Report card

Under the renewed framework, Ofsted grades each evaluation area of a nursery on a five-point scale: urgent improvement, needs attention, expected standard, strong standard and exceptional. Safeguarding is judged separately as met or not met. There is no single overall grade such as Outstanding or Good, so a nursery’s report card has to be read area by area. Older inspections keep their old one-word grades, and the two scales cannot be compared directly. Read more in Ofsted report cards explained.