When Ofsted calls, no one should stand alone

Most school leaders can remember exactly where they were when an Ofsted call came. Diaries are cleared. Priorities shift. Suddenly, years of work will be examined over a couple of days.

For some, that brings excitement. For others, anxiety. Recent debate about inspection and school leader wellbeing reminds us how differently people experience that moment.

At REAch2 Academy Trust, it’s something we have thought about a great deal. Because while trusts cannot rewrite the accountability system overnight, we can shape and influence how leaders experience it.

Because the truth is that, for some, the sense of personal jeopardy is overwhelming. And that’s not something we can turn a blind eye to.

Part of the answer is in removing unnecessary uncertainty. Leaders should know the requirements well enough that inspection feels demanding, certainly, but not mysterious.

As much as we might wish it were otherwise, there will always be some variability in a national system with thousands of employees. But there is a framework, and there is a toolkit.

There are also actual human beings behind those inspection badges, and the more we remember that most people are just trying to do a good job for the right reasons, the more likely we are to end up having a worthwhile conversation.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses

That’s why, across REAch2, we have invested heavily in helping leaders engage with the inspection toolkit through workshops, shared practice and school review processes.

The aim is simple: help leaders understand the evidence in front of them and strengthen their professional judgement.

Accountability can tempt us to build a case. But effective school improvement is about being curious. If attendance is slipping, we should want to understand why. If outcomes are weaker than expected, we should investigate.

The best leaders do not spend their energy proving everything is fine. They spend it trying to understand what is true.

When a headteacher tells me, “I don’t think we’ve got this right yet”, it is the beginning of the conversation, not summary judgement.

Making honesty safe

But leaders will only say that if the organisation around them makes honesty safe.

Trusts have to create the conditions where identifying a weakness brings support and leads to action rather than a sharp intake of breath. That doesn’t mean we won’t try to get the best possible grades; of course we will.

We want heads to feel confident about the school they actually lead because it is the best it can be at that time, not because we have smothered on lipstick in time for inspection day.

This honesty does not mean lowering ambition or diminishing accountability. Quite the opposite. We want every REAch2 school to be exceptional for the children it serves. But confidence built on defensiveness is fragile.

Confidence built on secure evidence, honest self-evaluation and a relentless focus on children is the rock-solid foundation on which we want headteachers to lead their schools into inspection.

Support for inspection days

Then there is the experience of the inspection itself. Our headteachers know they have access to education specialists and experienced colleagues across the trust who will be there right by their side to advise, support and put the kettle on.

This isn’t about shipping in a load of trust bodies for inspection; these are people who know the school, work with them regularly and are personally and professionally invested.

Headteachers are right to feel responsible for their schools. Most care too deeply not to. But no school is built or improved by one person.

Behind every REAch2 school sits a much bigger story: teachers, support staff, governors, trust colleagues and neighbouring schools, all contributing over time.

So, when inspection comes, we are very deliberate about one message: we stand together.

Carrying the work of a community

While ministers and working parties are undoubtedly working through the logistics and challenges of the future of trust inspection, our lived reality is that every school inspection is a trust inspection. We feel it just as keenly.

The headteacher may be the person sitting across the table, but they are carrying the work of a community. We celebrate, learn and tackle difficult conversations together.

If an inspection identifies something that needs strengthening, the headteacher remains accountable for leading the improvement, but they know that they do not do that work alone.

Each school is part of a cluster, led by a deputy director of education, which acts as a community of schools where practice, expertise and people can be shared, alongside support from specialists across our wider education team.

The aim is to give the headteacher both the responsibility and the support to lead the school forward with confidence.

Ultimately, the greatest source of confidence is not knowing exactly what inspectors might ask. It is knowing that whatever happens next, someone will still be standing beside you. And for me, that is what being part of a strong trust should feel like.

Andrew Rigby is national director of education at REAch2 Academy Trust