standard means English vocabulary, which matters for settings with many children learning English as an additional language.

The link to assessment is direct. The standard says staff use assessment to check what children know and can do and build on it. Inspectors test this by asking about specific children, not by reviewing data. Our guide to what Ofsted asks about observations covers that conversation, and our guides to how to write an EYFS observation and how often to observe cover doing it without drowning in paperwork.

Where small settings go wrong

• Describing activities instead of learning. "We do messy play on Mondays" is a timetable. "Messy play is where my under-twos build the hand strength and tolerance of textures they need before mark-making" is curriculum.
• Having no order. If everything is available all the time and nothing is sequenced, the inspector will ask how a child builds on what they learned last month.
• Leaving an area to chance. Mathematics and understanding the world are the usual casualties. Be able to say what you teach in each.
• Treating part-timers differently. The standard specifically names children attending part time or more than one setting. Know what a two-day child gets and how it adds up.
• Not knowing your own weak spot. The first line of the expected standard is about accurate self-knowledge. "My maths provision is thinner than my language work and here is what I am doing about it" is a pass. "It's all fine" is not.

What the educational programmes give you

The seven educational programmes in the EYFS statutory framework are the statutory curriculum summaries, one paragraph per area, setting out what must be taught. Your curriculum is how you turn each paragraph into what happens with your children at their ages. Development Matters and Birth to 5 Matters both offer non-statutory help with sequencing, and you may use either or neither; inspectors have no expectation that you follow a particular one.

Writing it down anyway

Ofsted does not require a curriculum document. But many childminders and small settings find that writing a page per area, answering the three questions above, is the fastest way to find the gaps and the easiest way to say it fluently on the day. Keep it for yourself, update it once a year, and do not hand it to the inspector unless they ask. Where it helps is in knowing what you are checking for when you observe children. Taylormade Care tags each observation to an area of learning, so you can see at a glance which parts of your curriculum are showing up in what children actually do, and which are not.

Common questions

Does Ofsted require a written curriculum in early years?

No. The toolkit says inspectors do not need documents produced for inspection. You must be able to explain what you want children to know and be able to do, in what order, and how you know it is working.

What is the difference between the EYFS and my curriculum?

The EYFS educational programmes set out what must be taught in each of the seven areas. Your curriculum is how you sequence and deliver that for the children you have, at their ages and stages.

Do I have to use Development Matters or Birth to 5 Matters?

No. Both are non-statutory. You can use either to help with sequencing and expectations, but inspectors have no expectation that you follow a particular one.

How does Ofsted judge teaching in a childminder setting?

By watching you with the children, usually alongside you, and by talking to you about what the children are learning and how you check it. Expect specific questions about mathematics and vocabulary.