Quest Taster Pages

UEST 

Quality Evaluation 

Support Tool 

A framework to support self-evaluation 

in the early years 

Quest toolkit A4 aw.indd 1 21/03/2018 14:26

Contents 

Forword 3 

Introduction 4 

Links to Key Resources 8 

Section One: Leadership and Management 

1a) Vision and Values 10 

1b) Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements 12 

1c) The Key Person Approach 14 

1d) Self- Evaluation 16 

1e) Staff Development 18 

1f) Monitoring Progress / Closing the Gap 20 

Leadership and Management – additional reading 22 

Section Two: Inclusion 

2a) Early Identification and Support 24 

2b) The Inclusive Environment 26 

Inclusion – additional reading 28 

Section Three: Learning and Development 

3a) Observing, Assessing and Supporting Learning 30 

3b) The Emotionally Enabling Environment 32 

3c) The Physically Enabling Environment 34 

3d) The Communication Rich Environment 36 

Learning and Development – additional reading 38 

Section Four: Working in Partnership 

4a) Engaging and Involving Parents 40 

4b) Links with Other Professionals 42 

Working in Partnership – additional reading 44 

Section Five: Transitions 

5a) Settling in 46 

5b) Moving on 48 

Transitions – additional reading 50 

Appendices 

Appendix One: Links to Ofsted Inspection Handbooks 51 

Appendix Two: Glossary of terms 52 

Appendix Three: Reflecting on Practice notes page 54 

Appendix Four: Development Plan 55 

2 Quality Evaluation Support Tool 

QUEST Quality Evaluation Support Tool © Bath and North East Somerset Council Early Years Service 


Foreword 

In effective early years settings, providers continually reflect on the 

provision they offer. They evaluate how they enhance the learning and 

development of the children in their care and help to give them the 

best possible start in life. 

This reflective practice fits securely within the Children’s Service Vision 

in Bath & North East Somerset where: 

We want all children and young people to enjoy childhood and 

be well prepared for life. 

This self-evaluative framework will support you as an Early Years 

provider to reflect upon your practice and maintain the very best high 

quality provision for every child in your care. I am sure you will find this 

guidance useful and commend it to you. 

“The Ofsted Early Years Inspection 

Handbook identifies effective 

evaluation of staff practice and evaluation 

of staff, parents and children’s views, as 

indicators of high quality... Setting managers 

described their overall approach to 

self-evaluation as integrated and embedded 

in their setting’s daily practice” 

Study of Early Education and Development: 

Good practice in Early Education DfE (2017). p.54-55 

Chief Executive, Bath & North East Somerset Council 

Quality Evaluation Support Tool 3 



Introduction 

This Quality evaluation support tool (Quest) has been developed in response to 

requests from leaders and managers of early years settings for guidance on what 

high quality Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) practice looks like. Quest offers a 

framework and an approach to help settings maintain and continually improve their 

high quality provision. 

Why does high quality early years provision matter? 

Research consistently shows that high quality early years provision makes a positive 

difference to outcomes for children, particularly those from disadvantaged 

backgrounds. Children who experience high quality early years provision have 

better social and emotional development and capacity to learn – qualities that are 

crucial for school and adulthood. 

This evidence base underpins the Quest framework. 

What is Quest? 

Quest is an aspirational framework, designed for all early years providers, whether 

school, group or home based. It offers a refl ective structure which will enable a 

whole staff team to work together to develop a shared understanding of what high 

quality looks like in practice. They will articulate what they already do well, identify 

what they still need to do, and plan how to get there, using Quest as a structured 

guide. 

A key strength of Quest is that it can be completed in any order, with no set 

timeframe. Central to the Quest approach is that the whole staff team is involved 

so that everyone’s voice is heard as they: 

• Assess the quality of their provision and compare it to best practice, as indicated 

by Statutory EYFS and Ofsted requirements and current trends. 

• Refl ect on their provision from the point of view of the child, keeping children at 

the heart of everything that happens by considering ‘What is it like for me here?’. 

• Identify and celebrate areas that are working well. 

• Identify areas for potential improvement and plan how and when to implement 

changes. 

