AN OUTCOME letter published by Ofsted has deemed only half of Wiltshire’s early years as teaching good or better.
As well as visiting eight providers, inspectors conducted telephone surveys with 11 others and held a focus group discussion with the local authority and its partners.
The inspection was prompted by the wide gap in learning and development for the poorest children in Wiltshire with only 36 per cent of children eligible for free school meals achieved a good level of development in 2014.
Inspectors judged half of those inspected to be inadequate or requiring improvement but said there is a clear strategy to improve early childhood provision in the county.
A Wiltshire Council spokesman explained that despite the small sample size of the inspection they would take the comments on board to improve early years education as much as possible.
The spokesman added: “Ensuring all children in Wiltshire achieve their full potential regardless of their background is an absolute key priority for us.”
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