Ofsted has come under fire for carrying out school inspections as staff and pupils try to manage the extreme heat.
A headteachers’ leader has called on on the inspectorate to suspend inspections this week, with the Met Office having issued a red weather warning for today and tomorrow.
Some schools have taken the decision to close at the beginning of the week in light of the red warning.
Ofsted said that, if schools remained open, it would continue to inspect, but that schools with concerns could request a deferral and this request would then be considered.
It confirmed to Tes that school inspections have gone ahead today.
But it has not said how many inspections have been carried out today or how many deferral requests from schools it has received and granted.
Ofsted ‘should not be inspecting schools in heatwave’
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, has now called on the watchdog not to inspect this week or to ensure that any school requesting a deferral because of the extreme weather is granted one.
He said: “Having inspections in the last week of term is not ideal in the best of circumstances. In light of the challenges schools are now facing with the heatwave, it is entirely inappropriate for them to be in this week.
“Ofsted should make it clear it will not be inspecting schools this week. Failing that, we would expect them to respond positively to any requests for a deferral in light of the operational challenges the heatwave is posing schools.”
His comments come after teaching leaders and a former senior Ofsted official questioned why the inspectorate was going ahead with visits at the start of this week.
In a Twitter post aimed at Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman and education secretary James Cleverly, Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said: “Two schools in Barnet received notifications of Ofsted inspections tomorrow! Seriously?”
He added: “You want to add more stress into tomorrow? DfE and Ofsted [are] out of touch and not taking school concerns seriously.”
Former Ofsted director Frank Norris also highlighted the issue on social media at the weekend.
He said: “If Ofsted are continuing with regular inspections on Monday and Tuesday, it suggests to me they are more concerned with reaching an inspection target than the welfare of pupils, school staff and inspectors. Can someone at Ofsted explain the rationale, please?”
In response to this tweet yesterday, Ofsted’s director of insights and research, Alex Jones, said: “If providers remain open, we will continue to inspect where possible.
“However, if providers have concerns about the timing of their inspection or visit, they can request a deferral and we take all reasonable factors into consideration.”
An Ofsted spokesperson reiterated this position today.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he was aware of concerns about Ofsted inspections taking place during the “extreme temperatures” being experienced in many areas on Monday and Tuesday this week.
He added: “Schools will obviously be more stretched than usual attempting to keep children cool in up to 40 degrees in buildings that are not designed for that purpose.
“They may also be experiencing staff absence because of the spike in Covid infections. It’s hard to see how an Ofsted inspection in these circumstances could be appropriate or representative of the normal operations of schools concerned. We have raised this concern with Ofsted and have been told that schools in this situation can request a deferral. We would expect Ofsted to be sympathetic to such requests.”
Tes asked Ofsted how many school inspections have been carried out today, how many are scheduled for tomorrow and how many requests for deferral from schools have been received and accepted because of the heat. The inspectorate said it was unable to supply this data.
By 12pm today the top recorded temperature was 34.8C (94.6F) in Charlwood in Surrey, according to the Met Office.
Temperatures are forecast to reach 40C in parts of the country tomorrow.
