Ofsted plans to reinspect all ‘Outstanding’ schools by 2025
Plans announced by the Department for Education will see Ofsted inspecting all ‘Outstanding’ schools in the next five years. This would end the exemption introduced in 2012 which has meant that Outstanding schools would not be inspected unless there was specific cause. The exemption has resulted in some schools not being inspected for over a decade. The North East has the highest proportion of these schools with around 72 not being inspected in over 10 years.
The North East also has one of the highest proportions of ‘Outstanding’ schools overall, with approximately 234 schools which will potentially be affected by the proposals.
Schools North East supports all schools pre and post inspection through Ofsted Chat on our online community ConnectEd. If you are in a school and would like to join, register your interest.
The plans are subject to Parliamentary approval but are likely to be in place from this September. While the plans have generally been welcomed as a way to maintain standards and drive improvement, the NAHT has expressed concern that ‘Outstanding’ schools will face full section 5 inspections.
The proposals are under consultation which closes at 5pm on 24 February 2020.