Preparing for Ofsted Inspection – A Useful Checklist

Note: Every inspection is unique – use this as a quick-reference tool.

General: Keep your school website/policies updated (Inspectors will review this before they notify you):

Maintained schools: statutory website information
Academies/free schools: statutory website information
Are statutory policies up to date?

Notification of an inspection:

Schools can be inspected from 5 school days after the first day that pupils attend in the Autumn Term. The lead inspector usually notifies the school by telephone between 9.30 and 10 am on a Monday. For any previously deferred inspection or a monitoring inspection, the lead inspector may notify the school on any day of the working week. Once schools have been notified of an inspection, they will be emailed a letter to confirm the conversation between the lead inspector and school leaders. If a school needs to ask for a deferral, it should do so as soon as possible after it is notified of the inspection, or, in unannounced inspections, after the inspector’s arrival. If the leader of the school thinks an inspection should stop once it has started, Ofsted will consider the request under their pausing policy.

Notification Call:

Schools will be asked to confirm contact information, including:

The headteacher’s full name and title
The general school email and phone number
The headteacher’s direct email and phone number
The school’s postal address
Contact information for those responsible for governance, including
The interim executive board (IEB), if one is in place
In an academy, the name and contact details for the CEO and chair of the trust board
In a maintained school, the name and contact details of the chair of governors
In a federation, the name of the federation, the names of those involved in decision-making and oversight of the school, and whether any of these are located at a different site
In an academy, the trust scheme of delegation and who is involved in decision-making and oversight of the school

Schools will also be asked for further information about the school, including:

The school’s designated religious character (where applicable)
The number of pupils on roll (and where applicable, the number of pupils in post-16 provision), and their sex and age range
Whether there is any specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND or other pupils, or any other alternative or designated units for pupils
Whether any pupils attend off-site AP
Whether any pupils attend a pupil support unit under the school’s URN
Whether the school has any pupils on roll whose places have been commissioned by an LA
Whether the school directly leads and manages any nursery provision, before- and/or after-school care or holiday clubs
Whether the school operates from more than one site, for example whether it offers early years or post-16 provision on separate premises
What early career framework the school is using for early career teachers (ECTs), if any
Any reason the inspection should not take place (for example, if the school is within 6 months of confirmed closure and this can be evidenced in a funding agreement)
Details of (and response to) any recent tensions in, or pressures from, the community
The start and end date for the next school holiday
Any other dates the school will be closed in the next 2 months (eg. religious festival)
Details (not personal information) of who lives on the school premises

Information the school considers relevant to its current context, including:

Any concerns, such as perceived conflicts of interest
Details of the nominee (where applicable)
Whether anyone who will be joining the planning call requires any reasonable adjustments due to a disability or protected characteristic.

Planning Call: Information the lead inspector will ask for

If there are any pupils with SEND: the number of pupils, their needs, any language and/or communication systems used (for example, BSL), and the staffing support they receive
If any pupils are in off-site AP: information about the AP’s name, address, registration status, URN, number of pupils that attend and reasons, start dates, and the hours they attend
If any pupils are in any pupil support unit under the school’s URN: information about its purpose, size, location, number of pupils, whether it provides for pupils from other schools or pupils whose place is commissioned by an LA, and the timetables of those attending
If the school is an academy: information about any pupils who have been transferred to one of the trust’s other academies acting as an AP and who may now be on roll there
Information about the number of pupils on part-time timetables, flexi-schooled, educated remotely & any elective home-education arrangements for pupils registered at the school
Information about any nursery provision, before- and/or after-school care, or holiday clubs led and managed directly by the school, including:
Whether this provision takes children aged 2 to 8
Whether any pupils from the school attend this provision

Contextual information, leaders’ successes and leadership priorities:

As part of the planning call, inspectors need to develop an accurate understanding of your school’s context, including the demographics of the pupils and their needs. This will help them to reflect on the impact of leaders’ actions on pupils (particularly disadvantaged pupils, those with SEND, those who are known (or were previously known) to children’s social care, and those who face other barriers to their learning and/or well-being).

In the call, you will discuss the school’s context, including any changes since the previous inspection
You will also discuss any recent and ongoing priorities and challenges, the actions you have taken to maintain or improve standards, and how you have assessed the impact of these actions
You will also discuss your evaluation of the school’s strengths and successes, priorities for improvement, including where you believe the school currently sits in terms of the 5-point grading scale for each evaluation area

Leaders’ approach to inclusion.