“Students who had 

attended high quality 

pre-schools were more likely to 

achieve 5 A*-C including English 

and maths.” (p.12) 

Taggart,B; Sylva,K; Melhuish,E; Sammons,P and 

Siraj, I (2015): Effective pre-school, primary and 

secondary education project (EPPSE 3-16+): 

How pre-school infl uences children and young 

people’s attainment and developmental 

outcomes over time; Research Brief; 

Department for Education; London 

“Learning begins from 

birth, and high quality early 

education and care has the 

potential to make an important and 

positive impact on the learning, 

development and wellbeing of babies 

and young children, in their daily lives 

and the longer term.” 

Nutbrown, Cathy (2012) Foundations for 

Quality: The independent review of early 

education and childcare and childcare 

qualifi cations; Department for 

Education; London 




How does Quest work? 

Quest consists of 5 sections which support the principles underpinning high quality 

early years practice. Each section is like a jigsaw puzzle piece, which all fi t together 

and are secured by the role of leadership and management. 

Each section is divided up into sub-sections as listed below. 

Section 1: Leadership and Management 

1a) Vision and Values 

1b) Safeguarding and Welfare 

1c) The Key Person Approach 

1d) Self-Evaluation 

1e) Staff Development 

1f) Monitoring Progress /Closing the Gap 

Section 2: Inclusion 

2a) Early Identifi cation and Support 

2b) The Inclusive Environment 

Section 3: Learning and Development 

3a) Observing, Assessing and Planning for Learning 

3b) The Emotionally Enabling Environment 

3c) The Physically Enabling Environment 

3d) The Communication Rich Environment 

Section 4: Working in Partnership 

4a) Engaging and Involving Parents 

4b) Links with Other Professionals 

Section 5: Transactions 

5a) Settling in 

5b) Moving on 

Each sub-section has been linked to the Ofsted Early Years Inspection Handbook 

(2015) as set out in Appendix 1. 




How do we use Quest in my setting? 

Each sub-section has two parts: 

Part 1: consists of 10 questions to support your setting team to reflect at a deeper 

level. The questions are designed to encourage your team to have an open and 

honest discussion about current practice, with a focus on everyone being able to 

articulate how you know what is working well and what could be improved. 

Part 2: consists of a series of statements in two columns; the first indicating the 

minimum requirement and the second indicating a higher level of quality, 

representing inspirational practice. 

The questions in Part 1 should support you to consider whether you meet all, or 

part, of each statement in Part 2, which you then highlight as appropriate. Consider 

the evidence you have to demonstrate that each statement is embedded in 

practice and that all of the team can articulate this. 

There are different approaches you could use to involve the whole team, for 

example: 

• Give everyone a copy of the statements in Part 2 to highlight as their immediate 

response and then bring to the staff meeting for further discussion. 

• Complete as individual rooms (in a setting with more than one room) and then 

bring to discuss. 

• Look at a section all together. 

• Have a note book or notice board covering questions or statements, where team 

members can make notes prior to a staff meeting. This ensures everyone has a 

voice even if unable to attend the meeting. 

• Invite feedback from parents about a particular section. 

Underneath the statements for each section there is space to record your agreed 

strengths and the areas you wish to develop. These could be written as bullet 

points. A page for ‘Reflecting on Practice’, with more space for you to make notes 

on each section if you need this, is included in Appendix Three. You may also want 

to record where your evidence can be found. 

You do not have to create a folder of evidence but you could if you feel this would 

be useful. 

Development Plan 

Once you have used the framework to identify your strengths and areas for 

development, you can use the Development Plan in Appendix Four to support you 

to make the agreed changes. You may have identified a number of areas that you 

want to develop. When writing your plan be realistic about how many 

developments to include. Some may be more important than others, some may 

require immediate action and others might be easy to implement with little planning. 

Your Development Plan will be useful to help you consider which actions or tasks 

are needed to achieve each development. The plan will also help you to think about 

the capacity of your team and to set realistic time scales, by identifying who will 

lead on each of the actions and tasks. 




