On 14 August 2023, Ofsted published guidance for providers, social workers and commissioners on placing children who are subject to a deprivation of liberty order (“DoL”) in unregistered settings. The guidance titled, ‘Placing Children: deprivation of liberty orders’ (“Guidance”) should be read by providers who provide care to looked after children in the following settings: …
On 8 January 2023, Ruth Perry, the headteacher of Caversham Primary School in Reading, took her own life after being told that the school had been downgraded from Outstanding to Inadequate following an Ofsted inspection. Ms Perry’s family has previously blamed the Ofsted inspection for her death, and they are calling for an inquiry into …
Ofsted says inspection not to blame for headteacher’s death Read More »
The death of head teacher Ruth Perry has brought Ofsted’s inspection process under scrutiny, particularly their grading system. In the aftermath, Sir Michael Wilshaw, former chief inspector of schools, has said that the style of inspections needs to change. In particular, the events surrounding Ms Perry’s death have given him cause for concern over the …
On Monday 12 June 2023, in response to the death of head teacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life following an Ofsted inspection, the education regulator has announced a number of reforms to its current inspection system. Schools which are given an Ofsted rating of inadequate will be re-inspected sooner to give them a …
On 18 January Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s Chief iInspector, spoke at the annual lecture about how Ofsted and the education sector uses research. In this speech, Ms Spielman outlined the main reasons why Ofsted uses research and how that research is used during the inspection process. This comes after Ofsted’s announcement during an invite-only meeting with …
Ofsted’s Chief Inspector Speaks on How it Uses Research Read More »
Ofsted admitted during an invite-only meeting with the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) that its complaint policy is not working and will be reviewed. In the 2021-22 year only 17% of complaints had aspects upheld – the lowest in eight years. Ofsted is now reviewing its complaints policy to see how it can be improved. …
On 1 September 2022 Ofsted published an updated guidance on its code of conduct (“The Guidance”) which provides direction on the conduct of inspectors and the expectations they have for providers. Ofsted have stated that the primary purpose of inspection or regulation under its framework is to bring about improvement in education provision for all …
Ofsted publishes new code of conduct for inspections Read More »
On 27 July 2022 Ofsted published a report entitled ‘Children’s social care 2022: recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic’ (“The Report”). The report investigates the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to children’s social care, using focus groups, inspections, and interviews with inspectors to aid the investigation. The report concluded that the pandemic has …
Concerns over damaging impact of staff shortages on children’s social care Read More »
The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (“Ofsted”), the Care Quality Commission (“CQC”) and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (“HMICFRS”) announced on 28 March 2022 that they will restart their joint targeted area inspections (“JTAI”) programme. Programme JTAIs are carried out under S.20 of the Children Act 2004 …
Reintroducing Joint Targeted Area Inspections – What Providers Need to Know Read More »
On 11 March 2022, Ofsted published the outcomes of a public consultation in relation to proposed changes to the Social Care Common Inspection Framework (“SCCIF”). The consultation ran from 2 November 2021 to 24 January 2022 and sought views from the public and those working in the sectors covered by the framework, on the way …
Changes to Ofsted’s Social Care Common Inspection Framework from 1 April 2022 Read More »
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