I’m responsible for recruitment checks at my school and it keeps me awake at night. What isn’t apparent is the Dfe provide no template, guidance on certain checks isn’t always clear and even if you’re regularly audited there can be conflicts between what is expected and disagreements on what should and should not be retained because of GDPR. Add to that a couple of ofsted inspectors who have a very wide remit and their own subjective opinions and it’s a massive banana skin. The fact inspectors at this school said there was no risk to children to the governing body but then still gave inadequate makes me wonder what, then, was actually wrong. And we’ll never know. That poor headteacher. We all know that this could happen to any of us in an inspection.
I’ve had some amazing, positive and supportive Ofsted inspections, and others where it’s immediately apparent that the inspectors are out to find fault, where they’ve intimidated and bullied staff into flat panic from the moment they walk through the door. It’s the luck of the draw, but even if these inspectors never inspect again, it’s too late for this poor woman who it is apparent did a huge amount for her school and community. Just stinks.