Nearly 700 nurseries and childminders have been judged "inadequate" over the past three years, official statistics show.
Inspectors from Ofsted, the children's services inspectorate, found 672 centres to be substandard and a further 14,681 to be just "satisfactory". This means that of the 53,654 nurseries and childminders they visited between September 2008 and June this year, 1% were inadequate and 27% were satisfactory. On the positive side, 72% were rated good or outstanding.
Inspectors have ordered nurseries and childminders to make urgent changes 17,754 times over the past three years, the figures show. In 8,562 cases, this was because of fears over children's safety and wellbeing. In 1,424 cases, inspectors were concerned about the suitability of those looking after the children.
Stephanie H, an Early Education Nursery Teacher gives her top tips on what to look out for when choosing a nursery and says to watch out for a high turnover of staff.
Have you read your childminder or nursery Ofsted report? What did you look out for when choosing your childcare? Have your say on the discussion of the day...
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