Ofsted nursery report cards explained: what the new grades mean for parents

Since 10 November 2025, Ofsted has stopped giving nurseries a single grade such as Outstanding or Good. A nursery inspected since then gets a report card instead. It grades six areas of the nursery's work on a five-point scale, from urgent improvement to exceptional, and says separately whether safeguarding standards are met or not met. "Expected standard", shown in green, is the level every nursery should reach, and Ofsted says it is a high standard.

This guide explains what each grade means, what the six areas cover, how to read the written report, what the first report cards show nationally, how the new grades compare with the old ones, and how often nurseries are inspected. It uses Ofsted's own inspection documents for use from September 2026. If you are choosing a nursery, our guide to choosing a nursery covers the rest of the decision. School report cards work slightly differently, and our guide to Ofsted report cards for schools covers them.

What changed for nurseries in November 2025

Ofsted announced its renewed inspection framework on 9 September 2025 and began inspecting early years settings under it on 10 November 2025. For parents, three things changed:

• No overall grade. The old words Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement and Inadequate are no longer given.
• A grade for each area. Each of six evaluation areas gets its own grade, with a written explanation of what the inspector found.
• Safeguarding judged separately. Safeguarding is either met or not met, rather than graded on the scale.

Ofsted also said it would inspect nurseries and childminders more often, moving from every 6 years to every 4. There is more on timing below.

The five grades and what they mean

Nursery report cards include a short key called "Our grades explained". Here are Ofsted's definitions, from lowest to highest, with what each means in practice.

Grades are a "secure fit", not a best guess

Each grade has a list of standards in Ofsted's early years inspection toolkit. According to the operating guide for inspectors, an inspector first checks whether a nursery meets every expected standard in an area. Only if it does do they check whether it also meets every strong standard, and only then whether practice is exceptional.

So a nursery cannot be graded strong standard in an area where it misses one of the expected standards. Minor inconsistencies can still lead to "next steps" in the report without lowering the grade.

Is expected standard good enough?

Yes. In its early years FAQ, Ofsted says a setting graded expected standard is meeting all the requirements of the early years foundation stage (EYFS) for high-quality provision, which means children are "healthy, safe, learning well and developing the knowledge and skills they need to start school". The words "typically" and "generally" in the standards reflect that expected standard is not about perfection.

A nursery graded expected standard in every area is doing its job well. Strong standard in some areas tells you where it goes further.

Is exceptional the new Outstanding?

No. Ofsted says there is no read-across from the old system: exceptional is not the new outstanding, and expected standard or strong standard do not equal the old good. The GOV.UK guidance for parents says the new grades cannot be compared with the old ones at all.

Exceptional is also given to an area, not to a whole nursery. Every type of setting can be graded exceptional, including childminders and out-of-school clubs. The only exception is an inspection where no early years children are on roll or present, when expected standard is the highest grade possible.

Safeguarding: met or not met

Safeguarding is not graded on the five-point scale. The toolkit says safeguarding standards are met when the relevant EYFS requirements are met and all of the following apply, among others:

• leaders have built an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility
• staff are vigilant, follow the setting's procedures confidently and recognise that babies and young children depend on adults to notice when something is wrong
• recruitment is safe, and staff have the checks, qualifications and training their roles need
• concerns and allegations about adults are handled properly and referred to the right agencies
• parents and children know who to go to for support

Safeguarding is likely to be not met where there are serious or widespread failures that leave children unsafe, where breaches have a significant impact on children's safety, including where children have been harmed or are at risk of harm, or where leaders have not acted on earlier failures.

A not met judgement does not automatically mean the other areas are graded urgent improvement, so read the whole report. Ofsted says a setting will likely be inspected again within 6 months if safeguarding is not met, and it can take enforcement action in the meantime.

The six evaluation areas

For nurseries, pre-schools and other group settings, Ofsted grades these six areas. The descriptions summarise what the toolkit says each area considers.

Two points help when you compare report cards.

• Out-of-school clubs have four graded areas, not six. Breakfast, after-school and holiday clubs do not have to meet the EYFS learning and development requirements, so curriculum and teaching and achievement are not graded.
• Leadership and governance can be pulled down by history. The operating guide tells inspectors to grade leadership and governance below expected standard where a setting has a history of not complying with requirements, even if each recent breach was minor.

How to read a nursery report card

Report cards are published as a short document on Ofsted's reports website. From the early years report cards we have read, you can expect these parts:

1. The grades at a glance. A colour-coded summary of the grade for each area, with the safeguarding judgement.
2. A section for each evaluation area. The grade and a few paragraphs explaining it, often with specific examples of what the inspector saw babies and children doing.
3. Childcare Register requirements. Many nurseries are also on the compulsory or voluntary part of the Childcare Register, and the report says whether those requirements are met.
4. What it's like to be a child at this setting. A plain-language summary of a child's day and experience.
5. Next steps. What the nursery should do to improve. If Ofsted found the nursery breaking a requirement, this is where you will see any actions it must take, each with a completion date.
6. About this setting, and facts and figures. The registration details, opening hours, the age range of children and the number of places at the time of inspection.

Read the text, not just the colours. Two nurseries with the same grades can read very differently, and a strong standard area may still come with a next step. If there is an action with a completion date, ask the nursery whether it has been done.

