private schools opting out of ofsted

[mike1969]

The private school we are considering say they have opted out of Ofsted because they want to do things differently. They had to have an Ofsted inspection for the nursery and it was given '3' in every category. That seems rather worrying.

The Independent inspection has said the school is very good and is outstanding in many areas. Would you be worried about the 'satisfactory' ofsted report. I am so confused.

Plus the teacher who would be teaching our child is the head of the nursery that got the bad Ofsted report. It has really thrown us. Would so appreciate any thoughts.

Can you check the Indepenedent Schools report ? What were the issues highlighted and how old is it ? Have they followed up the action points since ? I know that ours had to make the EY part more separate and secure than areas for older children. If the building is old it may have more restrictions than a purpose bulit facility for example. For independent schools the Ofsted report is often a formality to being able to qualify for LEA EY funding, but they have to do the same Foundation Stage curriculum. However from KS1 onwards they can opt out of National Curriculum which I think may be what you mean.

Thanks so much. That is really interesting about having to go through Ofsted to get the Early Years Grant.

It is a purpose built school so that is no excuse for the 3's and they are all the way through. The Independent schools guide give it a massive thumbs up and it gets a good report in the Good Schools Guide.

Thank you so much for getting back to me. Appreciate your time.

I don't think a school can 'opt out' of Ofsted. Good prep schools are members of the IAPS and this means that they are inspected by the Independent schools inspectorate (ISI) not Ofsted. The inspections are just as demanding possibly more. Early years used to have to be done by OFsted not ISI in order to get the early years grant but I think Ofsted has transferred this inspection to ISI if the school is a member of IAPS or another of the independent school organisations.

TBH I'd find it odd. The private schools DD has attended/attends have all been inspected by OFSTED for the funding and all received "Outstanding" ratings which were backed up by the ISI reports, although the ISI report was for the school asa whole, not just Nursery/Reception. Which report is more recent, OFSTED or ISI? Can you unpick why the 3s have been given? There are often posts on here about great schools not getting a good OFSTED grade for apparently trivial reasons.

IAPS prep schools ( and other schools) get inspected by ISI. The ISI inspections are also inspected by ofsted. IE the Independent schools inspector occasionally gets an ofsted inspector inspecting them at the same time to make sure that the ISI ispections are good enough. That is the reason that ofsted lets schools have ISI inspections - because they are checking that the inspections are good enough. (obviously they don;t inspect the inspector at every school!)
However, most IAPS schools also have to have an ofsted for their nursey.
The ISI rules for inspection are all based on the ofsted rules - the regulatory requirements are the same. (my mum is an ISI registered inspector and gets fed up with regulatory requirements!) There are also some ISI inspectors who are ofsted inspectors as well.