Supervision in early years

The rule: paragraph 3.35 of the EYFS

Paragraph 3.35 of the EYFS statutory framework for group and school-based providers, published by the Department for Education, dated 13 July 2026 and in force from 1 September 2026, sits under the heading “Supervision of staff” and says: “Providers must put appropriate arrangements in place for the supervision of staff who have contact with children and families. Effective supervision provides support, coaching, and training for the practitioner and promotes the interests of children. Supervision should foster a culture of mutual support, teamwork, and continuous improvement, which encourages the confidential discussion of sensitive issues.”

Paragraph 3.36 then says what supervision should give staff. It “should provide opportunities for staff to”:

• “Discuss any issues – particularly concerning children's development or well-being, including child protection concerns.”
• “Identify solutions to address issues as they arise.”
• “Receive coaching to improve their personal effectiveness.”

The EYFS statutory framework for childminders says the same about assistants. Paragraph 3.40: “Childminders must put appropriate arrangements in place for the supervision of assistants who have contact with children, families, and carers.” Paragraph 3.41 repeats the three opportunities, and paragraph 3.38 makes childminders “accountable for the quality of the work of anyone working for them”. In that framework an assistant is anyone who assists the childminder with children to whom they are not related, paid or not: “Students, volunteers and apprentices working with a registered childminder are also assistants.”

Only the first sentence of 3.35 is a “must”. The framework uses “must” “where the requirement is mandatory”, while “should” means “providers must take the guidance into account when delivering the requirements and should follow it, unless there is a good reason not to.” The legal force comes from section 40 of the Childcare Act 2006, under which an early years provider “must comply with the welfare requirements”, and from regulation 3 of the Early Years Foundation Stage (Welfare Requirements) Regulations 2012. Regulation 3(2), read with the definition in 3(2A), makes the “must” provisions in section 3 of both frameworks welfare requirements, apart from a short list of exceptions that does not include 3.35 or 3.40; regulation 3(3) requires providers to “have regard to” the “should” provisions. So the arrangements are a legal requirement, and what a session covers is a matter the setting must have regard to.

The 2026 frameworks did not change supervision. The Department for Education's change note on the EYFS statutory framework publication page lists “updates on safer sleep, a requirement for providers to have regard to screen use, prohibiting childcare where banned dog breeds are present and other safeguarding clarifications”, and the supervision wording is substantially what local authority toolkits quoted from earlier versions, though some still describe an older framework as current. The framework applies in England; Wales has its own standards, set out below. For the rest of section 3, see the EYFS safeguarding and welfare requirements guide.

What supervision is for, and what it is not

Read together, 3.35 and 3.36 make effective supervision a structured, two-way conversation with three jobs: support, coaching and training for the practitioner; a culture in which sensitive issues can be discussed in confidence; and a place where concerns about children are raised, solutions agreed and practice improved. The framework describes effective supervision as supervision that “promotes the interests of children” (“the best interests of children” in the childminders' framework) – in practice, better outcomes for the children in the practitioner's care, not a completed form.

Two more “musts” sit beside it. Paragraph 3.31 says “Providers must ensure that practitioners are supported and confident to implement the setting's safeguarding policy and procedures on an ongoing basis”, and 3.34 goes on to say “Providers must support staff to undertake appropriate training and professional development opportunities”. Supervision is where most settings meet both: protected time in which a practitioner can reflect on their practice, build on their strengths and develop their knowledge.

Four things are often confused with it:

• Supervising children. The framework's other use of the word is about children, who “must usually be within sight and hearing of staff and always within sight or hearing” (3.44) and be “adequately supervised, especially whilst eating” (3.43). That is a staffing and ratios question, not staff supervision.
• Appraisal. The word does not appear in either EYFS framework. Many settings run an annual appraisal alongside supervision; in England that is their choice.
• Induction. Paragraph 3.34 separately requires that “all staff receive induction training to help them understand their roles and responsibilities”, including emergency evacuation, safeguarding, child protection, and health and safety.
• The DSL's day-to-day advice. Paragraph 3.32 says “The DSL must provide support, advice and guidance to all practitioners on an ongoing basis, and on any specific safeguarding issue as required.” Supervision does not replace it. In a school-based nursery, Keeping children safe in education 2026 (Annex B) gives the DSL the same role of “providing advice and support to other staff on child welfare, safeguarding and child protection matters”.

