School Inspection

I am sure that many of you have read articles and reports in the media regarding the fallout from the tragic death of Headteacher Ruth Perry following her school’s Ofsted Inspection. Ruth took her own life in January 2023 before the publication of an inspection report rating Caversham Primary School in Berkshire ‘inadequate’.

The chief coroner concluded that the inspection 'lacked fairness, respect and sensitivity' and was at times 'rude and intimidating'.

Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, inspects and reports on anywhere that provides education for young people in England, including schools, nurseries and childminders. Schools or organisations are inspected every four years or 30 months depending on their status, and are then graded accordingly:

• 1 - outstanding

• 2 - good

• 3 - requires improvement

• 4 - inadequate

Many parents rely on Ofsted ratings to help them choose a school or nursery for their child. As at November 2022, 88% of schools in England were rated either outstanding or good.

As an independent school and part of the association IAPS (The Association for Preparatory Schools), we are inspected under a different inspection body: ISI (The Independent Schools Inspectorate). 

Ofsted are contracted by the Department for Education to conduct and report on inspections of organisations such as schools (both maintained and academies). The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) are contracted to do the same but for Independent Schools.

ISI is a Government approved inspectorate and the quality of its service is monitored by Ofsted on behalf of the Department for Education. Every year, Ofsted prepares a report for the Education Secretary about how the ISI has carried out its work. Overall Ofsted is satisfied but will normally comment on an area for ISI to consider.

Both ISI and Ofsted report on independent schools’ compliance with the DfE Education (Independent Schools Standards) Regulations. These are the statutory rules the DfE imposes on independent schools against which ISI inspects. But ISI and Ofsted use a different framework and criteria for judging school quality, and they use different judgement words too. For example, up until last year ISI used 'excellent, good, sound and unsatisfactory', while Ofsted uses 'outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate'.

Another difference is that ISI inspection teams largely consist of practising senior leaders currently working in independent schools, whereas Ofsted inspectors have not necessarily run a school. This means ISI inspectors are realistic and knowledgeable about the challenges for individual schools and their reports are more nuanced. For example, ISI inspectors evaluate independent schools against the higher standards of academic achievement and extracurricular activities in the sector as a whole as well as against national norms.

The National Education Union (NEU) has urged school leaders to refuse to work as Ofsted inspectors until a health and safety assessment of the system is carried out. Ofsted inspections have been frozen and as well as calling for a freeze of inspections and the abolition of Ofsted, the motion instructed the union to 'call on all NEU leadership members to refuse to participate as inspectors in any further inspections until a full health and safety assessment of the inspection system is conducted'.

Educational leaders in both the maintained and independent sector can only see the positive in this but sadly it is too little, too late for Ruth Perry.

Many of you will know that I am a practising inspector for ISI and I am privileged to conduct regular inspections each year in other independent schools. 

As an independent sector we also now have a new framework for our inspection process and ISI will now NOT give an overall judgement, and have abolished the four gradings of excellent, good, sound and unsatisfactory. Instead, they now focus on ‘nuanced reporting‘ within the report itself.

The new framework places a strong emphasis on promoting the wellbeing of pupils.

Pupil wellbeing is defined in section 10(2) of the Children Act 2004 as:

• physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing;

• protection from harm and neglect;

• education, training and recreation;

• the contribution made by them to society and

• social and economic wellbeing.

This definition is used as a starting point for ISI’s approach to school evaluations, making it vital that all school leaders keep this at the forefront of their minds when updating policies and reviewing their curriculum and values.

The new framework places an overarching responsibility of the school’s leadership, management and governance to 'actively promote' these five aspects of pupils’ wellbeing in all aspects of school life. Governors are reminded of their responsibilities to ensure their school is fully compliant and aware of the measures they need to take in order to mitigate against the particular issues their school faces.

At St. Helen's College, we are approaching the end of our three year cycle and are due to be inspected hopefully by the end of 2024 under the new framework.

The new framework emphasises that schools need to actively seek and take into account pupils’ views, wishes and feelings about their school experience. School leaders should enable pupils to communicate, develop positive relationships with staff, and make their views known. Parent and staff views are also taken into account and questionnaires are sent out from ISI at the onset of the inspection process to assist the team in their evaluations. 

Safeguarding continues to be at the forefront of inspections. Inspectors will check to verify there are arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils and meet the expected standards and provisions as set out in the relevant legislation and statutory guidance. The new framework specifically mentions the need for schools to have effective arrangements to ensure that pupils know how to stay safe online and that these are regularly updated and reviewed. Schools can ensure they meet these criteria by having an effective PSHE curriculum in place as well as an Online Safety Policy (either stand alone or incorporated into the Child Protection and Safeguarding policy), which is appropriate for the ages and needs of the pupils. It should cover all aspects of staying safe online and must include appropriate provision to have monitoring and filtering systems in place. 

I am proud to be part of the ISI inspectorate and how we as a body work together with schools to evaluate their provision to celebrate strengths but also to recommend areas of improvement to ensure that as a sector we are the frontrunners in our educational provision for your children. 

You may wish to read more information about our inspection process here.