Focus areas replace deep dives in ungraded inspections
These are specific points or topics that inspectors will pay extra attention to during the inspection. Most inspections will include 3 or 4 focus areas.
The focus areas will depend on what the lead inspector thinks needs the most scrutiny. They'll use their 'top level' view from pre-inspection preparation and their conversation with you in the planning phone call on the day before the inspection to decide on focus areas based on the school's context and leaders' priorities.
Focus areas can be in any of the following:
- Leadership and management
- Quality of education (see below for details)
- Behaviour
- Attendance
- Pupils’ personal development
But the focus areas will usually be more narrow. For example, if inspectors want to look at behaviour, they might specifically focus on leaders' work to reduce classroom disruption or bullying.
Inspectors will usually group subjects together