Things to consider 

Which section will you start with and why? 

How will you involve all staff, families and children in each section? 

How will you space your staff meetings so that you can give each section the time 

it needs? The cycle looks like this: 

6. Reviewing 

What difference has this 

made for children’s learning 

and development? 

continue 

1. Deciding 

Agree which section we are 

going to evaluate 

2. Evaluating 

Refl ect on the section 

with the whole staff team 

5. Doing 

Implementing 

the developments 

Self evaluation process 

4. Planning for action 

Write actions onto 

development plan 

3. Recording 

Agree strengths 

and developments 




What else is in the Quest framework? 

• A glossary of useful terms 

• Links to the Ofsted inspection handbooks for both Early Years and Schools 

• Links to further reading at the end of each section 

• A template for a Development Plan 

What support can I get from the Early Years Service? 

In Bath and North East Somerset the Quest framework comes with a one hour 

briefing session to explain how it works. 

Follow up email and telephone support will be available from the Early Years 

Service. Further options for support will be explained at the introductory meeting. 

We hope you enjoy using Quest to evaluate your practice; celebrating your 

strengths, identifying areas to develop and ensuring that the child is kept at the 

heart of all that you do. 

With thanks to the following early years settings which trialled and contributed ideas 

to the making of Quest: Barnaby Pre-school, Free Rangers Nursery, Timsbury 

Pre-school, St Keyna Primary School Nursery, St Saviour’s Primary School Nursery, 

and Queen’s Road Pre-school. 

Links to Key Resources 

This is not an extensive list but includes examples of resources and websites that 

you may find useful. 

Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework 

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/eyfs-statutory-framework/ 

Development Matters 

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Development- 

Matters-FINAL- PRINT-AMENDED.pdf 

Early Years Outcomes 

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2012/03/Early_Years_Outcomes.pdf 

Early Years Inspection Handbook 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-inspection-handbookfrom-september- 

2015 

School Inspection Handbook 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook-fromseptember-2015 

Inspecting Safeguarding 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspecting-safeguarding-in-earlyyears-education- 

and-skills-from-september-2015 

SEND Code of Practice 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25 

Prevent Duty Advice for Schools and Childcare Settings 

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/2015/07/advice-for-schools-and-childcareproviders-on-the- 

prevent-duty/ 

Foundation Years Website has useful resources across all aspects 

of the EYFS 

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/ 

Bath and North East Somerset Council Early Years Service offers an extensive 

programme of CPD training opportunities and resources which can be viewed and 

accessed via our B&NES online HUB at http://thehub.bathnes.gov.uk/Home 

Please note, if you do not already have one, you will require a log in to book places 

on training courses. We welcome new members to our online HUB even if you are 

out of our local authority area. Please contact early_years@bathnes.gov.uk for 

more information. 




Section 1: 

Leadership and Management 

1Quality Evaluation Support Tool 9 





What is this section about? 

This section is about our views and beliefs. It invites us to reflect 

upon the core vision and values that underpin everything we do. 

It also invites us to reflect upon how we ensure this is embedded 

throughout our daily practice and shared with staff and families. 

Key questions/ things to think about 

1. What do we understand by the terms below and how is each shown and 

agreed? 

• School readiness 

• Key person 

• Safeguarding 

• Partnership working 

• Teaching 

• British values 

• Home learning 

• Closing the gap 

2. What do we all understand are our current vision and values? 

3. What opportunities do we provide to continually review and/or update these? 

4. How do we ensure our vision and values underpin our working policies and 

procedures? 

5. How do we know we are embedding and sharing British values throughout 

our work? 

6. How do we include the voices of the children and parents/carers in our 

setting’s vision and values? 

7. How do we share our vision and values with new parents/carers? 

8. How do we ensure that our vision and values are reflected in our recruitment 

and retention process? 

9. How does our everyday practice reflect on what we believe and know about 

how young children learn and develop? 

10. What are our beliefs about the importance of working in partnership with 

parents and how is this reflected in our practice? 






Minimum requirement 

• All staff, children and families have a shared understanding of the setting’s 

vision and core values. 