You will be asked about:

Your approach to ensuring that staff are able to identify: disadvantaged pupils, those with SEND, those known (or previously known) to social care, and those who face other barriers to their learning and/or well-being, for example, young carers
How the school supports these pupils
The impact of the support given to pupils, and if and how that impact is monitored and reviewed
Steps the school has taken to meet the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils
The school’s timetable, how the curriculum is organised, and how leaders work with external professionals to meet children’s and pupils’ needs.
Where applicable, the school’s resourced provision or special educational needs (SEN) unit, delegated to it by the local authority
Whether the school is currently making any use of Alternative Provision (AP)

Planning the timetable for the first day
The inspector will ensure that you understand the plan and know what practical arrangements you need to make to support it. The inspector will plan and share what inspection activities are needed to carry out to gather the necessary evidence to:

Celebrate what you, as leaders, have identified as strengths
Validate the priorities that you, as leaders, have identified for improvement, and whether you have an effective plan to bring about the desired impact
Highlight where there is more to do to ensure that all pupils achieve, belong and thrive

Other points that will be discussed on the call:

Nominee: If you have chosen to have a nominee, the call with the inspector will discuss how the nominee will support the inspection, including facilitating logistics, gathering contextual information, and coordinating inspection activities and access to evidence.

NB: The nominee can accompany the lead inspector throughout each day of the inspection, except when their presence could limit evidence-gathering or discourage open communication.

Write-up time: The inspector will make it clear to school leaders during this call that the inspection team will require short amounts of time between inspection activities to write up their evaluations.

Reflection meetings: an overview - the inspector will inform you of the overview of reflection meetings that will take place, and you will agree who attends:

Day 1: An ongoing reflection meeting around lunchtime on day 1, an end-of-day reflection meeting at the end of day 1,
Day 2: An ongoing reflection meeting at the start of day 2, an ongoing reflection meeting around lunchtime on day 2, a grading meeting at the end of day 2
Also, ongoing reflective conversations with leaders, through learning walks and other joint activity

Documents schools must provide

Schools must make the following information available to inspectors by 8 am on the first day of the inspection:

Strategic Documentation:

Anything that sets out school improvement priorities or the longer-term vision for the school, such as the school, federation or trust strategy
For maintained schools, minutes from the meetings of the governing body and other relevant strategic documents about governance
For academies, minutes of the board of trustees’ meetings and other strategic documents about the trust
Reports from any external evaluation of the school

Behaviour and attendance records/analysis, including:

An up-to-date analysis of the attendance of all groups of pupils
Any pupils taken off roll, including the reasons why
Suspensions/permanent exclusions, incidents of poor behaviour and any internal isolation
Information about the school’s use of AP
Information about any pupils directed off-site and/or pupils on managed moves
Any bullying, harassment, or directly or indirectly discriminatory or prejudiced behaviour, including that which is racist, sexist, ableist or, homophobic, biphobic or transphobic, or any use of derogatory language
Any sexual harassment and/or sexual violence
Any restrictive physical intervention
Inclusion information for case sampling, including: a list of disadvantaged pupils, those with SEND, those known (or previously known) to children’s social care and those who face other barriers to their learning and/or well-being, for example, young carers

Operational Documentation:

Wi-Fi details, if the school has it, so that inspectors can connect to the internet
Map of the school buildings and other practical information
The school timetable
The current staff list (indicating ECTs, mentors and induction tutors)
Details of any staff absence
Times for the school day, including any planned interruptions to normal school routines during the inspection, and whether any lesson(s) or teacher(s) should not be visited for any reason (for example, if a teacher is subject to capability procedures)

Safeguarding information (with secure access), including:

The single central record
A list of any referrals made to the designated safeguarding lead in the school and any that were subsequently referred to the local authority, along with brief details of the resolution (a very short summary of how the school dealt with the matter and assurance that pupils have received the appropriate help)
Any safeguarding allegations, concerns or referrals made to the local authority designated officer regarding staff or other adults
A list of all pupils who have open cases with children’s services or social care, and all pupils who have a multi-agency plan

Statutory Policies*

Whilst these statutory policies are not listed in Ofsted’s 'Documents Schools Must Provide', they could still be asked for during an inspection (Tip: ensure these are up to date and easy to access)

Overall - Top Tips

Documents organised digitally, clearly labelled
Evidence concise & up to date
Key staff know where documents are stored
Records are authentic & accurate

Want to know more? You can access the latest school inspection toolkit, operating guide and information here.

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