Ofsted: latest updates

20 January 2022: Ofsted aims to have a full team of inspectors again from 31 January

• School leaders who are also inspectors were temporarily relieved of their inspecting duties from the start of January, to focus on the return to school after the Christmas break 
• From 31 January, Ofsted will have its full team of inspectors to call on again
• If you're a school leader, you'll still get to decide whether to offer your service to Ofsted, as has always been the case
• Additionally, Ofsted's deferral policy remains in place (see the update below for more detail)
• You should have received an email about this. If not, read more in this Schools Week article

4 January 2022: Ofsted encourages "significantly impacted" schools to request deferrals

• If your school is significantly impacted by COVID-related staff absence, you can ask to defer your inspection. Read more about Ofsted's clarification on deferrals in our 2 December 2021 update below
• Additionally, if you're a school leader who is also an Ofsted inspector, Ofsted won't ask you to carry out inspections for a temporary period from the start of January
• You should have received an email from the DfE about this

9 December 2021: inspections cancelled next week

• Inspections have been cancelled by Ofsted for the week beginning 13th December, so schools can focus on putting in place Omicron contingency measures for January. You'll only be inspected if Ofsted has safeguarding concerns about your school
• Secondary schools also won't be inspected during the first week of term in January to allow onsite pupil testing to take place, unless there are serious concerns
• You should have received an email about this. If not, read more in this Schools Week article

2 December 2021: clarification on deferrals during COVID-19

Ofsted has clarified its guidance on deferrals to state that:

• It's mindful that the challenges and impact of COVID-19 will vary considerably from school to school
• It recognises that there will be circumstances when it's not the right time for an inspection to go ahead
• If schools have any concerns about the timing of their inspection or visit, they should request a deferral
• It judges every request on its own merits, according to the individual, exceptional circumstances relating to COVID-19
• If you request a deferral, even if it's refused, this won't impact on how Ofsted views your school on inspection

24 November 2021: consultation on Ofsted's role in quality assurance of online education providers

• Ofsted has launched a consultation seeking views on how it should quality assure full-time online education providers (private organisations and companies that offer online teaching for pupils unable to attend school, or pupils whose parents have privately arranged for it)
• The consultation will run until 11.45pm on 26 January 2022, and will inform Ofsted's plans and draft handbook before the accreditation scheme launches in 2022
• Questions are about:
• Suitability checks, and for which providers
• Assessing the quality of leadership in online providers
• Assessing methods of delivering online education
• Assessing cyber security arrangements in online providers
• Read more about the accreditation scheme for online education providers and Ofsted's discussion around the need for it

17 November 2021: Ofsted to inspect all schools by summer 2025

• Previously, it would have taken Ofsted until 1 August 2026 to complete all school and college inspections
• Beginning with last term’s inspections, all schools and colleges will now receive at least 1 inspection by summer 2025
• The acceleration of inspections won’t start until September 2022, as Ofsted has "pretty much fixed" its inspection schedule for this year, Ofsted's chief inspector Amanda Spielman confirmed
• Schools will continue to receive either graded or ungraded inspections depending on your circumstances, as you do now
• Read more here. We're currently updating our article on the frequency of Ofsted inspections – click 'save for later' at the top of that article to be alerted when we do

22 September 2021: Ofsted will review tutoring and teachers’ professional development

The independent reviews will:

• Focus on 2 key catch-up reforms: tutoring and teachers' professional development
• Investigate how the reforms are helping with education recovery following disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic

Tutoring in schools, and 16 to 19 providers

Ofsted will look at:

• How schools identify the need for tutoring
• The suitability of tutors
• How tutoring aligns with the intended curriculum
• The implementation and impact of tutoring
• How tutoring affects the school

It will do this through:

• Visiting a sample of schools to carry out interviews, focus groups and observations of tutoring
• Interviews with leadership and management teams of some National Tutoring Programme (NTP) tuition partners
• Pupil and parent surveys 

Ofsted will publish the findings in summer 2022 and summer 2023.