• The setting has a ‘can do’ attitude towards including all children and this is 

reflected in the settings core values. 

• All staff including students and volunteers, have a shared understanding of the 

meaning of the following: 

– School readiness 

– Safeguarding 

– Key person approach 

– Partnership working 

– Teaching 

– British values 

– Home learning 

– Closing the gap 

Inspirational 

• The vision and values are inspirationally led and the setting is highly motivated 

to make this a reality. 

• All staff, children and their families have regular opportunities to reflect on how 

the setting puts its vision and core values into practice. 

• There is clearly written local offer for supporting children with SEND. 

• All staff including students and volunteers can articulate the setting’s ethos and 

approach to each of the following: 

– School readiness 

– Safeguarding 

– Key person approach 

– Partnership working 

– Teaching 

– British values 

– Home learning 

– Closing the gap 

What is working well? 

What do we need to develop next and why? 







This section is about how our setting meets the Safeguarding and 

Welfare requirements of the EYFS and how this is embedded within 

practice. It invites us to reflect on how we ensure all staff, which 

includes apprentices, students, part time staff, and volunteers, are 

clear about their statutory responsibilities and how this information is 

shared with them. 

Key questions/ things to think about 

1. How do we ensure we are meeting all of the EYFS statutory requirements? 

2. How often do we review policies and procedures and who is involved? 

3. How do we ensure that all practitioners are aware of, and implement, the 

settings policies? 

4. How do we ensure we have robust safer recruitment and retention 

processes in place? 

5. How do we know that all staff are knowledgeable both about indicators of 

abuse or neglect and about what do if they have a concern about a child’s 

welfare? 

6. How do we deal with any complaints or concerns from parents? 

7. How and why do we monitor attendance? What would we do to address 

poor/ non- attendance? 

8. How do we ensure all staff have an awareness of the Prevent duty and how 

this is relevant to them? 

9. How do we create a culture of vigilance with all staff in our setting? 

10. How transparent are our safeguarding systems and how are they shared 

with families and other professionals? 






Minimum requirement 

• Leaders and managers have effective systems in place to monitor the 

implementation of safeguarding and welfare requirements to ensure these are 

embedded across the setting. 

• A Safeguarding audit is carried out and all statutory requirements are met. 

• Leaders and managers recognise the importance of monitoring all children’s 

attendance. 

• Leaders and managers ensure all staff understand their role under the 

Prevent duty. 

Inspirational 

• All staff are actively involved in safeguarding and a culture of vigilance is 

embedded. 

• Leaders and managers ensure all staff are alert to potential risks of 

radicalisation and extremism. 

• Leaders and managers are proactive to establish reasons for poor/ 

non-attendance are have measures in place to address these. 

• All staff can articulate their knowledge of the current statutory duties and how 

they are embedded in everyday practice. 

• Leaders and managers understand their statutory duty under the SEND code 

of practice and Equality Act and implement them across the setting. 

What is working well? 

What do we need to develop next and why? 





1c) Key Person 


This section is about how our setting develops the key person 

approach. It invites us to think about the responsibilities of a key 

person in our setting and how this is shared with parents / carers. It 

also invites us to evaluate our approach to ensure it works for 

everyone, including staff, parents/carers and children. 

Key questions / things to think about 

1. What is our understanding of attachment? 

2. How can we tell that every child feels that they are important to their key 

person and that they are being kept in their mind? 

3. How does the key person approach work in our setting? 

4. What things do we consider before allocating children to a key person? 

5. How do we support new staff to understand our key person approach? 

6. How do we enable our staff to be confident to have challenging 

conversations with parents/carers? 

7. How are we embedding our key person approach in ongoing support and 

supervision? 

8. How do we enable each key person to build a holistic picture of all of their 

key children and how does this help them to understand the learning and 

development of each of their key children? 

9. How are we empowering each key person to take a lead in supporting their 

vulnerable key children including those with SEND? For example, attending 

SEN support meetings, leading reviews, developing ‘My plans at SEN 

support’, or working with other professionals. 

10. How do we know that our key person approach is working effectively for 

each practitioner, child and family?

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