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