The multi-agency guidance points the same way. Working together to safeguard children 2026 says “All early years providers should have regard to this guidance” (paragraph 72), and expects the statutory agencies it lists, such as local authorities, the NHS and the police, to have “appropriate supervision and support for staff, including undertaking safeguarding training” (paragraph 259). A private nursery is not one of those agencies, so paragraph 259 is the wider expectation rather than a duty on it.

Who is supervised, how often, and by whom

The duty covers “staff who have contact with children and families”. Neither framework defines staff for this purpose, but the group framework's whistleblowing duty speaks of “all staff (including students and volunteers)” (3.7), and the childminders' framework counts students, volunteers and apprentices as assistants. The sensible reading is anyone in a role with contact, supervised in proportion to the role: that includes managers and deputies, whose own supervision needs someone to give it, whether the owner, a director or an external supervisor.

Being supervised no longer takes a regular volunteer out of the checks. Section 139 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, in force from 1 September 2026, removed the exemption for supervised unpaid activity, so a volunteer who cares for or supervises children frequently, or on more than 3 days in a 30-day period, or overnight, is in regulated activity whether supervised or not; only supervised volunteers who help out occasionally, “such as parents or carers helping out on a trip (but not overnight or if providing personal care)”, stay outside the framework's checks (footnote 20 to 3.15).

How often. Neither EYFS framework sets a frequency, a length or a form for supervision, and Ofsted's inspection toolkit names no interval. “Appropriate arrangements” is the whole of the duty. Local authority toolkits fill the gap with suggestions: Leicestershire County Council's supervision toolkit (July 2025) says the framework “does not specify how often supervision should take place or how long it should last” and gives “monthly, bi-monthly, half termly, termly” as examples, and Devon County Council's supervision toolkit for early years and childcare providers suggests a volunteer may need supervision “once a term” and a designated safeguarding lead “monthly”. They are suggestions, not the law.

So the setting decides, and writes the decision down in a supervision policy: who is supervised and by whom, how often for each role, what a session covers, how notes are kept and who may see them, and what happens to a safeguarding concern raised in a session. A short supervision agreement with each member of staff, setting out when and where you will meet and what the notes are for, turns the policy into something both sides have read. Many settings meet new starters and apprentices more often in their first months. Whatever the interval, keep to it: an arrangement that exists only in the policy is hard to call appropriate.

Childminders. A childminder with assistants must supervise them (3.40) and “must provide support, advice, and guidance to any assistants on an ongoing basis, and on any specific safeguarding issue as required” (3.35 of the childminders' framework). The framework sets no supervision duty for a childminder working alone, and Ofsted's toolkit recognises that “childminders often work alone, so inspectors are sensitive to the context of each childminder”.

Wales is different. The Welsh Government's National Minimum Standards for Regulated Childcare, Standard 13 (first published June 2026), says at 13.4: “All paid staff receive regular one-to-one supervision which encourages them to think about the quality of their practice and raise any safeguarding concerns. They also receive formal appraisal at least once a year.” Trainees “work under close supervision at all times” (13.1). Annex A: NMS guidance for child minder assistants says a childminder “must undertake regular one-to-one supervision with the assistant” and that “A record of all one-to one supervision should be kept in the staff file.” Care Inspectorate Wales, not Ofsted, inspects against them. This guide does not cover Scotland or Northern Ireland.

