Ofsted | Schools Week

Ofsted’s evidence is so unfounded that their case for retaining grades collapses

Ofsted’s defence of its four-point grading scheme in its recent paper (Retaining the current grading system in education, April 2019) has two, but only two, positive features. First, it acknowledges that there are strong arguments against its use of these grades. Second, it admits that “we have never directly asked (parents) about the four-point grading […]

Parents want more ‘outstanding’ schools inspected, plus 4 more Ofsted findings

Parents want ‘outstanding’ schools inspected more often, but believe short inspections are increasingly behind unreliable judgments. Ofsted has published its annual parent survey today. A total of 1,111 parents responded to the poll, carried out in November last year. Here’s a round-up of some of the more interesting findings. 1. Parents think Ofsted is […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]