This article is about how Ofsted inspects EYFS provision for pupils aged 2 or older (including maintained nursery schools) under the 2025 inspection framework. Early years provision that takes children younger than 2 (whether part of a school or not) is inspected under the Early Years Inspection Toolkit.
EYFS provision is evaluated on a 5-point scale
‘Early years’ is an evaluation area under the 2025 inspection framework.
The evaluation areas will appear on your school’s inspection report card. Each area will be graded using Ofsted’s new 5-point grading system, with Ofsted expecting most schools to attain at least an ‘expected standard' in each evaluation area. The exception is safeguarding, which is either 'met' or 'not met'.
During the planning call, the lead inspector will ask you to evaluate your school's strengths and successes and priorities for improvement, including where you believe you currently sit on the 5-point grading scale for each evaluation area.