Shorter, sharper - but not shocking

Geoff Seagrove finds the shorter inspections more useful

Ofsted has published its updated framework for schools inspections. In future, they will last two days, with head teachers given less notice but asked to give more of their own input. How will it work in practice? Justin Parkinson reports.

Geoff Seagrove is a happy head teacher.

His school, Mortimer Primary in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, has been rated as "outstanding" in all areas by inspectors.

Words like "happy", "rigorous", "effective" and "high regard" pervade its Ofsted report.

All good news, then, but Mortimer is unusual for another reason.

It is one of the first schools in England to undergo one of the "shorter, sharper" and short-notice inspections to be rolled out nationwide from September.

Mr Seagrove found out the day the summer holidays ended last year that officials would be turning up just five days later, as part of the pilot project.

'Out of the blue'

Traditionally, months of notice have been given before inspections, allowing some heads to become near-nervous wrecks. In future, two days' notice will be the norm.

As it turned out Mr Seagrove had no need to worry but, with five days' warning, he simply did not have time to.

We didn't change anything before their visit and they would be welcome to come back next week Geoff Seagrove, head teacher

He told the BBC News website: "I got back from the summer holidays and a call came from out of the blue.

"I spoke to the lead inspector for about an hour and she explained what was going to happen. I was well informed by her, which put me at ease."

The following week four inspectors turned up.

Rather than sit in on lots of lessons, as had been the case previously, the emphasis was placed more on talking to senior managers, such as the head and his deputy, and assuring themselves that governors were aware of the school's strengths and weaknesses.

First, Mr Seagrove and one of the inspectors went to see an hour-long lesson together.

Inspectors followed specific children through different lessons

Afterwards he gave his impressions of how it had gone. The inspector responded, saying his view was much the same.

Mr Seagrove then had to discuss his ideas for further developing teaching methods.

The Ofsted report praised the school for its "accuracy" in assessing its own performance.

Mr Seagrove said: "It is far better to get feedback like this. The inspector said 'I would grade the lesson exactly as you would'.

Child-focused

"If I had said it was fantastic and he said it wasn't then it would have been a big issue."

Another novel method used by inspectors was to focus on one or two particular children, talking to them in depth and watching them in more than one lesson.

Mortimer school received the highest rating possible

The idea, Mr Seagrove said, was to get a view of how "the system" worked for pupils.

Under the guidelines, it is not necessary to look at so many whole lessons, with "scanning" sometimes preferable.

By just the second day of Mortimer's inspection, it was all over.

Mr Seagrove said: "Under the old system it used to go on and on and on.

"They didn't need to see so many lessons as before, so only about half my staff were looked at.

"We didn't change anything before their visit and they would be welcome to come back next week.

"It's much better being given a lot less notice, rather than worrying about what is going to happen next term."

The inspection was a positive experience that was contributing to the school's improvement plans.

Mortimer, with 630 pupils aged three to 11, is very big for a primary school.

It gained straight "1s" under the new numerical grading system, meaning it was "outstanding" in all regards.

The areas covered are:

• overall effectiveness
• improvement; capacity to improve
• achievement and standards
• quality of provision
• leadership and management.

The revamped Ofsted inspections will take place about every three years for most schools, down from about five years.

Mr Seagrove, who has been at Mortimer for five years and has gone through four "Ofsteds" in his total career, said: "This is a big deal.

"The report from the inspectors is sent to all parents and goes onto the internet, so it's very public.

"It can be quite stressful, so having this new system, where there is more focus on co-operation, is a better way of doing it."

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