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School Inspections

This section will provide a range of insights from other schools and settings, for example, through the Self Evaluation Form (SEF) - and we will be publishing a variety of these in due course. Good skills and qualities of self evaluation lie at the heart of all successful institutions.

Of course, a wealth of information is available on the Ofsted website. On the Ofsted site you can also find information about Inspection Reports; Forms and Guidance; and Self-Evaluation and the SEF.

And through the FLSE web site, we will also be offering examples of...

current information about the inspection framework
exemplary materials provided by schools and settings
copies of a SEF and other self evaluation materials
shared experiences ' how to manage your inspection'
inspection preparation and support.

It is also our intention to provide some insights from other schools and settings, for example, through the Self Evaluation Form (SEF) - so watch out for further information.

Latest News

21/03/11 - Ofsted launches consultation on school inspections in England

Ofsted today launches a consultation on the inspection of maintained schools and academies in England. The changes follow proposals announced in the 2011 Education Bill and aim to re-focus school inspection on what matters most: the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom, backed by excellent leadership and management, and good discipline and behaviour in schools. The consultation seeks views on the detail of how Ofsted will implement these changes.

	Download the full Press Release
	Download the consultation paper

10/11/10 - Latest edition of Schools and Inspection, England

The latest edition of Schools and Inspection is now available on the Ofsted website.

27/09/10 - End of form-filling signals a new trust in teachers

Education Secretary Michael Gove sets out the next stage in a programme of reducing bureaucracy.

The Education Secretary has announced another step in the lifting of the bureaucratic burden on heads and teachers. The school Self Evaluation Form (SEF) process takes days out of heads’ time and can cost schools tens of thousands of pounds. The Secretary of State has asked Ofsted to ditch it. It is the next stage in a rolling programme of reducing bureaucracy for teachers and trusting them to get on with their jobs.

The SEF asks teachers and heads to collect and verify facts and figures about their school in preparation for their Ofsted inspection. Headteachers say it can take many long hours to fill in and take teachers out of the classroom for extended periods. It can run to over a 100 pages once it has been filled in.

The Coalition Government has already taken several steps to reduce bureaucracy including:

freeing schools from local authority and national government control by allowing them to gain academy-style freedoms

abolishing three quangos that created vast additional bureaucracy for schools without proven benefit

reducing the burden on teachers and improving the quality of inspection by asking Ofsted to change their framework to focus on four principal areas: the quality of teaching, the effectiveness of leadership, pupils’ behaviour and safety, and pupils’ achievement.

Read more... (DfE - Updated 27 September)

Gove tells Ofsted to “ditch” the Self Evaluation Form (NAHT - 24 September)

24/09/10 - Schools inspections slimmed down

Schools in England are to be judged on just four key areas in a shake-up of the inspection system, the government has said.

Education Secretary Michael Gove says schools will no longer be rated on "peripheral issues" - understood to include pupils' well-being and schools' contribution to "community cohesion".

Schools will be judged on quality of teaching; leadership; pupils' behaviour and safety; and their achievements.

Head teachers have welcomed the move.

Mr Gove outlined the changes in a letter to Ofsted's chief inspector Christine Gilbert which has been released.

"As we both agree, we need to refocus inspection on the principal purpose of schools improving teaching and learning and dramatically reduce the time and energy spent on other existing bureaucratic duties," he wrote.

He said focussing on the four key areas would mean "inspectors no longer spending time monitoring compliance with peripheral issues, but instead concentrating on our shared core mission of improving standards in education". Read more... (BBC News - 23 September)

If you have some information that you would like us to publish that could be shared with other leaders and schools, then please send this to us