All state-maintained schools in England are inspected by Ofsted. This includes local authority-run schools, academies and free schools, as well as non-maintained special schools, pupil referral units and further education/sixth form colleges. Ofsted also inspects some independent schools.
School inspection is currently set out in legislation through the Education Act 2005. In this act, the regular two-day inspection is described as a Section 5 inspection and ‘other inspection’ is described as a Section 8 inspection (in England). This includes the new ‘short inspection’ of schools graded ‘Good’.
Schools that are rated Requires Improvement usually have a full re-inspection within 30 months.
Schools rated Inadequate have more regular monitoring, alongside support to improve their rating.
Ofsted inspectors look at four main areas:
- Quality of education
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Personal development of pupils
- Leadership
Schools receive a judgement for each of the four inspection areas, and an overall judgement. There are four numerical grades:
- 1: Outstanding
- 2: Good
- 3: Requires Improvement
- 4: Inadequate
Ofsted report
Note: the link below takes you to the highlights of our most recent Ofsted report:
Ofsted takes into account the views of parents and carers, giving parents the chance to tell Ofsted what they think of their child’s school, responding to the questions asked.
The questionnaire can be completed at any time – you don’t have to wait until the school is being inspected.
Idsall School was last inspected in September 2022. It will be subject to termly monitoring visits from an HM Inspector to check progress and will be working with a partner trust to ensure progress towards the areas the school needs to improve on is made quickly.
The school’s most recent Ofsted report, along with previous reports, can be found below.
Parent presentation
Please click here for the presentation made to parents on Wednesday, 30th November 2022.