Ofsted shake-up: When is your school likely to be inspected?

Watchdog sets out roughly when school leaders can expect the call, as part of a raft of inspection changes

12th June 2023, 4:56pm

Ofsted has produced a new rough guide informing schools when they are likely to next face inspection.

Ofsted has for the first time published a detailed breakdown of when schools might next be inspected.

This has been produced along with a raft of other measures as the watchdog responds to the pressure for reform that it has faced since the death of Ruth Perry.

It has also announced plans to reinspect schools more quickly where safeguarding is the only area of concern, and to consult on changes to its complaints process.

The inspectorate has published a new blog post today designed to give schools more of an indication of when their next inspection will be. However, the formal notification process will not change.

Ofsted has already acknowledged that there was increased uncertainty over the timings of inspections following Covid and the decision to lift the exemption on “outstanding”-rated schools facing routine inspection.

The government has also asked Ofsted to ensure it inspects all state schools by 2025.

Chris Russell, the watchdog’s national director for education, told academy leaders last month that “outstanding”-rated schools in particular were “on tenterhooks” because of uncertainty surrounding inspection dates.

Normally, a school judged “outstanding” or “good” will be inspected within the four academic years following its last inspection. Schools judged as “requires improvement” or “inadequate” will usually be inspected within two and a half years.

However, Ofsted has now produced a “rough guide” to when a school’s next inspection will take place.

In the new blog post, Ofsted states: “As has always been the case, the indications we give are only rough guides. We may inspect sooner if we need to (for example if we have concerns about a school). We also do not confirm exactly when a school will be inspected before we notify it officially.”

Ofsted has highlighted a series of examples where schools will have specific inspection timings, including previously exempt “outstanding”-rated schools and new schools facing their first inspection.

It has produced the following breakdown:

Previously exempt ‘outstanding’ schools

Any “outstanding” school that was last inspected after September 2015 will get an ungraded inspection. Those schools with “outstanding” grades dating back before this will get a graded inspection.

‘Good’ or ‘outstanding’ schools that had an ungraded inspection recommending a follow-up graded inspection

“Good” schools and some “outstanding” schools receive ungraded inspections, where the overall grade will not change.

However, where Ofsted thinks there is reason to believe that the grade could go up or down at a full inspection, it can recommend that a school’s next inspection is a full graded one.

For schools in this situation, it has provided the following timings.

Other schools with a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ judgement

Ofsted has also produced timings for “good” or “outstanding” schools whose next inspection is set to be ungraded.

This is for schools whose most recent grade was “good” or “outstanding” and which have not had an ungraded inspection yet, or schools whose last ungraded inspection did not recommend that the next inspection should be graded.

Ofsted has produced a series of tables telling schools when they can expect to be inspected.

Schools with a ‘requires improvement’ judgement

Ofsted has also produced a table for schools with a “requires improvement” judgement.

The pressure facing schools in this situation has increased recently with the government’s decision to create a new threshold for intervening at schools that it classes as “coasting”.

It is using this definition as a threshold to intervene and potentially issue academy orders or rebroker schools if they receive two consecutive judgements of less than “good”.

Ofsted has previously raised concerns about the creation of this new threshold during a Department for Education consultation.

In today’s Ofsted blog post, schools whose last judgement was “requires improvement” have been told to expect inspection from the following dates, depending on how old this judgement is.