• Spielman ordered sanction of off-rolling school

    The chief inspector intervened to downgrade the Ofsted rating of a school found to have off-rolled pupils, Schools Week can reveal. Inspectors visiting Discovery Academy in Stoke-on-Trent in January were advised by Amanda Spielman (pictured) to rate the school’s leadership and management as “requires improvement”, rather than “good”, after they discovered evidence of off-rolling of…

    5.00 Mar. 8th, 2019 | News

  • Ofsted refuses to name 300 'off-rolling' schools

    Ofsted will not name the 300 schools that could be off-rolling pupils in case it alerts them to upcoming inspections. The inspectorate’s annual report in December said the schools were identified as having particularly high levels of pupil movement in years 10 and 11. However, Sean Harford, Ofsted’s national director of education, told Schools Week…

    7.00 Feb. 17th, 2019 | News

  • Ofsted framework: Heads warn audit culture will ‘switch’ to exercise books

    Headteachers have dismissed Ofsted’s claims that its new inspection framework will reduce workload, warning that a proposed shift from internal data to pupils’ books will only create more problems. The watchdog has proposed that inspectors no longer look at schools’ internal assessment data, admitting that its collection can create extra work for teachers. Instead they…

    7.00 Jan. 21st, 2019 | News

  • Exclusions: Ofsted will look more closely at 'repeat' patterns of suspension

    Ofsted will look more closely at whether schools are “repeatedly” suspending or isolating the same pupils, under its new inspection framework. A school found to be using suspensions or fixed-term exclusions “inappropriately” would only then be able to achieve a “requires improvement” grade at most. But some teachers say schools need to be able to…

    7.00 Jan. 20th, 2019 | News

  • Ofsted mulls plan to demand off-rolling evidence from schools

    Ofsted faces a dilemma over its efforts to clampdown on illegal “off-rolling”, as officials weigh up how to check whether headteachers are telling the truth about children who disappear from their books. As part of a beefed-up leadership and management judgment in the watchdog’s new inspection framework, schools found to be off-rolling pupils are “likely…

    7.00 Jan. 19th, 2019 | News

  • Ofsted and DfE staff nabbed for Brexit planning

    Civil servants from Ofsted have been redeployed to help prepare for a no-deal Brexit, with more staff set to follow, Schools Week understands. It follows concerns that civil servants from the Department for Education could be transferred from as early as next week. Schools Week understands the department has been looking at what schools will do if…

    5.00 Jan. 18th, 2019 | News

  • How Ofsted is trying to tackle the culture of teaching to the test

    Inspection should capture the things that no data measure can, says Amanda Spielman. ‘We need to look at how a school has achieved results, not just take them at face value’ I hope that most of you will have seen that we have now published a consultation on our new education inspection framework that we intend…

    5.00 Jan. 18th, 2019 | Opinion

  • Does Ofsted's draft inspection framework pass the inclusion test?

    The beefed up focus on special needs and disabilities in Ofsted’s draft inspection framework is welcome, but there’s more they could do if they really want to incentivise schools to be inclusive, notes Adam Boddison Earlier this year, I made the case that under Ofsted’s education inspection framework (EIF) no school should be able to…

    10.00 Jan. 17th, 2019 | Opinion

  • The Seldon List: OECD chief and schools minister top trad-dominated education influencers list

    Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s education chief, Nick Gibb, the schools minister, and Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted, have topped a new list of the most influential people in education. The list, drawn up by Sir Anthony Seldon with the help of a panel of 20 educationists, is likely to be controversial as it dominated…

    5.00 Jan. 11th, 2019 | News

  • Hinds urges Ofsted to ensure new MAT evaluations aren't 'undue burdens'

    Education secretary Damian Hinds has warned Ofsted its new academy trust “summary evaluations” must not create “undue burdens” on schools, as new details of the evaluations are released. Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman revealed earlier this month the watchdog was introducing a new inspection regime for academy trusts. In its annual report, the watchdog said…

    14.22 Dec. 13th, 2018 | News

  • Nearly half of primaries score poorly on curriculum quality, new Ofsted study shows

    Nearly half of all primary schools scored poorly in Ofsted’s latest curriculum study – with an apparent focus on English and maths sidelining foundation subjects. For instance, seven of the 33 primaries schools visited by the inspectorate under phase 3 of its curriculum study, published today, had a “complete absence” of curriculum design in humanities.…

    10.09 Dec. 11th, 2018 | News