Mock Inspection - are you ready for the real thing?
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
― Benjamin Franklin
We know you don’t want to think about it BUT: are you and your school inspection ready?
A TES survey of 4.5K teachers reported that 80% of teachers do not want school inspections to start for at least a year and a fifth would like them to stop them for good.
ISI is due to return in January and Ofsted is already back in schools. Ofsted are completing visits to check how well pupils are being supported back into education following the disruption caused by Covid-19, the worry is that these visits could turn into formal inspections where inspectors had significant concerns about safeguarding or school leadership.
With the anticipated return in January 21 being kept under review but two terms worth of inspections to make up, no one is quite clear on whether there will be a flurry of calls made in January – but never the less, Benjamin Franklin’s quote “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, seems like sound advice indeed.
The opportunity to run a health check on your all your compliance and especially the Single Central Register, an independent review of your policies, and a Safeguarding Audit now, could remove the worry if your school is among the first to receive a call in the new year.
One thing is for sure, Murphy's Law dictates that the call will come when you least need it to; so why wait?
1. Arrange a pre inspection health check by an independent person/team well before you are called upon to welcome a real inspection team. If performed well, this health check will help to focus on the areas that require improvement and will afford you the confidence to show off what you have done well.
2. Look forward to showcasing your school and ensure your team are positive about the opportunity to do so. Inspections are no longer the combative exercises that they were and the inspection team will want to find and highlight great practice. Generally, they have been largely supportive to schools for the last twenty years but the Whitehead legend persists and there are the odd difficult lead inspectors around. Use this opportunity to shout about your successes.
3. Make sure you have evidence that guarantees the inspectors experience a week of ‘show and tell’ from the school and not ‘hide and seek’ by the team. Evidence of compliance for NMS and ISSRs.
4. Prepare your staff and Governors to show themselves at their best; like an exam, there are techniques to make the process more enjoyable and to gain top results.
5. Help your Governors to manage the inspection interview so they know and can prove, that they undertake their responsibilities with aplomb.
6. Review your policies in line with any new teaching techniques to ensure you are still compliant. For example, does your pupil safeguarding policy take in to account remote learning? Do you have a safeguarding hotline for home-based pupils who may be self-isolating, and have your teaching staff be made aware of any school’s safeguarding arrangements resulting from recent changes?
At Headspace Academics, we can provide independent analysis and advice for Heads, staff, and Governors. We complete compliance Health Checks to help smooth the inspection process and minimise any concerns. Our consultants are trained inspectors and have many years of experience successfully supporting schools and preparing paperwork in the run up to, and though, inspections. Whether you are looking to check the quality of your compliance or educational excellence, we are on hand to help.
Headspace Academics; fresh thinking. Helping school leaders with solutions for their school’s long-term security.