11.15-12.00 Input from guest HT - top tips for section 8 inspection / experiences of Ofsted inspections

Part One - The Short Inspection

  • It has a very, very narrow focus - what the inspector highlights as the lines for enquiry will be what dominates your inspection. Strengths are taken for granted unless they see contradictory evidence during the inspection itself.
  • If an area is perceived to be a weakness then they will go through all your data for that area in minute detail.
  • Due to RaiseOnline being such a dominant tool for Ofsted it is quite likely that it will be the core areas that will be explored through lesson observations (especially if as in our case, Maths achievement was lower than that in Reading and Writing
  • The inspector has until about 2.30pm-3.00pm to secure your judgement of good and if insufficient evidence will turn the short inspection into a full inspection (this is not necessarily a bad thing - it can turn a good inspection into an outstanding one / reinforce evidence for your good judgement or instead be used to secure judgements toward Requires Improvement.
  • The short inspection is very time consuming for the Primary Head - leaders of subject areas will likely be quizzed in your absence. Each leader, the governors need to know the school story and be able to stand their ground without your assistance.

Part Two - Getting the Call

The Phone Call

  • Schools will be told 12pm day before the inspection at the earliest - Ofsted will use website to look at dates so if training day or there is an event taking place during the week the website is where they will find out.
  • You will be contacted by the admin team first and then a call will follow shortly by your inspector who will provide you with some headings as to where he will initially base his enquiries and investigations. There shouldn't be too many surprises here.

The Email and Portal

  • You will be sent an email/emails confirming your conversation and highlighting key documentsthe inspector wishes to see including: SEF, School Development Plan, Staff outline, Sports and Pupil Premium reports - this may be followed by an outline plan for the day which the inspector will negotiate with you. The inspector will want to see the governors at some point.
  • Included will be information about accessing and using the Ofsted Portal and links to download the pupil, staff questionnaires. There will be a letter to go out to parents and governors.

Top Tips

Advanced Preparation through a good School Website

  • The Website is where they look at the context of the school and expect to find statutory content such as Pupil Premium and Sports Premium information. Make sure it is up to date and you are happy with all the information being put up there. An Ofsted premise could be based on evidence showing up on your website so make sure it is right!

Advanced Preparation by setting up Ofsted Folders - one absolutely current, the other a working folder with all your supportive evidence/notes you may wish to refer to during the inspection itself

  • Have two folders set up on your computer - one of them containing the most up to date key documents for Ofsted the other with ongoing work/evidence. Impress the Ofsted Inspector by sending off the key information required as soon as possible. Show them that you are prepared and ready. Do not just email information to the inspector - put all your key documents, particularly those that make a strong case for the unique characteristics of your school on the Portal (This in my view is your key priority for the rest of the afternoon). Other duties need to be undertaken by a support team (Deputy, Senior Teacher, Admin Assistant, Governor...as you will have plenty more to do the rest of the evening and early hours of the morning...)
  • Have an Oftsed Plan of action for what you do when the Ofsted phone call happens and how you communicate key information: You need someone to inform other staff, children, governors, get letters for parents ready, questionnaires for pupils and staff. You may want to put a message on the website etc. who is going to do all these things?

Do not underestimate how busy this afternoon will be - you need a team behind you, you cannot do this on your own!!

Part Three - A few words about Achievement and Impact

  • Your Ofsted judgement will be greatly influenced by your achievement and the impact of your strategies to raise achievement across the school
  • RaiseOnline data is important - what does it show for your school? How are you addressing weak areas?
  • Remember that Raise Online is 'historical' and it also tells only the story of key moments in your school at end of Reception, end of KS, end of KS2. What is the picture currently and in the recent past now for all your classes? How are you monitoring and keeping on top of your school development priorities? Ofsted will want to see that you have a comprehensive breakdown of achievement right across the school, class by class for all vulnerable and gender groups.
  • In House data-attainment and termly tracking of progress/forecasting future outcomes is very important. We want to be telling our best story.
  • New data - The data Ofsted work on will be old data to us so current data very important for changing an argument or promoting a sustaining better picture
  • Groups - choose your vunerable/gender groups carefully to create the best picture for your school and summarise your data in data terms so it demonstrates the impact of your strategies. If you feel you are providing a wealth of data it is difficult and unreasonable for Ofsted to ask for even more.
  • Closing the gap - this is a key line of enquiry (if you are not closing the gap for certain groups then whhy not and what are you doing about it?

