• Find a school inspection report
• Understanding a school inspection report
• Types of school Ofsted inspects
• Inspecting schools
  • Inspecting maintained schools
  • Inspecting independent schools
  • Inspecting boarding and residential provision in schools
• About our survey reports
• How to complain

Inspecting independent schools

This page tells you what happens before, during and after an independent school’s inspection.

Ofsted inspects independent schools which are not members of associations. We do this at the request of the Department for Education, which is the registering authority for all independent schools.

We normally carry out inspections of educational provision in non-association independent schools every three years. In the case of independent boarding schools, the education inspection will normally be conducted at the same time as an inspection of its boarding provision in an ‘integrated inspection’. Independent residential special schools also usually receive an integrated inspection every three years. In addition to this, we inspect their residential provision on an annual basis. For further information go to the Inspecting boarding and residential special schools page.

Before an independent school inspection

The lead inspector tells your headteacher that your children’s school will be inspected up to two days before the Ofsted team arrives.

Following this, the lead inspector will contact the headteacher to begin to plan the inspection. The school is asked to provide the inspectors with some information that they keep, for example an evaluation of their provision, before the inspection begins.

The inspection usually lasts two days and so during that time your children will see people that you don’t know in the school.

As a parent or carer you will receive a letter and a confidential questionnaire you should complete. Only Ofsted will read what you write on the questionnaire. It is available in English and many community languages. Schools are asked to send these promptly by email in order that parents and carers can return their completed questionnaires to the inspectors for the start of the inspection.

It may be possible to speak to an inspector during the inspection, for instance at the start or end of the school day.

We also ask schools to distribute a questionnaire to their staff and pupils before the inspection, so that inspectors can find out their views about the school.

The inspectors will use the responses to the questionnaires, and the information provided by the school, to plan and carry out the inspection.

During an independent school inspection

To find out about the school, the inspector will:

• watch lessons to see how teachers are teaching and what pupils are learning
• look at the school’s paperwork and pupils’ results for tests and exams 
• talk to staff and pupils 
• review what parents and carers have said, and others such as local authorities that have placed pupils at the school
• if the school provides boarding or residential facilities an inspector will come to check how well the pupils are cared for.

Regular feedback will be given to the headteachers and other staff during the inspection. At the end of the inspection, the inspection team will hold a meeting with the headteacher, proprietor and senior staff to inform them of the inspection findings and judgements.

After an independent school inspection

The lead inspector writes a report using what inspectors have found out about the school.

The report will tell people all about the school. The inspector makes a judgement about how good an aspect of the school’s work is and these judgements are in the report.

The school will receive a draft copy of the report in order to check its factual accuracy. Following this, a final version will be sent to the school, and the school is asked to send a copy to all parents and carers.

We publish the report on our website in most cases within four working weeks of the inspection finishing.