Teachers' professional development

Ofsted will look at:

• What training and professional development teachers and leaders are receiving
• How professional development is managed
• Teachers' and leaders' awareness of professional development
• The quality and impact of professional development

It will do this through:

• Large-scale questionnaires in autumn 2021 and 2022
• Research visits to schools in spring term 2022 and 2023
• A small-scale teacher cohort study throughout the duration of the review
• Data from early career framework (ECF) / national professional qualification (NPQ) monitoring inspections, beginning summer term 2022

Ofsted will publish the findings in early 2023 and early 2024.

10 June 2021: Ofsted publishes review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges

Ofsted's findings (taken from visits to 32 schools and colleges, and conversations with over 900 pupils) include:

• For some children, incidents of sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are so common they see no point in reporting them
• 92% of girls and 74% of boys reported that they or their peers experience sexist name-calling
• Sexual violence typically occurs in unsupervised spaces outside of school, though some girls also experience unwanted touching in school corridors
• Children and young people (especially girls) don't want to talk about sexual abuse, even when their school encourages them to
• Pupils are rarely positive about the RSE they receive

The report includes recommendations for schools, multi-agency safeguarding partners, and the government.

Ofsted says it will:

• Update inspection handbooks for further education providers to include the same references to peer-on-peer sexual abuse as the current School Inspection Handbook
• Provide further training for inspectors on inspecting safeguarding in education settings
• Ask further education providers to supply records and analysis of sexual harassment and violence (this already happens in schools)
• Hold discussions with single-sex groups of pupils, where this helps understand the approach to tackling sexual harassment and violence in a school or college

19 Apr 2021: updated inspection handbooks and guidance

Click the sections below for more detail on the updates to Ofsted's handbooks:

Updated Ofsted guidance

Ofsted has also updated its guidance on routine Ofsted inspections in autumn 2021 for maintained schools and academies to reflect changes made, including:

• The removal of the 'outstanding' exemption
• Taking into account the pandemic and the disruption it has caused to schools
• New timescales: Ofsted will send the draft report to schools within 18 working days of the end of the inspection (previously it was 10 working days); as before, you'll still have 5 working days to comment on the draft; Ofsted will then send the final report within 30 working days of the end of the inspection (previously it was 25 working days)

Ofsted has also updated its guidance on new schools and schools that undergo significant changes to reflect:

• The removal of the 'outstanding' exemption 
• That due to disruptions caused by the pandemic, most schools will receive an inspection about a year and a term after it would have otherwise taken place

29 Mar 2021: on-site monitoring inspections in the summer term

Ofsted has confirmed it will continue with non-graded inspections in the summer term, and they'll be carried out in person from 4 May.

Ofsted will inspect:

• 'Inadequate' schools, and schools that were judged 'requires improvement' in their last 2 consecutive inspections
• 'Good’ schools that haven't had an inspection within the statutory 5-year window due to the coronavirus pandemic
• Some ‘outstanding’ schools that request an inspection, prioritising those that have gone the longest without one

As before, these inspections will focus on how well schools are educating pupils and keeping them safe.

However, inspectors will be able to convert to a full, graded inspection either immediately or later in the term where there's evidence of:

• A clear improvement from a current 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement' grade
• Serious concerns, particularly in relation to safeguarding

For secondary schools, Ofsted will: 

• Not carry out inspections during the first half of the summer term, to allow you to focus on teacher-assessed grades - this applies unless significant concerns are raised

In early years settings, Ofsted will:

• Begin graded inspections of some registered early years providers from 4 May
• Continue with urgent inspections where there are significant concerns

For non-association independent schools, Ofsted will:

• Continue with additional inspections, as commissioned by the DfE
• Resume standard inspections of some schools from 4 May

Updated inspection handbooks for the summer term

Ofsted is currently running a pilot to make sure inspections over the summer term are sensitive to the challenges of the pandemic. It'll update its inspection handbooks after the Easter break to reflect any changes made.

Full graded inspections will resume in September 2021

Following on from the chief inspector's announcement (see below), the Education Secretary has confirmed plans for Ofsted to return to its normal programme of inspections in September 2021. 

