Ofsted has vowed to inspect all schools across the country by July 2025 and increase the number of "longer inspections".
The Office for Standards in Education says the longer inspections would allow more time for professional dialogue and evidence-gathering.
The news will be welcomed by parents who have asked why many schools have not been visited for a while. In the North East, a large number of sites have not had a full inspection for several years - some of the reports date back to 2013.
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The commitments have been made in Ofsted's new strategy for the next five years and includes plans to enhance inspections of independent schools. In addition, there will be more focus on early-years work to help younger children who are lagging behind due to Covid disruption.
Ofsted’s recent reports on education recovery highlighted the serious impact the pandemic has had on some of the youngest children. Many have gaps in their communication and language skills and are behind where they should be in their personal, social, emotional, and physical development.
The early years workforce has also been hit hard, the inspectorate says. Thousands have left the sector since the first lockdown in 2020, while those who have stayed are often struggling to get by on low wages.
Meanwhile, there has been a drop in the number of childcare providers. At the start of the pandemic, there were just over 75,000 registered providers, but that has since dipped below 70,000, with childminders accounting for the bulk of the reduction.
Ofsted says it will use research and insight to support young children’s physical, social and wider development, increase training for the inspection workforce, and promote a better understanding of early education and care.
Amanda Spielman, Her Majesty’s chief inspector, said: "Our strategy for the next five years takes account of the impact of the pandemic and raises still further our ambitions for children and learners. Ofsted’s mantra of ‘raising standards, improving lives’ has never been more important.
"If the past two years have taught us anything then perhaps it is how resilient people can be, not least the youngest in our society whose start in life has been challenged in a way we’ve never seen before. We recognise the outstanding work early years providers have done to help children recover what they missed, and this strategy aims to increase our support for a workforce that is so deeply devoted to what it does.
"Whether it is through developing specialist training for our inspection workforce or through sharing our own insights, we will do everything in our power to help every child gain the best start in life."
The Early Years Alliance says it welcomes Ofsted's focus on younger children however says more needs to be done for the sector overall.
Neil Leitch, CEO of the group, said: "We know that the first five years of a child’s life are absolutely pivotal to their long-term learning and development. As such, we welcome Ofsted’s increased focus on supporting the early years sector in its new five-year strategy.
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"That said, even with these positive intentions, it’s difficult to see how much actual change Ofsted, as an independent inspection body, will be able to bring about. Even before the onset of Covid-19, early years providers were grappling with a raft of challenges, such as staffing shortages and immense financial pressures as a result of years of government underfunding - and there is no doubt that these challenges have been hugely exacerbated by the pandemic, with more and more settings being pushed to the brink of closure.
"As such, while Ofsted’s pledge to develop an evidence base on what good early years practice looks like, and to issue specialist training for early years inspectors, are broadly positive policies, these alone will do little to tackle many of the concerning trends that Ofsted has rightly identified, such as continued recruitment and retention challenges and sustained declines in provider numbers.
"Ultimately, what the early years sector needs is adequate investment to ensure that settings are able to deliver quality care and education to children and families, something that is all the more important given the impact of the pandemic on children’s early development. While we hope that the inspectorate will continue to highlight the vital importance of the early years sector, ultimately, tangible change is something that only the government, and not Ofsted, can deliver."
