The threat of Ofsted can bring out the best and worst in teachers. Notice that inspectors are coming usually results in a clamour to tart up wall displays and make sure everything is marked - but do schools ever go further to get them through the inspection?

According to posters on the TES online staffroom, polishing off a few lesson plans is only the start of it. Rosievoice knew of a school where they pruned all their trees into lollipop shapes (an inspection criterion we were unaware of), while Miss Pious offers a long list of strategies, including bringing in policy documents from another school and changing the front page.

Knowmanythings taught at a school with a high proportion of challenging pupils, and when its inspection came, members of the leadership team would enter classes through the back door (which led to the playground) and yank out the worst behavers until the class had been observed. In another school, the vice-principal decreed that all staff should dress in the same colours as the school uniform. It might work for Gok Wan, but a group of inspectors?

www.tes.co.ukcheating-ofsted.