Play Practitioners shows you your Early Years before an inspector does.
An independent audit of how deliberately your play-based provision is designed. One day on site. A board-ready report, a rating for each of seven areas, and the changes worth making this term. From US$5,000, fixed before we start.
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The problem
In most Early Years settings, play is a belief rather than a design.
Two rooms next door to each other run differently. One practitioner sits and watches, another teaches inside the play, a third tidies. Nobody has decided, in writing, which is right. The team works hard and the provision still comes out inconsistent, because consistency was never designed.
That costs you twice. Children get an uneven start, and you have no independent way to know it until someone from outside tells you.
The second cost is the one your board feels. British schools overseas are inspected by a DfE approved inspectorate, usually ISI or Education Development Trust, against the Standards for British Schools Overseas and, for Early Years, the EYFS. A weak Early Years judgement threatens accreditation, reputation, and the enrolment your fees depend on.
The audit answers one question
Is your play deliberately designed to produce strong learning, and would it stand up when someone looks closely?
What we review
Seven areas, in three groups
Each one looks at the quality of your provision first, then shows you where inspection touches it.
Safe and well
Learning that shows
Led and inclusive
Each area is mapped to the BSO part and ISI section it touches.
Built for British curriculum international schools with two or more Early Years classes.
The deliverables
Two ways to run the audit. Both start with the same day in your rooms.
Tier 1a
US$5,000Review and reflect
- A board-ready report on all seven areas, with strengths and risks.
- Your priorities, named and ordered, so you know what matters most.
- The quick wins, the changes worth making this term without extra budget or staffing.
- A one-page executive summary for the Head and .
- A complimentary hour of online coaching for your Early Years Lead.
Tier 1b
US$7,500Review and reflect. Reimagine and plan.
- Everything in 1a.
- Plus a detailed prioritised improvement plan, sequenced across the year.
- Detailed mapping to the EYFS, the BSO standards and ISI.
You leave with the picture, in language your board already speaks.
Being clear
What it is not
This is a developmental review by an independent Early Years specialist. It is not an inspection and it does not predict a grade. The ratings are a professional judgement against published standards. No inspectorate endorses or takes part in this audit, and it does not cover COBIS or CIS accreditation.
The audit tells you what matters most. It does not build the plan. If you want a year of work sequenced, costed and assigned, that follows the audit rather than sitting inside it.
How it works
Three phases, four weeks
Prepare
Discovery call, then a short pre-audit pack and a review of documents you already hold.
See
One day on site. Real sessions, a learning walk, conversations with your Head, your Early Years lead, your team and your children.
Act
Your report, a live leadership debrief and a coaching hour for your Early Years lead.
You will not be asked to prepare a presentation or extra evidence paperwork. If it is not part of your normal week, we do not want to see it.
Who it is for
British curriculum international schools with an Early Years phase, where the Head wants an independent read rather than a reassuring one.
It works whether your last inspection went well or badly, and it works best when you still have time to act.
What comes next
Where the audit leads
Your report ends with your priorities, named and ordered. What you do with them is your choice, and both routes start from that same list.
Take one priority
Play, Deliberately Designed: The Enquiry
One day on site, then six fortnightly sessions across twelve weeks. Your team takes one question from the list, trials a change, and collects the evidence themselves. It ends with a written case study of your own work, and one named improvement your board can read in five minutes.
See how the enquiry worksOr the whole setting
Play, Deliberately Designed
Environment, pedagogy, resources, culture and assessment, changed in sequence. Four days on site across the year working alongside your team, then ten moderation reviews so the systems hold after we leave.
See the programmeYou decide after the debrief, once you have seen the findings. If you go on to the programme, your audit fee credits against it.
Questions leaders ask
Will this feel like an inspection to my team?
No. We watch normal sessions and talk to people. Nobody performs, nobody prepares folders, and your Early Years lead gets a coaching hour afterwards that is theirs to use however they want.
We were inspected recently and did well. Why would we do this?
Because an inspection tells you whether you met a standard. It does not tell you whether your play is designed, or whether it would hold if two staff left.
Who sees the report?
You do. It is written for your Head and your board. We publish nothing without your written permission.
How far ahead do we need to book?
Visits pair with existing travel where possible, so timing depends on the region. Ask on the call.
Find out how deliberately your play is designed.
Twenty minutes on a call will tell us both whether this fits your school this year.
Book a call