This publication claims that it “promotes the role of the school as an active partner rather than a passive victim of the inspection process.” However, it must be said that there is little new information in it for anyone who has taken the trouble to read the OFSTED Framework of Inspection, absolutely essential for any head in receipt of the infamous “brown envelope”.

However, for those who have not yet heard the ominous thud of manilla on coconut, this publication does offer a fairly accurate “Cook’s” tour of the process and inspectors’ expectations. There are inaccuracies; as anticipated by the authors, the inspection process has yet to settle. Things have changed already, some quite significantly, even since October 1994, when this booklet was prepared.

The text is largely based on the experiences of a group of Warwickshire primary schools and is liberally littered with quotations from some of the heads, teachers, governors and parents involved in their inspections. Sadly, many of these comments are less than encouraging. “Teachers went from being bolshie and saying they didn’t give a damn to being frightened, feeling sick, dry-mouthed and losing weight,” isn’t really what you want to hear as you begin to prepare for the arrival of Reggie and the Clipboards, never mind, “I hated it. I couldn’t teach, it was awful . . . I loathed every minute of it.”

Although there are positive points too, there is a great deal of unnecessary quotation of pre-inspection fears, many of which would prove unfounded: ”...in most cases teams were seen as credible, sympathetic professionals, whose perceptions could be trusted”. OFSTED arrives at my school in four weeks time. I shall not be sharing this book with the staff until their three days of active and positively productive involvement are a mere memory.