What is a quality improvement award?

Surrey County Council Early Years Quality Improvement Award (Surrey QIA) is a type of quality assurance scheme. A quality assurance scheme helps you to look at what you do, identify areas that need to be improved and work out how to make those improvements. And by completing a quality assurance scheme you will be able to prove that you have made progress against a set of agreed standards and raised the quality of your setting.

Surrey QIA is a free scheme that has been specifically designed for early years settings (including registered childminders) in Surrey. You must have an Ofsted inspection outcome of good or outstanding to join this scheme.

We also offer other ways to self evaluate that are tailored to different types of setting and open to all:

• Continuous Quality Improvement file for group settings
• Quality improvement toolkit for registered childminders and home childcarers
• Quality improvement toolkit for extended schools and out of school settings

What does the Surrey QIA offer?

Our scheme:

• gives an accreditation on finishing
• offers free support from Surrey Early Years and Childcare Service mentors
• has a buddy system so you can talk to settings who have completed the scheme
• has five modules that are matched to the five Every Child Matters outcomes and offers a step by step approach to quality improvement
• encourages self-reflection by asking brief, open-ended questions matched against standards
• offers evening QIA liaison meetings so you can meet settings who are at the same stage as you
• meets the current Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Ofsted requirement for all settings to be improving continuously
• has a playwork version
• encourages all staff to take part
• aims to encourage the highest quality provision for the benefit of children, parents and staff.

Why take part in a quality assurance scheme?

Ofsted "expect every provider to be working towards making their provision outstanding." So if you want to improve your standard of care and education then Surrey QIA can help. The scheme will not cost you anything and you have up to two and half years to complete it.

Jackie from Specky's Creche in Guildford has just completed the scheme. She decided to do the Surrey QIA because: "We'd worked so hard to progress the creche that we wanted recognition for what we'd achieved. It's allowed us to look differently at how we support the children and the publicity has been excellent."

Stella from Worplesdon Pre-school is due to finish the scheme this summer. She thinks that "doing the QIA has opened our eyes and our ears to the parents and to listening to the children. It's also a great way to celebrate all our hard work."

How do I apply?

Fill in an online expression of interest form. For more information contact the Quality Improvement Award Team through your early education and childcare officer (EECO), Early Years Foundation Stage adviser, childminding adviser or email quality.assurance@surreycc.gov.uk

The quotes by Jackie and Stella are from an article that featured in the summer 2010 issue of Way Ahead(you can download a pdf of the full article below).