Parenta Magazine March 2020

Ethos, aims and statement
A statement of your setting’s ethos, aims and
values is something that inspectors will be sure to
look for. If you don’t have a statement prepared,
you can make a start by thinking of your ethos as
your morals, values and beliefs for the setting – a
set of attitudes. Each setting is different and will
be passionate about different learning styles or
methods of teaching: e.g. Montessori, Forest School,
or a particular religion - and these should be the
focus for creating your ethos. It’s also important to
include your mission i.e. what you intend to achieve
and what goals you have in mind – almost like a
‘motto’. Nowadays, most nurseries try and include
key words and phrases like ‘resilience’, ‘emotional
intelligence’, ‘wellbeing’ and ‘holistic approach’. Use
key words that you relate to and aspire to, and your
mission or motto will form!
Policies
Having your key policies clearly laid out and easy to
find on your website will show Ofsted that you take
the governance of your setting seriously. You could
consider having a dedicated page which includes
policies on such things as health & safety, food
safety, child protection, welfare and safeguarding,
as well as complaints, whistleblowing, and the
PREVENT duty/radicalisation.
Curriculum
A thorough understanding of the EYFS curriculum
is something that your website should reflect,
together with an explanation of how parents can
access further information on the EYFS if they want
to discover more about their child’s learning. Ofsted
does need to see that you are able to identify the
children’s starting point - and also that you’re
ensuring they make progress in learning through
effective planning, observation and assessment.
Using an online EYFS tracker like Footsteps 2 will
enable you instantly identify where each child is in
their development path.
Here would also be a good opportunity to
showcase what you do to promote British Values
in your setting. We’ve created a guide which gives
invaluable information on how intrinsic British
Values are within the EYFS curriculum, and also
gives you some great ideas for activities to promote
British Values in your setting. You could post on
the website images of the children participating
in some EYFS activities to demonstrate your
understanding.
Best practice for your website:
✔ Ensure all your setting information is upto-date
✔ Check that all links are working
✔ Have a simple and clear navigation to all
sections
✔ Add a blog and update your news
section… weekly if you can!
✔ Always use high resolution photography
Here at Parenta, we have built hundreds of
childcare websites - so we know what Ofsted
is looking for when it views your website
for inspection. We can help you ensure you
include everything you need. Talk to our team
of experts who are on hand to help and can
build you your perfect website, whatever your
budget!
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