Top Tips

Move with the times-document names remain but what Ofsted expects to find in these documents has changed

  • Adapt your SEF to make it a 'Standards and Impact Report' (containing all the data and your summary of what the data shows)
  • School Improvement Plan - the focus for this should be your key aims for development based on the findings of the SEF (Standards and Impact Report) and the strategies you are putting in place to raise standards. Leave a section for notes of progress outlining the impact your strategies are having and the progress being made.
  • School Development Plan - ongoing monitoring, premises matters, subject action plans, current issues such as Prevent Duty etc...

Some key points to consider

  • All key stages will be looked at and you will be judged on your weakest area. Need to demonstrate that you are taking any weakness seriously.
  • In a short Inspection remember that the focus is very narrow and is over very quickly - the Portal is essential for cataloguing all your evidence, using the school systems you have developed. Putting it on the Portal will help when you are arguing the nitty gritty (and though there is a school of thought that Ofsted do not change their minds once they have outlined their statements in an Ofsted Report, you can win arguments if your school argument is overwhelmingly supported by documented evidence).
  • Currently this year Ofsted still seem to be happy to refer to national curriculum levels - acknowledging (and probably because a lot of new systems are very new to them) preferring to use levels as an accepted method of measuring assessment if your school is still insecure with their new assessment systems.
  • Whatever the assessment system remember that Ofsted are requiring a good school not to just meet expected levels of attainment and progress but to exceed it. Keep this in mind when you gather your results together.
  • Note a 'significant group' equates to 10% of a school or 10% of a class
  • An improving picture is useful to demonstrate if your results look sketchy. Good current data can outweigh historical data - but expect that data to be cross referenced by looking at a random selection of books/talking to pupils and to some extent looking at planning and evidence of differentiation).
  • Progress picture seems to outweighs attainment - so going from well below to below would be seen as improving!
  • Present your data in the most accessible way to paint your very best picture - make sure it is user friendly for staff and governors so a lay person could summarise what is good or needs developing in your school and how you are trying to rise standards.
  • Staff Appraisal is looked at closely and seems to be an underlining area that might affect a judgement so highlighting the training that has occurred during the year will create a good picture for leadership and management
  • Looking at progress from Year 3-6 progress and Eyfs to Year 2 is not just worth noting but essential. You must have this to hand
  • Have data to hand but keep the SEF succinct to make the SEF accessible
  • Make SEF about 10-12 pages - data for each year group and each vulnerable (Pupil Premium/FSM/EAL/SEND or gender group within that year group summarised and evaluated (your School Improvement Plan will be focused with the strategies for raising improvement and the impact being made - likely supplemented by termly reports).

This is a game so play the game - but make sure you know the rules of the game! Keep an up to date copy of your Ofsted Inspection Handbook to hand. Read and be very familiar with this handbook - it is your key text.

Top Tip: If you are not familiar with the handbook and you are awaiting an inspection then take a day off and read it / make notes so you can easily find information when you need it and allocate leadership time each term to update yourself on any amendments.

Part Four -Quality of Teaching

  • Monitoring of teaching is important - have lesson observations and learning walk evidence to hand so you show different ways in which you monitor and track progress in your school. Ofsted like to know that you keep popping in to class.
  • Make sure you refer to the Ofsted Handbook when judging lessons
  • Review Evidence - external evidence(consultancy evidence/LA evidence)is very helpful but it must be seen to be rigorous and challenging or it will be thrown out and not used by Ofsted.
  • Pupil Progress - quality of teaching needs to relate to pupil progress over time. Evidence in books needs to reflect school standards and clearly show progress and differentiation.
  • Marking Policy- Needs to be genuinely lived out in school and followed. (Marking Policy sets standard for Behaviour for Learning and School Standards).
  • Make sure teachers are conversant with the new curriculum and not teaching to the old curriculum - Extending learning and understanding concepts such as Mastery are a relevant line of enquiry in an inspection. Do you understand what Mastery is? Mastery pervades all abilities it is not just something that is tacked on to those able pupils who are exceeding in your class.
  • Work Scrutiny -this will be a very important part of the Ofsted process and needs to be a regular feature in staff meetings etc.

