The leaflet gives information on why, how long and when Ofsted inspects, and also how parents and carers can share their views.
It applies to:
Review your childs school on Ofsted Parent View.
This guidance for parents has been updated to align with changes made to the school inspection handbook and monitoring inspection handbook on 16 September 2024.Changes include that, from September 2024, graded inspections of state-funded schools will not include an overall effectiveness grade. Other updates have been made regarding ungraded inspections and notification periods. In addition, updates have also been made to how schools are placed in a category of concern and to our monitoring processes for schools falling below Ofsteds monitoring threshold.
Updated information on how to complain about a school and clarified who inspectors will talk to during an inspection.
Minor updates to reflect the names of inspection types (graded and ungraded).
Updated to clarify inspection intervals.
Updated to reflect changes to inspection intervals following the pandemic.
Updated details of how we will inspect schools that were judged to be outstanding at their last inspection and added a short section about inspection and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Updated to reflect the education inspection framework (EIF).
Updated to include privacy information under GDPR and to reflect inspection timescales: schools judged as requires improvement, having serious weaknesses or requiring special measures are re-inspected within 30 months while good schools are inspected approximately every 4 years.
Updated to reflect Ofsted's revised policy on short inspections and monitoring schools that require improvement.
Minor update on schools causing concern to reflect changes in legislation.
Updated for use from September 2015.
The termly update to the main features of Ofsted's school inspections.
First published.