Schools in Portsmouth and Hampshire: What is Ofsted? What do they do? How often is a school inspected?
Ofsted has been in the headlines recently following the sudden death of Ruth Perry who took her own life following the outcome of a school inspection.
The body inspects education settings from early year settings, primary schools and secondary schools to childminders and nurseries. They inspect thousands of settings across the country and there are approximately 1,800 employees across the UK and they also contract over 2,000 Ofsted inspectors to carry out checks.
Ofsted is in charge of inspecting education settings, regulating learning environments to ensure that they are suitable for children and they are also responsible for publishing reports of their findings to improve the quality of education.
When a school is inspected by Oftsed they will receive a rating based on their performance which will inform them on the work they need to do to either improve or maintain the education they deliver.
Ratings include inadequate, requires improvement, good and outstanding. If a school receives an inadequate or requires improvement rating, it means that there are areas that need serious measures introduced to get them back on track and they will be monitored by the body closely.
If a school receives a good or outstanding rating, they will be inspected approximately once every four years unless there is reason to believe that an inspection is needed sooner.
Inspection reports are published on the Ofsted website to ensure transparency and each report outlines what a school is doing well and what improvements, if any, need to be made.