17 Mar 2021: no routine, graded inspections until autumn

Chief inspector Amanda Spielman announced that Ofsted won't be resuming its normal inspection programme this academic year (it was previously planned to resume in the summer term).

24 Feb 2021: monitoring inspections to continue remotely for the rest of the spring term

Ofsted will continue to carry out visits to 'inadequate' and 'requires improvement' schools remotely for the rest of the spring term (previously this was until 8 March at the earliest, as per our 2 February update below), unless it has immediate concerns - for example, about safeguarding or leadership. 

Early years assurance inspections are paused for the rest of this term (previously they were supposed to restart from 8 March at the earliest), but Ofsted will keep this under review. It will still continue with regulatory work.

15 Feb 2021: remote monitoring inspections after half term will last 1 day, not 2

Ofsted has confirmed that after half term, remote visits for 'inadequate' and 'requires improvement' schools will normally last 1 day (before half term it was 2 days). They'll still involve 2 inspectors like before.

2 Feb 2021: remote inspections to continue until 8 March at the earliest

Ofsted has said it'll carry out all planned inspection work remotely until 8 March at the earliest (previously this was 'until after February half term').

Early years assurance visits are now paused until 8 March at the earliest.

27 Jan 2021: pupil motivation for remote learning is a 'significant concern', Ofsted study finds

Ofsted has published a report on remote learning, which has found that parents and school leaders are significantly concerned about pupils' motivation and engagement. The report also highlights areas of development for leaders to focus on in the spring term, like feedback and assessment.

Read the full study here.

21 Jan 2021: remote monitoring inspections will focus on your education offer during coronavirus, but not school improvement 

Ofsted has updated its guidance on how it will carry out remote monitoring inspections of 'inadequate' and 'requires improvement' schools this half term. The remote visits will focus on your provision of education in the current circumstances - they'll no longer focus on school improvement as previously planned. 

You'll get up to 48 hours’ notice of an inspection, and may ask for a deferral.

13 Jan 2021: Ofsted announces remote monitoring inspections

Ofsted has announced that it'll carry out remote monitoring inspections of 'inadequate' and 'requires improvement' schools this half term, instead of conducting these visits in person as previously planned. The non-graded remote visits will:

• Begin on 25 January (they were previously meant to resume on 18 January)
• Not cover the full scope of a monitoring inspection - see the 21 January announcement above for more detail 

Ofsted will continue on-site inspections if it has significant concerns, such as about safeguarding or a failure to provide education to children. 

Early years assurance visits will be paused until 8 March at the earliest (they were previously meant to resume after the February half term) so that they can be carried out in person.

11 Jan 2021: Ofsted announces return of non-graded monitoring inspections, and publishes remote learning best practice guidance 

Non-graded monitoring inspections will resume for 'inadequate' and some 'requires improvement' schools, Ofsted has said. These will focus on how well schools are delivering remote education.

Inspectors will also consider any complaints from parents about remote education, though parents are encouraged to raise concerns with the school first.

Ofsted publishes remote learning best practice guidance

Using findings from its interim visits and research, Ofsted has published a short guide to remote education during the pandemic. It includes tips on what works well, and addresses common myths around remote learning.

Oct 2020: Ofsted to remove the 'outstanding' exemption

Ofsted announced it will restart inspections on 'outstanding' schools, following a consultation earlier this year on removing the 'outstanding' exemption. 

This will come into force after legislation is passed, and means that:

• Inspections on 'outstanding' schools will begin when regular inspections restart
• All formerly exempt schools will get an initial section 5 or section 8 inspection within 6 years (Ofsted will prioritise schools that have gone the longest since their last inspection, starting with those that haven't been inspected for a decade or longer)
• Schools that were last inspected before September 2015 will get an initial section 5 inspection
• Schools that were last inspected after September 2015 will likely get a section 8 inspection

See further details of the consultation outcome here.

Jul 2020: Ofsted will carry out 'visits, not inspections'

Ofsted announced its plans to carry out 'non-judgmental' visits in the autumn term to understand how you're welcoming children back into school. 

It will visit all 'inadequate' schools and a sample of schools across the other Ofsted grades. 

Routine inspections are still suspended until January 2021 (at the earliest).