What the first report cards show

Ofsted's first statistics under the new framework cover early years inspections from 10 November 2025 to 31 March 2026. They include childminders as well as nurseries, and Ofsted warns that early results are unlikely to represent the whole sector. Even so, they help you judge what is typical. Of the 1,720 full inspections (excluding out-of-school clubs), the share graded expected standard or better was:

The same Ofsted release found that:

• the most common result, in 27% of full inspections, was expected standard in all six areas
• behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines had the most strong standard grades, at 45%
• fewer than 1% of inspections included an exceptional grade, and only in inclusion or leadership and governance
• safeguarding standards were not met in 2% of inspections that evaluated safeguarding

In other words, a report card with every area at expected standard is normal and reassuring. Any strong standard grade puts a nursery above the typical picture, and an exceptional grade is very rare.

Old grades and new report cards side by side

Most nurseries have not yet had a report card inspection, so you will often compare a nursery with an old one-word grade against one with a report card. Some tips:

• Old grades are not converted. An Outstanding from 2021 is not the same as a set of strong standard grades today, and neither is a better or worse version of the other.
• The logo can linger. Ofsted's inspection information says settings judged outstanding or good before November 2025 can keep using those logos until their next graded inspection, then must remove them. A nursery still advertising "Ofsted Outstanding" should not have had a graded inspection since November 2025.
• Check the date first. An old grade may describe a nursery with different leaders, staff or rooms. Ask what has changed since.
• Compare the reports, not the labels. For both old and new reports, read what the inspector said about care, learning and safety for children your child's age.

How often nurseries are inspected

The 4-year window was introduced from April 2026, replacing a 6-year cycle, and is being phased in, with full implementation expected by March 2030. Ofsted says every setting on the Early Years Register will be inspected at least once by then. Its FAQ adds that settings registered before 1 April 2026 and not yet inspected will usually get their first inspection within 30 months. Ofsted can inspect sooner, and without notice, if it has concerns.

A nursery must tell parents when an inspection is taking place. The nursery normally receives its final report card within 30 working days of the inspection, and Ofsted normally publishes it on its reports website 5 working days after that. Until the nursery receives the final report card, the grades are provisional and it should not share them with parents.

School nurseries, nursery schools and childminders

Not every early years report card looks the same.

• Nursery classes in schools. A school's nursery class for children aged 2 and over usually does not need its own Ofsted registration, so it is inspected as part of the school. The school's report card includes a separate "early years" evaluation area. You can find a state school's report through our Ofsted reports hub.
• Maintained nursery schools. These are inspected as schools, with no separate early years grade.
• Schools with babies. A school that takes children under 2 must register that provision with Ofsted, and it is inspected as an early years setting, with the six areas above.
• Childminders. Childminders follow their own version of the EYFS, the statutory framework for childminders, but Ofsted uses the same toolkit, evaluation areas and grades, adapted to one person caring for children in their home. A childminder inspection usually lasts around 3 hours, compared with around 4 hours for a sessional group setting and 6 hours for a full-day nursery. Childminders registered with a childminder agency rather than with Ofsted are quality assured by the agency, and Ofsted inspects the agency.

FindMySchool lists group settings such as day nurseries, pre-schools and out-of-school clubs, not childminders. For registered childminders, contact your council's Family Information Service or search Ofsted's reports website.

Questions to ask a nursery about its report card

Take the report card with you when you visit and ask:

1. Which areas are you proudest of, and which are you working on?
2. What were your next steps or actions, and what have you done about them?
3. If an area needs attention, what went wrong, and when do you expect to be inspected again?
4. Has the manager or room leader changed since the inspection?
5. How does what the inspector saw in the baby room, or my child's room, compare with today?
6. If your last inspection was before November 2025, what has changed since then?

A good nursery will talk openly about its report card, including the weaker parts. If a manager is vague or defensive about a needs attention grade, that tells you something too.

What FindMySchool shows

Where we hold inspection data for a nursery, its profile has an Ofsted tab showing the latest full inspection we hold. For most nurseries this is still an inspection from before November 2025, taken from Ofsted's published data, so you will see the old one-word grade and its date, plus earlier inspections where we have them. Where we hold a report card, the tab says there is no single overall grade, lists the grade for each evaluation area and shows whether safeguarding standards were met.

We do not yet hold most of the report cards Ofsted has published since November 2025, so a nursery may have been inspected more recently than its profile shows. Before you decide, follow the Ofsted provider page link on the profile where there is one, or search Ofsted's reports website, and read the latest report there.

Profiles, search results and our nursery rankings also show the FMS Inspection Score, FindMySchool's own 1 to 10 reading of a setting's most recent inspection evidence. It is not an Ofsted rating. Use it to sort a shortlist, then read the official report.

• Find settings close to home or work with nurseries near me, or search nurseries and childcare by place.
• Browse ranked lists such as the best nurseries in London.
• If cost is part of the decision, our guide to funded childcare hours explains what you may be entitled to.

Before you rely on any report, check three things: the date of the inspection, the text behind each grade, and any actions and whether the nursery has completed them. Then visit and see for yourself.

Frequently asked questions

What does expected standard mean on a nursery Ofsted report card?

It means the nursery meets all the standards Ofsted sets for that area, including the relevant legal requirements of the early years foundation stage. Ofsted says it is a high standard: children are healthy, safe, learning well and developing the knowledge and skills they need to start school. It is shown in green on the report card.

Is exceptional the new outstanding?

Why do some nurseries still say they are Outstanding?

Should I worry if a nursery has a needs attention grade?

What does safeguarding standards met mean?

How often are nurseries inspected by Ofsted?

Where can I find a nursery's latest Ofsted report card?

Are childminders inspected in the same way as nurseries?