Schools: For Schools

After an independent school inspection

The lead inspector must make sure that the school understands:

  • the judgements made
  • that the judgements made may be subject to change following feedback
  • that the main points provided during the feedback will be included in the inspection report
  • the recommendations for improvement
  • the procedures for the publication of the report
  • how to complain about the inspection
  •  where relevant, how the outcome of an inspection may result in the Department for Education requiring the school to submit an action plan to tackle regulatory failings within a specified period of time.

The lead inspector explains the inspection’s conclusions to the senior leadership team and/or the proprietor.

The lead inspector will explain any aspects that have been judged inadequate, or where the judgement is different from what the school might have expected.

The lead inspector writes the inspection report and sends the final draft of the report to the headteacher for comment. However, judgements cannot be changed unless any factual errors or missing information have a significant bearing on them.

The final report begins with a description of the school. It then goes through the inspections’ findings, which are divided into sections; for example, ‘Evaluation of the school’.

A section may also include information on any regulations the school does not meet and will explain how the inspection team came to these conclusions. Where schools meet most or all of the regulations, we suggest what the school could do to improve further.

The lead inspector sends the school its report 12 working days after the end of the inspection. At the same time, the school will be invited to fill in our post-inspection survey.

The school has to send a copy of the report to parents and carers and to local authorities which fund places for pupils who have statements of special educational need or who are in public care.

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

The school has to make a copy of the report available upon request to members of the public.

Where a school has failed to meet some regulations in its education or welfare inspection, we report this to the Department for Education (DfE). The DfE will then ask the school to produce an action plan. The DfE will ask us to carry out a progress monitoring inspection to monitor the implementation of this action plan. The DfE has the power to close a school if it deems this is necessary because improvements are not made.

Sometimes the DfE asks us to carry out additional inspections within an inspection cycle because:

  • the school is proposing a change of owner, address, age range, number or gender of boarders, wishes to open boarding or residential provision or pupils with special educational needs have joined the school
  • we have to investigate a specific matter or concerns about the school at short notice or with no notice
  • the school is new and we have to make sure it meets the requirements for registration before it opens.

Further information

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