Ofsted

Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) is a government department that inspects and regulates institutions in England providing education to learners of all ages and providers of care for children and young people.

Ofsted inspect or regulate the following services:

• Childminders
• Full and sessional daycare providers
• Out of school care
• Crèches
• All state maintained schools
• Some independent schools
• The overall level of services for children in local authority areas (these are called Joint Area Reviews).

An inspection would normally last no longer than two days. The inspection team will look at the school's self-evaluation, consider the school's performance results, and examine the previous inspection report to prepare before the visit.
During an inspection, the inspectors will sit in on lessons and examine the way lessons are taught, among other things. At the end of the inspection they report on-

• overall effectiveness
• effectiveness of leadership and management 
• quality of teaching, learning and assessment 
• personal development, behaviour and welfare
• outcomes for pupils

Please click here for our most recent Ofsted reports