“ONE of the few differences between the Spanish Inquisition and OFSTED is that, whereas ‘no one expects the Spanish Inquisition’, everyone in school knows that sooner or later that brown envelope will arrive,” says the Secondary Heads Associations’s latest guide to Managing the School for Inspection.
Updating his earlier edition, David Bennett, principal of Sackville Community College in East Grinstead, this time with co-author Kevin Harper, deputy headteacher of Ridgeway School, Plymouth, aims to provide managers with everything they need to survive and exploit new-style inspection.
The 60-page guide outlines how OFTED teams work; what evidence they collect; how managers can prepare themselves, their paperwork and the staff; how to make the most of the inspection week and its aftermath and how to respond if your school is found to be coasting or failing.
The section of school self-evaluation says it should dovetail with inspection.“Regrettably OFSTED has yet to be persuaded that the evaluation of self-review should be a significant part of the inspection process,” it concludes.
Managing the School for Inspection - the 2000 framework published by SHA, 130 Regent Road, Leicester, LE1 7PG tel: 0116 299 1122, price pound;7.50
