What Ofsted actually asks about observations and assessment

2026-10-31

Ofsted does not count your observations, does not ask to see tracking data, and does not expect assessment to be recorded in any particular way. That is not wishful thinking; it is the Department for Education's own description of inspection. What inspectors do is watch children and practitioners, pick a small number of children and ask you about them in detail, and judge whether you know what children know and can do and are building on it. This guide explains the inspection arrangements in force from September 2026, what the conversation about assessment actually sounds like, and how to prepare for it without making a single extra folder.

The arrangements from September 2026

Ofsted replaced the old inspection framework with a report card system from November 2025, and published updated early years inspection documents in June 2026 for use from 1 September 2026. The current set, all on GOV.UK under Early years inspection: toolkit, operating guide and information, is:

The early years inspection toolkit, which sets out the standards inspectors evaluate against and which you can use to look at your own provision.
The operating guide for inspectors, which describes step by step how an inspection of a registered setting is carried out.
Inspection information for staff, parents and the public.

Registered early years providers are graded on a report card across these evaluation areas: safeguarding; inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; and leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged met or not met. The others use a five-point scale: exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention, and urgent improvement.

Observation and assessment sit mainly within curriculum and teaching and achievement, with inclusion close behind because the children inspectors ask most about are often the ones who need the most support.

What inspectors do instead of reading folders

The operating guide describes inspectors observing children in the setting, ideally alongside leaders, holding discussions with children, and engaging with leaders and practitioners about what children are learning and about, in the guide's words, "their assessment of what children know and can do and how they are building on it."

The centrepiece is case sampling. Inspectors choose a small number of children, often including a child with special educational needs or disabilities, a child receiving funded early education, and a child in the two-year-old age range. For each, they want to understand what you intend the child to learn, how you know where the child is, and what you are doing about it. For children aged two, the guide specifically notes that evidence for sampled children should refer to the progress check at age two.

Nowhere in this process is there a count of observations, a review of a tracking grid, or a requirement that assessment take any written form. The Department for Education's Help for early years providers site describes the questions inspectors will ask about children's progress, roughly what they could do when they arrived, what they are working on now and what they should be able to do by the time they leave, and then says: "Inspectors will not expect this information to be recorded in any particular way."

What the conversation sounds like

Imagine an inspector has picked Amara, aged two years seven months, who started with you four months ago. The conversation goes something like this.

What was Amara like when she started? You describe her: quiet, few words, clung to her mum, loved the sand.
Where is she now? You describe her now: twenty or thirty words, two-word phrases this month, separates happily, plays alongside two particular children.
How do you know? You describe what you have noticed, perhaps with a couple of specific moments, and what her parents have told you.
What are you working on with her? You describe the language focus: narrating, pausing, two-choice questions, the same at home.
What has that changed? You describe the new phrases, and the plan to look again in a few weeks.
Has she had her progress check? You describe it, who was involved, and what you agreed with her parents.

Notice that every answer comes from knowing the child. Written observations help only in so far as they helped you know her. If you can hold that conversation about any child in the room, you are ready. If you cannot, more paperwork will not help, and the inspector will notice the gap between the folder and the practitioner.

How to prepare, realistically

Make sure every key person can talk about their children. Not from a sheet. Ask each other the questions above about three random children a week until it feels normal. This is the whole preparation.
Be able to explain your curriculum. What you want children to learn and experience with you, in your own words, and why. Observations are how you check it is happening.
Know your two-year-olds' progress checks. When they were done, what they said, what the plan was, and what has happened since. Our guide to the progress check at age two covers writing one that stands up.
Know your children with additional needs in detail. Inspectors will ask about them, and inclusion is its own evaluation area.
Stop producing anything nobody reads. If a document exists only for inspection, it is not evidence of good practice, and inspectors are explicitly told not to expect it. The time is better spent with children.

What inspectors notice about observations

Where observations do come up, it is usually because inspectors see practitioners using them. A key person who glances at last week's notes before planning, a conversation with a parent at pick-up about a specific moment, a room leader who has noticed that a child has nothing recorded in communication and language for a month and done something about it. These are visible signs that assessment is feeding teaching, which is what the toolkit is looking for. A tablet being filled in by a practitioner with their back to the children is a visible sign of the opposite.

Our guide on whether you have to write observations at all sets out the statutory position. In short: notice constantly, write what is useful, and be able to talk about every child.

If you want a system that supports the conversation rather than the folder, Taylormade Care keeps each child's recent moments, progress check and next steps on one screen, so a key person can answer "where is she now and how do you know" in a tap.

Common questions

Does Ofsted need to see written observations?

No. The Department for Education states that inspectors will not expect assessment information to be recorded in any particular way. Inspectors form their view by observing practice and talking to you about specific children.

Will inspectors look at our tracking data?

They do not require it. If you offer it, they may glance at it, but what they evaluate is whether practitioners know what children know and can do and are building on it. Data that does not change what happens in the room does not help you.

Does Ofsted require a learning journal for each child?

No. The statutory framework does not require one and inspectors do not expect one. Many settings keep them for parents, which is a good reason, but it is your choice.

What about the progress check at age two?

That one is statutory, and inspectors sampling a two-year-old will ask about it. Make sure it was done, that it says something specific, that parents were involved, and that you can describe what has happened since.

More on Ofsted inspections from September 2026

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