It has been announced that Ofsted will go ahead with reform of the short inspections system following a recent consultation. Since 2015, schools previously judged ‘good’ have received short one day inspections that do not result in a full set of judgements but are converted to a full inspection if inspectors do not find sufficient evidence that a school remains ‘good’.
From January 2018, there will be four possible outcomes from a short inspection:
- if inspectors are confident that the school remains ‘good’, the school will receive a letter confirming this; another short inspection will take place in approximately 2- 3 years (in line with the existing system);
- if there are “serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education”, the school will receive a full inspection within 48 hours;
- if inspectors suspect that there has been a decline and the school is no longer ‘good’, the school will receive a letter setting out the findings and a full inspection will take place “typically within one to two years but no later than five years since the previous full section 5 inspection”;
- if inspectors believe that there has been an improvement towards ‘outstanding’, the school will receive a letter setting out the findings and a full inspection within two years.
Read Ofsted’s full report on the consultation outcome (external link)