Ofsted - News and Updates

Further Consultation on Short Inspections 

Ofsted are running a further consultation on the changes to the short inspections. You can find more information here.

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School Inspection Update

The new edition of Ofsted’s School Inspection Update provides details of how inspectors are being instructed to approach school performance data.

Ofsted Inspectors have been reminded:

• not to compare results from last year to this for the new GCSEs
• results for GCSEs and A levels have been stable overall and small fluctuations at school level should not be over-interpreted
• to consider whether decisions made by school leaders are in the best interests of pupils
• to use assessment data as a starting point for discussion rather than the only piece of evidence
• not to focus on single measures with small cohorts
• to treat data from Key Stage 2 teacher assessments with caution

Inspectors are also reminded to look out for evidence that schools may be trying to ‘game the system’, for example by entering pupils into qualifications with significant subject overlap or moving pupils to other settings.

Ofsted have reformed their inspection dashboard into a new style Inspection Dashboard Summary Report (IDSR) which focuses on trends in school performance over the previous three years.

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Ofsted handbooks updated

Ofsted have released updates to the School Inspection Handbook and the Handbook for short, monitoring and unannounced behaviour school inspections. More information is available here.

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Ofsted Inspectors: conflicts of interest policy and procedure

Those who work on behalf of Ofsted must not put themselves in a position where previous employment, personal relationships or private interests conflict, or could be perceived to conflict, with these values. Ofsted’s approach to all potential conflicts, whether real or perceived, is to:

• always disclose
• declare a conflict of interest
• agree arrangements to manage the conflict
• prohibit activity where necessary

View the Conflicts of Interest policy and procedure