I think the issue that most schools have currently is that what they would like to present to the inspector is a picture of calmness and orderliness with everything in exactly the right place and absolutely no mess anywhere, and all filing perfectly up to date etc etc. In reality, with the staffing issues and funding cuts that most schools are operating under eg not replacing TAs etc, keeping everything 100% perfect all of the time just isn't possible. Our attention goes fully on the education, wellbeing and happiness of the children and families and sometimes this means neglecting the "surface" stuff like keeping areas super organised and tidy all the time. I would rather spend time cheering up an upset child than sorting a cupboard out. Even now, I think in most schools the real organisation and sorting out happens only due to staff willing to come in in the holidays in their own time to clear out cupboards and lost property etc, and do archiving and those type of jobs. Most schools don't have the staff any more to do this during paid time.
I am school office, 3 form entry primary with nursery. There are only 2 of us, one SBM and one admin, doing all admin stuff. If one of us is off, which has been the case today, then things go a bit awry organisational-wise, as has happened today. My desk looks like a bomb has hit it. But I gave my all to the children, parents and staff that needed me today and worked 9 hours with no break, I literally had no time to keep my desk pristine and the office floor clear and make sure my paper files were all in perfect order. I doubt that an Ofsted inspector would recognise that I had prioritised things correctly if they took our office at face value today. They don't want to hear that I was on my own doing all the multiple reception duties (face to face, phone and email) while also organising 3 classes going out on trips, including running down the road to check where the coach is, multiple phone calls to parents that hadn't consented, all the usual daily attendance stuff including making repeated phone calls to 2 families just because the children hadn't turned into school and the parents hadn't bothered to contact school, dealing with and comforting multiple sick small children who needed to go home etc etc and everything else that goes with a school admin job paying not much more than minimum wage.
If any inspector wanted to judge our school as being untidy and chaotic based on what the school office and reception area looks like at the moment then their processes are wrong. But we don't want to take the risk, so therefore when we do get the call I and all our other staffwill be staying behind for hours in our own time to tidy up and make it LOOK more acceptable, surface-wise, to the inspector. I know our families love the level of care, attention and love all our staff give to the children, as well as the outstanding education I witness daily, and may forgive us a bit of mess in certain areas, but I honestly don't know if Ofsted look at it through the same eyes.