300 schools wait over a decade for Ofsted inspection
A National Audit Office report has shown that almost 300 schools in England, all of which are rated as “Outstanding” by Ofsted, have not been inspected for a decade or more.
There are 265 “Outstanding” schools in the North East, according to the latest inspection outcomes data. SCHOOLS NorthEast analysis shows that 61, or 23%, of these schools, have not been inspected since 2008. No school rated less than outstanding has waited as long. Just 3 of the 61 are secondary schools.
A policy introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government in 2011 exempts schools graded outstanding from routine inspection, provided data shows they are “maintaining performance”.
Instead, the Inspectorate’s “risk assessment” approach monitors outstanding schools for factors such as academic performance and pupil attendance. However, critics suggest this cannot give the full picture of the school as it ignores issues such as safeguarding.
Ofsted has said there are “no plans at the moment to change” the exemption. Because the Government wrote the exemption from inspection for outstanding schools into law it could only be overturned by Parliament, not by Ofsted.