In Dear Ted on July 5, a Surrey secondary head claimed that an independent school ”...unless you’re in a Head Masters’ Conference school, doesn’t have a validated external inspection procedureI ” This is inaccurate. I am a member of the Society of Heads of Independent Schools and my school has recently undergone a full Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) inspection, which included a day-long validation visit by an Ofsted inspector. Two members of the nine-person team inspecting my school were also Ofsted trained.
I appreciate that the ISI and its responsibility to Ofsted may not be widely known among maintained sector heads, but to say that only HMC schools have validated inspections is misleading and should be corrected in your otherwise excellent column.
Andy Waters, Friends’ school, Saffron Walden