When do inspections happen and how long do they last? A school that was judged to be outstanding at its last inspection is exempt from routine inspection. We will not normally inspect exempt schools unless we have a concern about their performance. Ofsted will also carry out an annual assessment of an exempt school’s performance (from the third year after the school’s last inspection) to determine whether an inspection might be necessary. Exempt schools continue to be inspected as part of Ofsted’s programme of surveys of curriculum subjects and aspects of the curriculum. Exemption from inspection does not apply to maintained nursery schools, special schools or pupil referral units. A school judged to be good at its last inspection normally receives a short inspection (see section on ‘short inspections’ below). A school judged as requires improvement at its last inspection is a school that is not yet good but overall provides an acceptable standard of education. The school is inspected again within a period of 30 months. Where a school has been judged as requires improvement at two successive inspections, it will be subject to monitoring from inspectors to check its progress and is inspected again within a period of 30 months. A standard inspection usually lasts two days and the number of inspectors on the inspection team will vary according to the size and nature of the school. What judgements do inspectors make? Inspectors will make graded judgements on the following areas using the four-point scale: Effectiveness of leadership and management Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outcomes for pupils. Where applicable, inspectors will also make a graded judgement on the effectiveness of the early years or sixth form provision in the school. We give schools an overall grade from 1 to 4: grade 1 (outstanding) 2 (good) grade 3 (requires improvement) grade 4 (inadequate).
The school must take all reasonable steps to make sure that parents of pupils at the school receive a copy of the report. What happens if Ofsted judges a school to be inadequate? If inspectors judge a school to be inadequate, it will be placed in one of the following two categories of concern. Special measures – This means the school is failing to provide its pupils with an acceptable standard of education, and is not showing the capacity to make the improvements needed. Serious weaknesses – This means that one or more of the key areas of the school’s performance require significant improvement, but leaders and managers have demonstrated the capacity to improve. A maintained school judged as inadequate and placed in a category of concern will be issued with an academy order by the Secretary of State for Education, to require it to become a new sponsored academy. Inspectors will not normally monitor the school unless there are concerns or there is a delay in the school becoming a sponsored academy. For an academy that has been judged as inadequate and placed in a category of concern, inspectors will visit the academy to check on its progress until it can be removed from the category (unless it is re-brokered with a new sponsor to become a new sponsored academy). Ofsted will re-inspect an academy that has been judged as having serious weaknesses or requiring special measures within 30 months of its last standard two-day inspection. Short inspections A school judged to be good at its last inspection normally receives a one-day short inspection approximately every four years. However, some good schools will automatically receive a full two-day inspection if our risk assessment process indicates that the quality of provision in the school may have deteriorated significantly. The purpose of a short inspection is to determine whether the school continues to provide a good or better standard of education and whether safeguarding is effective. If there is sufficient evidence of strong practice and improved performance of a good school, and it is reasonable to believe that the school may be judged outstanding if it received a full two-day inspection, the school will receive a report, in the form of a letter, setting out its strengths and areas of marked improvement and informing the school that its next inspection will be a full two-day inspection, to take place within one to two years.