what can trigger sudden re-inspection of outstanding school?

[shivermewotsits]

School near me was rated outstanding a couple of years back. Have recently heard rumours of discipline issues and a couple of serious incidents (one in school and one when pupils on way home from school). Now I've heard another rumour they may be going into special measures. If true it must have been a snap inspection at end of term. Does that sound implausible? They're a fairly new school so it can't be due to sudden dip in results - this is their first GCSE year. Rumours may be false of course.

Safeguarding concern can trigger an immediate inspection

Agreed, the serious incidents will have done it.

Yes any serious safeguarding issues or a LOT of concerns being raised will do it

Safeguarding or governance concerns usually.

Serious incidents can trigger an inspection, as can a safeguarding issue.

Personally, as a member of staff I take Ofsted as something and nothing. There can be a serious incident, but it be one specific situation that doesn't affect the the rest of the school or a school can be downgraded on the grounds that the data in March shows that EAL/PP/More Able/any other group are doing OK but could be doing better. There's a school near me that's in requires improvement that I'd happily send my child to.

I wouldn't worry too much and just wait and see what the report actually says. If it is special measures then read the report, not the summary in the local press.

If their last inspection came at the end of the last cycle it could be possible that they were due an inspection anyway.

That said a serious safeguarding issue can trigger an inspection. Depending on what they issue was, it can drop them into special measures.

I would however wait until the Ofsted report is published and read that before making any judgements.

Parental complaint to OFSTED.

How are you so sure it's not just a regular inspection? Anything before September 2016 would have been in the previous inspection cycle and anything after is a new one and everyone goes back in the pot to be inspected again.

Outstanding schools don't get reinspected unless there's a serious concern, they're taken out of the inspection cycle.

I know an outstanding school that got inspected because of a concern about pupil premium performance being flagged up on their data dashboard.

Snap, there are other outstanding schools nearby that haven't been inspected for 7 years so I just assumed they were left alone unless something triggered a visit.

phil isn't there often some kind of external audit goes on with those complaints before ofsted turn up?

As an aside, sometimes I'd love to see what that inbox looks like as I've had some hilarious threats to report me/staff. Don't get me wrong, there's probably very real issues that get reported but I'd put money on some ridiculous ones.

shiver
The other thing to consider is if an outstanding school transfers to an academy chain or converts itself to an academy then there's a set amount of time where it's left alone but then it will get inspected again up to 2 years post conversion. That's procedure as it is technically a new school and nothing to do with concerns being raised.

Thanks Maisy - it's not an academy so that's not it.

An outstanding school can be re-inspected if a safeguarding concern is raised and Ofsted deem this to be a 'qualifying complaint' - ie that it is genuine and substantive.

The results following such a snap inspection MAY be lower than Outstanding, but it is not inevitable. When I was researching Balcaras (sp?) school for another thread quite recently, it looked from its Ofsted as if it had had a safeguarding complaint but emerged with its Outstanding intact... would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that conversation!

noblegiraffe but the op said they were inspected a couple of years ago, so in the previous cycle.

op but they aren't left alone indefinitely. In our area we are having an influx of inspections of providers who were only last done in summer 2015 and they aren't as a result of complaints or low grades.

snap it doesn't matter, if a school is outstanding it's exempt from further routine inspections.

schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-ignores-more-than-100-schools-for-a-decade/

How come this is only with schools then? I don't understand how they can never have an inspection again?!

Ofsted keep an eye on the outstanding school's data and if everything looks ok, they leave the school alone.

I guess it saves Ofsted a lot of time and money.

I see. Wish they'd do that with me! (Outstanding graded childminder)

There is a secondary in my LA, last inspected in 2011.....outstanding. Converted to an academy 3 years ago. Since last inspection and retirement of longstanding head it has had 3 heads, gone down in popularity.....used to have 3 weeks of appeals, now down to 1 day, still has 'outstanding' in all its literature. Still achieves good results.
It is a faith school, all pupils allocated on faith criteria. DfE statistics show consistently that its intake is 42% high achievers which is head and shoulders above the other secondaries in the area.

could be just random, outstanding schools are not exempt from inspection, its just not compulsory for ofsted to do it at the same interval.

Yes outstanding schools are exempt from inspection, as per the Ofsted Inspection Handbook.

Outstanding/exempt schools

13. Maintained primary and secondary schools and academies that were judged to be outstanding in their overall effectiveness at their most recent section 5 inspection are exempt from inspection under section 5. They can only be inspected under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. This exemption also applies to academy converter schools where the overall effectiveness of the predecessor school was outstanding at its most recent section 5 inspection.

14. Certain types of schools that were judged outstanding for overall effectiveness at their most recent section 5 inspection are currently not prescribed as exempt schools and must be inspected within the prescribed interval. These are special schools (including maintained special schools, special free schools, alternative provision academies and non-maintained special schools), pupil referral units and maintained nursery schools.

15. If Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) or the Secretary of State has concerns about the performance of an exempt school (or any other school covered by section 5), HMCI has powers to inspect it at any time under section 8 of the Act. Under section 8, the Secretary of State may require HMCI to conduct an inspection of an exempt school (or any other school covered by section 5). The Secretary of State may also require HMCI to treat the inspection as if it were carried out under section 5.

16. Exempt schools are subject to risk assessment. If the risk assessment process raises concerns about the performance of an exempt school, it may be inspected at any time after the completion of the risk assessment. If no concerns are raised from the risk assessment, the school will not be informed.

17. Where risk assessment identifies sufficient concerns about decline in the performance of pupils’ academic achievement and overall decline in performance, these outstanding schools will receive a section 8 inspection (see paragraph 20). If during the course of the inspection, the lead inspector finds that the school may no longer be outstanding, then the lead inspector may convert the inspection to a section 5 inspection.

18. In addition, exempt schools may be inspected between risk assessments where:
    ■ safeguarding, including a decline in the standards of pupils’ behaviour and the ability of staff to maintain discipline and/or welfare concerns, suggests that it should be inspected
    ■ a subject or thematic survey inspection raises more general concerns
    ■ Ofsted has received a qualifying complaint about a school that, taken alongside other available evidence, suggests that it would be appropriate to inspect the school
    ■ concerns are raised about standards of leadership or governance
    ■ concerns are identified about the breadth and balance of the curriculum (including where the statutory requirement to publish information to parents is not met)
    ■ HMCI or the Secretary of State has concerns about a school’s performance.

19. If any of the concerns listed above are identified for exempt schools, then these schools will usually be inspected under the section 8 no formal designation procedures set out in the separate section 8 handbook.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/553940/School_inspection_handbook-section_5.doc

Sorry I wasn't disputing what you said. I was joking, I apologise if it didn't come across that way.

"safeguarding, including a decline in the standards of pupils’ behaviour and the ability of staff to maintain discipline and/or welfare concerns, suggests that it should be inspected"

That fits with the rumours. Will watch and wait then.