When will it be our turn?

I think most schools, and school leaders, have a love / hate relationship with Ofsted.

Let's be clear here, I am talking about Ofsted inspections, rather than the vast amount of research and guidance which they also produce; most of which is of huge value. I'm focusing on inspections, because, for most staff, when you say the word Ofsted, that is what they think about.

I believe that the role of Ofsted inspections in schools is to provide feedback, and feedback is good. It is at the heart of good teaching; giving and receiving feedback. Yet, when we consider our current Ofsted model, where feedback has morphed into judgement, understandably there is far more emotional [and practical] investment made into the process.

Would knowing when an inspection will happen help? I'm not sure. On one hand it should be about what a school does, day in and day out, and so little to no notice gives everyone a more honest picture of performance. If the process was purely about feedback, then I'd be all for a no notice situation. However, the stress that the current Ofsted experience has on staff is, for most, enormous, and so having no idea when it might happen causes even more pressure to build onto every person working within a school.

Ofsted have, to be fair, provided some clarity on the matter in their blog; https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/2023/06/12/when-will-my-school-be-inspected/ however, I suspect that it is only the Senior Team who sign up to their blog!

The most important aspect of what they are reporting, in my view, is that the "normal" rules (Good/Outstanding = 4 years, RI/Unsatisfactory = 2 1/2 years) no longer apply. Simply put - the Government changed the goal posts (plus that pandemic thing got in the way), and now Oftsed have too many schools to visit in too short a time.

There are an awful lot of exceptions to the rules, and things are different if you are in a school waiting for their first visit, but, in order to help you and your school to work out when you might be seen I've attempted to turn their guidance into a flow diagram; for those of us who grew up on the 90's; it's much like those quizzes in magazines when you would work out which Spice Girl you are most like, what your idea pet is, or which celebrity is your soulmate!

Enjoy!