As you know our school was subject to a monitoring visit undertaken by two members of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (HMIs) on behalf of OFSTED. The purpose of the visit was to discuss our actions primarily since September 2020, but also referencing a number of things we did leading up to (and during) the first national lockdown.
The visit was carried out remotely following changes to government guidance and the imposition of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. It was not an inspection and so I did not receive graded judgements. Neither did the HMIs undertake the usual range of inspection activities. Their visit formed part of OFSTED’s investigations into how England’s education system is managing the return to full education for pupils, following the extended break in formal schooling due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In undertaking this work HMIs are ‘visiting’ approximately 1200 schools of all types, in all areas and across all OFSTED grades (outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate). The information from the visits will feed into OFSTED’s national reporting so that insights can be shared with the government and the education sector.
Though these types of visit are always intense and take up a lot of time, I am pleased that we were able to contribute our perspective to this important national conversation. As soon as the official letter is published, which will be after a thorough checking exercise, I will share it.
