Figures published today, by Ofsted, show that the quality of childcare available in Islington is consistently high, compared to other inner London Boroughs. <br><br>The profile is a summary of all inspections of early years settings in Islington between April 2003 and March 2005 and reveals that 72.3% of the nurseries providing full day care for under fives, which were inspected, were found to be ‘good’, compared to the national average of 63.7%. It also shows that 99.5% of the 212 childminders inspected were found to be ‘satisfactory’ or ‘good’.<br><br>The quantity of childcare has also improved and there are now a total of 5436 childcare places in Islington, with an overall increase of 18% in the number of providers offering childcare and a 44% increase in the number of creches. This is particularly good news for parents needing crèche provision to undertake self-development and training courses, including learning English as a second language, which could help them move into employment.<br><br>Providers of Islington’s full day care again did exceptionally well, not only compared to other Inner London boroughs, but also by comparison with the rest of England. 47% of the 34 full day care settings were judged to be providing ‘very good’ nursery education compared with the national average of only 34%.<br><br>Cllr James Kempton, executive member for children and young people, said:<br><br>“Nursery education and childcare are vital to a child's development, which is why we are committed to improving it. This report confirms that parents can have every confidence in the very high quality of both care and education their children are receiving in Islington’s nurseries. <br><br>We are very proud of this achievement and I would like to congratulate the staff who make this possible with their dedication and professionalism. The excellent standards Ofsted are finding are due to their consistently hard work and the investment we have made in this service is clearly paying off." <br><br>Notes to editors:<br><br>Ofsted have published a summary of inspections carried out between April 2003 and March 2005. Ofsted judgements are made on a three- point scale – ‘good’, ‘satisfactory’ and ‘unsatisfactory’.<br><br>The profile is a summary of all inspections of early years settings in Islington between April 2003 and March 2005 and reveals that:<br><br>• 97.8% of the 47 Islington nurseries providing full day care for under fives, which were inspected, were found to be ‘satisfactory’ or ‘good’. Of these, 72.3% were deemed to be ‘good’ against the Inner London average of only 57.5% and the national average of 63.7%. <br>• 99.5% of the 212 childminders inspected were found to be ‘satisfactory’ or ‘good’, 44.3% achieving ‘good’ against an Inner London average of only 38.6%. <br>• all of the 8 creches inspected were deemed to be ‘satisfactory’ or ‘good’. 75% were reported as ‘good’ against the Inner London average of only 50%. <br><br>At the same time as achieving these high ratings of quality, Islington has also done well in expanding the quantity of provision. There are now a total of 5436 childcare places in Islington.<br><br>• there has been an overall increase of 18% in the number of providers offering childcare, compared with the national average of 5%, due to the substantial increase in the number of childminders in Islington.<br>• the number of creches has increased by 44% against the national average of 35%. This is good news for parents needing crèche provision to undertake self-development and training courses, including learning English as a second language, which could help them move into employment. <br>• there are now 2767 full day care places for under fives in Islington, an increase of 11% since the last summary in April 2003. This is expected to further improve as the 467 new full day care places planned as part of Islington’s Children’s Centre Strategy come on stream over the next eight months.<br>• there are now 1,239 registered out of school places for older children, an increase of 15%<br><br>Providers of Islington’s full day care again did exceptionally well, not only compared to other Inner London boroughs, but also by comparison with the rest of England:<br><br>47% of the 34 full day care settings were judged to be providing ‘very good’ nursery education compared with the national average of only 34%<br><br>A full copy of the profile is available for www.ofsted.gov.uk<br><br>Ofsted is a non-ministerial government department established under the Education (Schools) Act 1992 to take responsibility for the inspection of all schools in England. Its role also includes the inspection of local education authorities, teacher training institutions and youth work. During 2001, Ofsted became responsible for inspecting all 16-19 education and for the regulation of early years childcare, including childminders.
Page Last Updated: 17 December 2009