Safeguarding impacts your 'leadership and management' judgement
There's no separate graded judgement for safeguarding, but inspectors will judge whether safeguarding arrangements are 'effective'.
If safeguarding is ineffective, this will likely lead to an 'inadequate' judgement for 'leadership and management'.
However, if inspectors identify minor improvements (such as admin errors or out-of-date policies) that need to be made to strengthen the school's safeguarding practices but don't have an immediate impact on pupils' safety:
- Inspectors will give schools the chance to rectify these issues
- The school can still be judged effective for safeguarding, even where minor improvements can't be solved before the end of inspection
This is explained in paragraphs 383, 406 and 411 of the School Inspection Handbook (2023).
Read more about how Ofsted inspects 'leadership and management' here.
Your school should have a positive culture around safeguarding
Protect pupils from serious harm, both online and offline Are vigilant and maintain