Top Tips when demonstrating the quality of teaching

  • Play the Game (but play by the rules)
  • Are your staff used to visitors?
  • Don't change any plans e.g. visits , revision sessions or try new techniques
  • Be up front from the start about areas of strengths or weakness of your teacher to show these things are being supported or tackled
  • Engage in joint lesson observations with Ofsted (it is a way of demonstrating your ability to monitor standards effectively - for example if you notice a weakness you can be on the ball nipping things in the bud or being over played by the inspector and you can contextualise why things are happening as they are)

Part Five - Behaviour and Safety

Have the following items ready to hand - briefly covered in short inspection but will take on greater significance if your inspection is extended:

Attendance

Persistent Absentees

Bullying log

Accident logs

Serious Incident/Close misses

Records of behaviour and incidents

Playground and dining hall behaviour and safety

What do Ofsted consider when judging good behaviour?

Good behaviour means children are interactive, engaged, enjoying, involved - not passive

Impact on Progress - Evidenced through pupils work in class and in books (pride in books and labelling/no graffiti

Conduct - in and around classes and school

Consistency of behaviour is important (are there any adults who the children do not behave for?)

Pupils pride in their appearance

Pupils pride in their work

Demonstrating pupils' behaviour and safety

Check inspectors badges!!

Gates closed and doors closed

Make sure admin ready with up to date Central Record, bullying logs, attendance records, accident logs, behaviour logs and make sure these are centralised

Attendance - holidays, persistent absentees(can you evidence that holiday requests have been refused and not just accpeted?Do you have consistency of approach? How do you evidence this?)

Evidence of pupils' pride in school, appearance and work

Leadership and Management (Organise the following under one central place and ask admin to compile for you)

Appraisal - anonymous (Evidence of pay being a factor in appraisal)

Governor minutes

Policies

SCR

Pupil Premium

PE Funding

SMSC

Timetables

Self evaluation needs to be succinct and objective

Review Process - systematic, thorough, supportive, objective,

informative

Data - what you understand and how do you respond?

Monitoring of teaching

Well judged priorities - you can't do everything at once, so if you have reasons for your priorities then this adds a lot of weight

Governance - choose wisely who meets Ofsted as they will have an intensive half hour to hour meeting without the head and need to know the key issues of the school(governor could be interviewed over the telephone)

Make your SEF,SIP, SDP succinct and understandable to the lay man - you may want to add a summary sheet that has the key story (this could be a section taken out from the SEF itself - kill two birds with one stone).

LA involvement - keep reports to hand but do not rely on these - independent scrutiny from an independent expert will be useful if it is suitably robust and challenging.

Leadership strongly linked to achievement and progress over time

Succinct=clarity

Data - too little analysis vs too much

Objectivity- be prepared to identify weaknesses as well as strengths but if identifying a weak areas or area for development ensure you have a plan of action that shows how you are addressing the issue.

Informed and measurable planning for future (priorities)should be incorporated if your current data/cohorts are looking suspect

EVIDENCE OF IMPACT MUST BE CLEAR AND MUST BE CHILD AND STANDARDS FOCUSED - WHICH MEANS BACKED UP BY DATA WHERE POSSIBLE (remember PIVATs and formalised quick to do mini assessments such as group reading tests often provide quick feedback to show progress within the year).

Top Tips for Leadership and Management

Get a good website - make sure it is compliant, easy to follow and does your school credit (it is a worthy investment)

Send your SEF and other key documents immediately and have room prepared for Ofsted with evidence readily available to make the inspection easier for the inspection team

Focus on capacity as well as impact- in SEF and within two days

Suggest a tour to start and use that to highlight your context(have a tour with Ofsted reminding them that it is about the children)

Have all the documents they will need in the base

Fight your case!

Ensure you feel you have a clear picture of where it's going at the end day 1 and what the team need for day 2 (we should have a steer from an Ofsted as to where they feel the school is going and whether they agree with the SEF or not and school should be better able to direct the next days inspection on day 2)

Self Evaluation

Context

Achievement

Quality of Teaching

Behaviour and Safety

Leadership and Management

EYFS

Overall effectiveness

Writing the SEF - A few things to consider...

Make it primarily a standards and impact report