Welcome to Early Years Wales' quality assurance scheme, Quality for All (QfA).
Early Years Wales believes that consistently meeting all regulatory requirements to the highest standards, and continuously reflecting on and evaluating practice is key to the delivery of high-quality childcare where the best possible experiences and opportunities are provided for children and families.
QfA accreditation follows a process which includes:
- completion of a QfA Reflection of Service form
- a Professional Discussion with an experienced assessor.
- an observation of practice
- annual reaccreditation
Our new QfA is quicker and allows for more reflective conversation and sign posting to support services if needed.
- It is expected purchase to completion will take approximately 6-8 months.
- There are three sections:
- Section 1 -Staff recruitment, interaction, management and development
- Section 2 - Children's health and wellbeing
- Section 3 - A holistic approach to children's play, learning and development.
- Each section will be completed before moving onto the next.
- After completing each section, providers will have a professional discussion with a Quality Advisor.
- When all sections have been completed a QfA Verifier will carry out an observation of practice.
We are also working closely with our Welsh Language Project Lead, Matthew Anthony, who is offering all QfA providers the opportunity to work towards their Quality Cymraeg Assessment. Quality Cymraeg is a brand new scheme that supports settings to reflect on their Welsh language practice and develop their practice by setting focussed and targeted goals.
Having high-quality childcare means you focus on how well your service is managed, staffed, resourced and provided overall.
QfA will help you to reflect on your practice, and to plan for improvements or change over time. It will help you maintain and raise standards and prepare for other assessments or inspections.
You can also use the QfA process to highlight and celebrate any activities or achievements that are unique to your service.
If you have any queries or are unsure of any aspect of the QfA process, support is available from our Quality Assurance coordinator, Claire Thomas on [email protected] or Karen Coe, [email protected].