A supervision template: the agenda and the note

The framework prescribes no form, so a supervision template is a convenience, not a requirement. Share the agenda before each supervision meeting so the practitioner can bring their own issues; one built on 3.36 and the duties around it covers seven things:

1. Children. Each key child's development and wellbeing, and anything the practitioner is unsure about (3.36).
2. Child protection. Any concern, and confirmation that it has already gone to the DSL – see below.
3. Solutions. What was agreed last time and what happened, and what to try next (“Identify solutions to address issues as they arise”).
4. Coaching and training. One piece of practice to develop, building on what the practitioner already does well; safeguarding training, which “must be renewed every two years” (3.33); paediatric first aid, renewed every three years (3.37); and any training needs for professional development (3.34).
5. Suitability. A reminder that staff must disclose “any information which may affect their suitability to work with children including, but not limited to, arrests, charges, convictions, cautions, court orders, reprimands and warnings”, whether received before or during employment (3.17; 3.18 for childminders' assistants), protected convictions and cautions excepted.
6. Wellbeing and workload. Ofsted inspectors consider the extent to which leaders “take account of staff's wellbeing and make sure their workload is manageable”.
7. Actions. Who does what by when, and the date of the next session.

A child protection concern never waits for supervision. Paragraph 3.9 says providers with concerns about a child's safety or welfare “must immediately notify their local authority children's social care team, in line with local reporting procedures, and, in emergencies, the police”. Under 3.10, an allegation of harm or abuse by anyone living, working or looking after children at the premises must be notified to Ofsted or the childminder agency, with the action taken in response, “as soon as is reasonably practicable, but in any event within 14 days”, and failing to do so without reasonable excuse is an offence (3.10 and 3.11 in the childminders' framework). The “confidential discussion of sensitive issues” in 3.35 does not override that: tell supervisees at the first session that a safeguarding concern cannot stay in the room, which protects the supervisory relationship rather than undermining it, and if one surfaces for the first time in a session, act on it then and record it on the child's file, as the early years safeguarding records guide describes. Where a member of staff cannot raise a concern about poor or unsafe practice with their supervisor, the whistleblowing procedure required by 3.7 is the route, and 3.8 lists the channels outside the setting.

Keep it that short. Once written, a supervision note is a confidential record about a member of staff, and paragraph 3.96 says “Confidential information and records about staff and children must be held securely and only accessible and available to those who have a right or professional need to see them” (3.95 for childminders). The nursery record-keeping guide covers the rest of the records a setting keeps.

How Ofsted looks at supervision, and who sees the notes

Ofsted's early years inspection toolkit (version 2.0, June 2026, for inspections from 1 September 2026) grades safeguarding as met or not met, and “met” includes: “Leaders ensure that supervision, support and monitoring of adults are appropriate.” Under leadership and governance, the expected standard says “Leaders provide regular, relevant and appropriate professional learning and expertise opportunities and constructive feedback for all practitioners, which equips them to carry out their roles successfully”, and inspectors look at whether leaders take account of staff wellbeing and workload. The Ofsted early years inspection guide covers the grades and the day.

Ofsted does not want a supervision file made for it. Its early years inspection information names the documents settings must provide – paediatric first-aid arrangements and DBS and vetting records – and the toolkit says “We do not need leaders to produce documents specifically for an Ofsted inspection of their setting.” But the toolkit also limits documents to those relating to statutory requirements “or documents it produces as part of its normal business processes”, so notes a setting keeps routinely can come up. The stronger evidence is staff who can say who supervises them, when they last met and what they would do with a concern.

Who sees the notes. Paragraph 3.96 limits them to those with “a right or professional need to see them” (3.95 for childminders): in practice the supervisee, the supervisor, the manager, and the DSL for anything about a child's safety. Supervision is confidential within the setting's safeguarding duties, not from them.

A member of staff can also ask for them. The ICO's guidance on employment records says “You must respond to a SAR from a worker without delay and within one month of receiving the request”, extendable by up to two months if the request is complex or the worker has sent several. The ICO lists “appraisal or performance review records” among employment records, and a supervision note is personal information about the supervisee in the same way, so write it expecting them to read it, though what it says about a child or a colleague may need to be withheld or redacted before release. The same guidance says “Data protection law does not set specific time limits for how long you can keep your workers' personal information”: set a period for supervision notes in your retention schedule. The regulator has been the Information Commission since the office of Information Commissioner was abolished on 30 September 2026 under section 118 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025; it is still known as the ICO. The subject access request policy guide covers the process.

