Annual Conferences 2013

John Seal, Her Majesty's Inspector

National Lead for Independent Schools

November 2013

Aims

Sharing information about inspection findings

Sharing current and future developments

Key features of good and better schools

Key messages for boarding and residential inspections

Opportunities for discussion and questions.

Regionalisation of Ofsted’s work

Revised inspection framework

Independent Schools Standards

National Minimum Standards

Current and future work

The Regions

How Inspection works

The standard independent school inspection has two parts:

1)Qualitative: based on ‘The evaluation schedule for inspecting non-association independent schools’

2)Regulatory: the extent to which the school meets ‘The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010, as amended by the Education (independent School Standards) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012.

Inspection outcomes

Between September 2012 and December 2012, 133 schools were inspected. The quality of education judgements:

21 were outstanding (16%) 71 were good (53%) 35 were satisfactory (26%) 6 were inadequate (5%)

Just over a third of schools were judged as not providing a good education for their pupils.

Inspection 2013

In January 2013 a new inspection framework was introduced, including the summative judgement on the ‘overall effectiveness’ of a school; taking into account the other six judgements made in a standard inspection:

Pupils’ achievement Pupils behaviour and personal development Quality of teaching Quality of curriculum Pupils welfare health and safety Leadership and management (new).

Inspection outcomes January - June 2013

138 schools inspected (standard inspection)

86 (62%) judged good or better

52 (37%) less than good

20 (14%) judged to be inadequate (an increase from previous term of 15 schools)

92 (67%) good or better for quality of teaching

86 (62%) of the schools were judged to be good or better for leadership and management.

Well over a third of schools were judged as not providing a good education for their pupils.

How did they compare?

Sept-Dec2012

Jan –June 2013

Outstanding

16% 12%

Good 53% 51%

Satisfactory/Adequate

26% 23%

Inadequate 5% 14%

Inspection outcomes: standards

Seventy per cent met 100% of the standards and no school failed to at least 50% of all standards. However;

Between January and June 2013, 5% failed to meet 50% of standards relating to teaching and assessment

and twelve per cent of schools failed to meet at least 90%

of standards relating to premises of and accommodation at schools

Eleven per cent of schools failed to meet 90% of standards relating to welfare health and safety of pupils (including safeguarding).

Overall Findings:

Over 12,000 children attend schools that were judged not good at their last inspection.

Although a high proportion of schools are judged good or better, there is very little change in these proportions over the last 4 years

In the period January to July 2013 more schools judged inadequate.

Regulatory failings: highest in premises and welfare, health and safety including safeguarding

Inspection frameworks

We propose to make the same judgements about independent schools as those made on inspections of maintained schools, non-maintained special schools and academies. We believe that all schools in England should be judged in the same way and that the same grade descriptors should apply equally to them all. We think this will provide better information for parents, carers and placing authorities, and allow them to compare schools more easily.

What we plan to change

There are plans that following a period of consultation, a new framework will be introduced. Inspectors will make a judgement of the overall effectiveness of an independent school based on the following key judgements:

Achievement of pupils Behaviour and safety of pupils Quality of teaching Leadership and management.

The inspection report will still make it clear whether or not the school meets the independent school standards, as this information is required by the Department for Education (DfE) which is the registering authority for independent schools.

What we plan to change

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

This will not be a separate judgement. Inspectors will continue to check how well schools meet the standards in part 2 of the independent school standards for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, but this will form part of the judgement for the leadership and management of the school. Inspectors will report on how well schools equip young people to understand and take their place in modern British multi-cultural society. We will also report on how well schools enable young people to acquire the knowledge, values and skills to develop independence and confidence, participate in society and choose their path in life.

What we plan to change

We  propose to replace the grade ‘adequate’ with ‘requires improvement’ for inspecting independent schools. This grade will signify that even though a school may be meeting all of the minimum requirements of the independent school standards, it requires improvement to become ‘good’.  

This  change will bring the inspection of independent schools a into line with that of maintained schools, non-maintained special schools and academies, and we believe it will encourage schools to improve more quickly.

What we plan to change

Changing inspection grades

Grade 1

Outstanding

A school which provides an exceptional quality of education and care and significantly exceeds minimum requirements.

Grade 2

Good A school which provides a high quality of education and care that exceeds minimum requirements.

Grade 3

Adequate A school which meets minimum requirements but needs to improve the quality of education and care it provides.

Grade 4

Inadequate A school where minimum requirements are not met and the quality of education and/or care has serious weaknesses.

Grade 1

Outstanding A school which provides an exceptional quality of education and care and significantly exceeds minimum requirements.

Grade 2

Good A school which provides a high quality of education and care that exceeds minimum requirements.

Grade 3

Requires Improvement

A school which meets minimum requirements but is not yet a ‘good’ school, because one or more of the four key judgements is ‘requires improvement and/or there are weaknesses in the provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral and cultural development.

Grade 4

Inadequate A school where minimum requirements are not met and the quality of education and/or care has serious weaknesses.

Q1. To what extent do you agree or disagree that the same judgements should be made on independent school inspections as those made on inspections of maintained schools, non-maintained special schools and academies?

Q2. To what extent do you agree or disagree that the grade ‘adequate’ should be replaced by ‘requires improvement’?

Discussion

Proposals for school improvement for schools judged to be inadequate

Ofsted proposes that its approach to ‘inadequate’ independent schools and all schools with boarding/residential provision will be sharper. We will work more closely with the registration authority (DfE) to ensure that swifter and more robust action is taken. to producing an effective action plan for independent schools. The school will then produce and submit their plan to the DfE within the timescale required by the statutory notice, as now. The robustness of the action plan will be evaluated by HMI, if requested to do so by the DfE, as part of the statutory process.

What we plan to change

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children

2013 “Working together to safeguard children” 

All schools should be up-to-date with revision to Chapter 2 in terms of what arrangements need to be in place to promote the welfare of children and ensure they are protected from harm.

Chapter 2 paragraph 4 now makes explicit reference to all schools statutory responsibilities and duties as set out in 2002 Education Act Sec 175/ 157 and 2004 Children’s Act Sec 11 deleted 4 http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/statutory/g00213160/working-together-to-safeguard-children

Inspection

Moving to more education and social care integrated and aligned inspections of schools

Will help to focus the impact both parts of the service have on safeguarding and improving outcomes for children and young people.

Increased focus from inspectors on outcomes especially in relation to safeguarding.

Revision and review of current inspection frameworks to align with all services must be at least “good” 

Review of children’s home framework under way looking at changing grading structure to include “requires improvement”

What are the key factors in achieving a ‘good’ or better outcome in an inspection?

What does good leadership and management look like?

Discussion- ‘Getting to Good’

Are you interested in becoming one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors?

Please speak to one of our team today or email us at recruitment@ofsted.gov.uk to register your interest.

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