Ofsted report cards for nurseries
Ofsted no longer gives a nursery one overall word such as Outstanding. A report card grades six areas on a five-step scale, from exceptional to urgent improvement, and says whether safeguarding is met.
The five grades on a report card
| Grade | What it means |
|---|---|
| Exceptional | Among the very best Ofsted sees; other nurseries can learn from it. |
| Strong standard | Better than the standard Ofsted expects of every nursery. |
| Expected standard | Meets the standard Ofsted expects of every nursery. |
| Needs attention | Not yet at the expected standard; the nursery has to improve this. |
| Urgent improvement | Well below the expected standard; it has to be put right quickly. |
Ofsted says expected standard is a high bar: the nursery is doing everything it should. Needs attention is not a fail; it flags work to do before it becomes a bigger problem. A nursery can have a mix of grades across the six areas.
How nurseries have been graded in each area
Every day nursery in England with a report card in Ofsted's data as at 30 June 2026, inspected from 10 November 2025. Each row adds up to the nurseries graded in that area.
| Area | Exceptional | Strong standard | Expected standard | Needs attention | Urgent improvement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inclusion | 7 (1%) | 468 (44%) | 480 (45%) | 80 (8%) | 23 (2%) |
| Curriculum and teaching | 1 (0%) | 215 (20%) | 677 (64%) | 142 (13%) | 23 (2%) |
| Achievement | 1 (0%) | 258 (24%) | 649 (61%) | 129 (12%) | 21 (2%) |
| Behaviour, attitudes and routines | 1 (0%) | 359 (34%) | 589 (56%) | 92 (9%) | 17 (2%) |
| Children’s welfare and well-being | 1 (0%) | 363 (34%) | 577 (55%) | 85 (8%) | 32 (3%) |
| Leadership and governance | 5 (0%) | 278 (26%) | 604 (57%) | 126 (12%) | 46 (4%) |
Safeguarding was recorded as not met at 28 of the 1,059 nurseries with a report card.
The six areas Ofsted grades
- Inclusion
- How well the nursery includes every child, including children with special educational needs.
- Curriculum and teaching
- What children learn and how well staff teach it.
- Achievement
- How well children learn, develop and get ready for school.
- Behaviour, attitudes and routines
- How children behave, feel about learning and settle into the day.
- Children’s welfare and well-being
- How safe, healthy and happy children are.
- Leadership and governance
- How well the nursery is run and how its leaders improve it.
Safeguarding: met or not met
Safeguarding is not graded on the five-step scale. The report card says only whether the nursery meets its safeguarding duties. Not met is serious, whatever the other grades say.
What happened to Outstanding and Good?
Nurseries inspected before the change keep their old one-word grade until their next inspection. Ofsted says the new grades cannot be compared with the old ones, so we show the old grade with its date and never turn it into a report card grade.
| Last one-word grade | Nurseries still showing it | What it meant |
|---|---|---|
| Outstanding | 1,674 | The highest of the four grades Ofsted gave before report cards. |
| Good | 9,615 | The second of the four grades: a good standard of care and learning. |
| Requires improvement | 65 | The third of the four grades: not yet good, and the nursery had to improve. |
| Inadequate | 5 | The lowest of the four grades: serious weaknesses Ofsted said must be fixed. |
When will my nursery get a report card?
Ofsted plans to inspect every setting on the Early Years Register at least once by March 2030. A nursery moves from the old six-year cycle to a four-year cycle at its next routine inspection, and Ofsted can visit sooner if it has concerns.
How we use the grades
Town and council pages list nurseries best rated first: report cards and old grades are put into five bands, newest inspection first inside each band. The editorial policy sets out the bands. Find your area on nurseries by town or nurseries by council.
Grade wording from Ofsted's Understanding Ofsted report cards and grades and its early years inspection questions.
Nursery list and inspection outcomes from Ofsted's register of childcare providers, as at 30 June 2026.