The supervision that happens by message

Most supervision in a nursery does not happen in the half hour booked for it. A room leader messages the manager at nine in the evening to say a key child has had an unsettled week and the parent seemed upset at pick-up. A practitioner texts the deputy on a Sunday to say she is struggling and is not sure she can manage Monday. An apprentice asks in the staff group how to word an observation.

Those messages are supervision in all but name: support, a concern about a child's wellbeing, coaching. Few of them reach the supervision note, and they sit on personal phones the setting does not control. If a concern is looked at later, the first time it was raised may be a message nobody can produce; when the room leader leaves, the thread leaves with them.

ComplyChat is built for the work conversations a setting needs to keep. On paid plans, staff talk in channels the setting controls, everyone added is told the channel is on the record, and once the setting's Microsoft 365 tenant is connected, conversations are kept there, under the retention schedules the setting already runs. It is not a supervision system: it does not schedule sessions, hold templates or flag an overdue one, and a child protection concern still goes straight to the DSL under your safeguarding policy rather than into a channel to wait. The question for the next leadership meeting: of the things your staff told their supervisors last month, how many are in a supervision note, and how many are only on someone's phone?

Questions people ask

What does the EYFS say about supervision?

The EYFS says providers “must put appropriate arrangements in place for the supervision of staff who have contact with children and families” (paragraph 3.35 of the group and school-based framework; 3.40 for childminders' assistants). Supervision should give staff opportunities to discuss issues, particularly children's development or wellbeing including child protection concerns, to identify solutions, and to receive coaching (3.36; 3.41 for childminders).

How often should supervision take place in early years?

The EYFS does not set a frequency: paragraph 3.35 requires “appropriate arrangements”, and Ofsted's early years inspection toolkit names no interval either. The setting sets the interval in its own supervision policy; local authority toolkits suggest anything from monthly to termly, and more often for new staff.

Is supervision a legal requirement in early years?

Yes, in England: section 40 of the Childcare Act 2006 requires early years providers to comply with the welfare requirements, and regulation 3(2) and (2A) of the EYFS (Welfare Requirements) Regulations 2012 make the supervision “must” in paragraph 3.35 (3.40 for childminders) one of them. The “should” sentences about what supervision covers are matters providers must have regard to; the law sets no frequency or form.

Do childminders need supervision?

A childminder who works with assistants must put appropriate arrangements in place to supervise them, and is “accountable for the quality of the work of anyone working for them” (paragraphs 3.40 and 3.38 of the childminders' framework). The framework sets no supervision duty for a childminder working alone.

Do supervision meetings have to be recorded?

The EYFS does not expressly require a written record of supervision, but confidential records about staff, once kept, “must be held securely and only accessible and available to those who have a right or professional need to see them” (3.96; 3.95 for childminders). Ofsted does not want notes produced for inspection, but may look at documents a setting keeps as part of its normal business. In Wales, a childminder's record of one-to-one supervision with an assistant “should be kept in the staff file”.

What are the 5 principles of active supervision?

Neither EYFS framework nor Ofsted's early years inspection toolkit uses the phrase “active supervision” or sets principles for it, and the term is about supervising children rather than staff. The EYFS rule is that children “must usually be within sight and hearing of staff and always within sight or hearing” (3.44; 3.48 for childminders) and be “adequately supervised, especially whilst eating” (3.43; 3.47 for childminders).

Official guidance and your next step

The requirement is in section 3 of the EYFS statutory frameworks, paragraphs 3.35 and 3.36 for group and school-based providers and 3.38 to 3.41 for childminders. Ofsted's approach is in its early years inspection toolkit, and the Welsh standards are in Standard 13 of the National Minimum Standards. Your local authority's early years team may publish its own supervision toolkit and templates. Quotations are from those pages as published on 21 October 2026.

This guide covers the EYFS in England, with Wales for comparison, and is not legal advice. Adult social care has a different regime; see supervision records in care.

Then do one thing: list everyone in your setting who has contact with children and families, and check each has a named supervisor and a date for their next session. Anyone without both is the first gap to close this week.