Ofsted has said that it will consider deferring inspections at schools that are being significantly disrupted by building work to deal with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
The inspectorate has updated its deferral policy following the announcement - just days before the start of the academic year - that more than 100 schools will need to shut or partially close buildings because of the risks posed by RAAC.
Ofsted’s updated guidance says that building and refurbishment work are not normally considered as a reason for deferral if the school is open and users are on site.
It adds: “However, if a school is significantly disrupted by measures taken to deal with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, we will consider these deferral requests carefully as an exceptional circumstance.”
The guidance says that Ofsted inspections of, or visits to, schools can sometimes still go ahead when all, or substantial numbers of, pupils are not on site but continue to be educated through remote or blended learning.
The changes to the Ofsted inspections come after the Department for Education (DfE) changed its approach to managing the risk posed by RAAC.
Last week the department said that “recent cases have led to a loss of confidence in buildings containing the material”.
The DfE is now advising schools to vacate all spaces or buildings that are known to contain RAAC unless they already have mitigations in place to make the building safe.
Ofsted’s deferral policy has been a source of controversy in the past during the Covid pandemic.
In 2021, headteachers’ leaders called for Ofsted to allow any school to halt inspections on request because of the disruption caused by the pandemic.
The Association of School and College Leaders said that schools should not have to grapple with the demands of an inspection while they were “in crisis mode”.
In the first term after full inspections resumed, 59 schools (74 per cent) had their request to defer inspections accepted while 21 (26 per cent) were rejected.
