1. Objectives To know the key judgements of the Ofsted framework
To know how the timings of inspections is determined
To consider how governance contributes to the leadership and management judgement
To look at how governing bodies can prepare for Ofsted and the questions governors may be asked
To know what the governing body needs to do if an external review of governance is recommended by Ofsted
To consider an audit of the governing body

2. Changes since September 2015
The Common Inspection framework
The four judgements are:
Effectiveness of leadership and management (includes safeguarding)
Quality of teaching, learning and assessment
Personal development, behaviour and welfare
Outcomes for pupils
Early Years
study programmes
In Primary they will give EY a separate judgement and same with High with a Sixth Form

3. Separate guidance for inspectors on inspecting safeguarding
Good schools will have a Section 8 one day inspection approximately every three - five years.
Will governors have the opportunity to contribute?
In the initial phone call Ofsted will establish the governance structure of the school or academy including with reference to the constitution
Inspectors will request:
Documented evidence of the work of governors and their priorities including any written scheme of delegation for an academy in a multi academy trust

4. Ofsted usually call at noon:
Ofsted – the next 24 hours….
Ofsted usually call at noon:
The nature of the call is to establish organisational arrangements. This will set off a chain of events – the next 24 hours…
The eve of Ofsted
How prepared are we?
What needs to be done and by whom?
Set out the plan
Brief the staff and Chair of governors
Inform parents
Calm and assured leadership
Key governors briefing – rehearse the story
Research the Ofsted team
Good night’s sleep!
However - Ofsted may conduct inspections without notice. When this happens, the lead inspector will normally telephone the school about 15 minutes before arriving on site. In these cases, the inspector will make the initial call simply to inform the school that the inspection is about to begin and will leave all other arrangements until arriving at the school
Inspection without notice will be considered where there are serious concerns about one or more of the following: the breadth and balance of the curriculum; rapidly declining standards; safeguarding, including a decline in standards of pupils’ behaviour and the ability of staff to maintain discipline; and standards of leadership or governance.
It is the responsibility of the school to ensure that all governors are informed about the inspection and given the opportunity to attend the feedback meeting. Inspectors welcome as many governors as possible at the feedback meeting.
If a school presently has a good judgement they will receive a short (one day) section 8 inspection conducted by a HMI inspector; the Lead inspector can decide to convert the inspection to a full section 5 inspection, usually continuing into the next day, in order to gather more evidence about whether the school remains good; the school will be informed of this decision by the end of the day. Therefore, if your school has not been called by Wednesday lunchtime, it is highly unlikely you will get ‘the call’. (RI or outstanding)

5. What will they gain from Parent View?
Meanwhile..
What will RAISEonline and the Inspection Dashboard tell them about your school?
What will they gain from Parent View?
Does your website include all statutory information?
What information is there about the governing body?
What will the previous Ofsted inspection report/ monitoring letters tell them?
Inspectors will only have a short amount of time to get an initial view of your school…
There may also be other relevant information that is in the public domain and reported in the press. Inspectors will therefore conduct a brief internet search as part of their pre-inspection planning to see whether there are any safeguarding or other issues - including governance - that may need to be followed up during inspection.
There is an expectation that all governors understand RAISEonline data. All governors should have access to RoL - How many governors have a password to view the summary report? Are governors familiar with the Raise Online Inspection Dashboard? How about the Ofsted Dashboard?
Do look at Parent View before meeting with the inspectors – we were asked how many parents had submitted responses. The inspection handbook states that schools should encourage parents to complete Parent View by placing a link on their website to the Parent View website. Has the school carried out its own surveys to use as evidence?
Have you done a website audit? Do you have transparent governance arrangements?
The September 2015 School Inspection Handbook (which replaced the previous Inspection Handbook and the separate Subsidiary Guidance) lists a number of documents and other pieces of information that schools should be able to provide when an inspection is taking place. This includes documented evidence of the work of governors and their priorities, including any written scheme of delegation for an academy in a multi-academy trust; any reports of external evaluation of the school, including any review of governance or use of the pupil premium funding.

6. 9 am - Joint lesson observations begin…
Evidence they see, hear, are shown or told…
Not judging the teacher
What is teaching like over time?
They will look at books – how consistent is feedback and marking?
They will ask pupils how teachers help them learn
They will ask if they know what they have to do next
They will see how behaviour affects learning
Have you been in to do a visit to look at feedback and marking? As you satisfied that children’s books show progress over time?
Have you undertaken a visit and seen if children given time at the beginning of lessons to reflect on the feedback?
When governor visit school they should have a clear set of protocols – governor visits policy
‘thirst for learning’

7. Ofsted – meeting with governors
May have met with the School Improvement Advisor
Asked questions of the headteacher about the role of governors in school
May have looked at governing body and committee meeting minutes
Will have talked to SLT, middle leaders and the children
Will want to gather evidence from you
Usually 45 minutes to 1 hour session
By now they will already have formed some impressions about the effectiveness of the governing body
Who clerks committee meetings?
How is challenge recorded?
Are agendas set in line with school improvement plan priorities?
Inspectors will request: -
-documented evidence of the work of governors and their priorities, including any written scheme of delegation for an academy in a multi-academy trust,
- Any reports of external evaluation of the school, including any review of governance or use of pupil premium funding.
Inspectors will record their evidence clearly and legibly on evidence forms (EFs), ensuring that all relevant sections of the form are completed for all evidence-gathering activities

8. Ofsted – planning for the meeting
Who will meet? – suggest Chair and 2-3 key and informed governors
Cohesion – who answers which questions?
What evidence do you take in with you?
Governors’ chance to make a positive first impression:
appearance
confidence
skills and experience
commitment to school vision and value
pride and passion
advocates for the school
professional conduct – present as a balanced and knowledgeable team
Won’t talk to staff governors as part of GB team
You SHOULD be taking in evidence – it is not a memory test! Good to show what evidence you have especially external e.g. SIA report

9. Ofsted – governors’ vowels!
Remember your vowels!
a accountability – governors hold senior leaders to account
e evidence – governors support and challenge
i impact – governors make a difference
o organisation – the GB is structured strategically
u understanding – governors really do know their school

10. Questions inspectors may ask of governors
Inspectors will expect governors to know about the strengths and weaknesses of the school.
So, what questions might inspectors ask governors?
Do you know what the areas for improvement were in your last inspection? How have these been addressed?

11. Inspectors should consider whether governors:
carry out their statutory duties, such as safeguarding, and understand the boundaries of their role as governors
Do all governors, including new governors, know what their core statutory role is?
Do they receive the code of conduct before applying to become a governor?
What school induction process is there?
Do you know what the statutory duties of the governing body are? – GSS have TOR and delegated powers for committees which include all statutory duties and policies.
Do you have a policy planner?
Have governors read section one of the governor handbook?

12. Safeguarding
Inspectors must consider the effectiveness of safeguarding practice as part of the judgement on leadership and management
Safer recruitment practice
Staff awareness of specific safeguarding issues, eg FGM, radicalisation and exploitation. A clear approach to implementing the Prevent duty
Effectiveness of work to raise awareness and keep pupils safe from dangers of abuse, sexual exploitation, radicalisation and extremism
Policies and procedures for children missing from education
Evidence of illegal exclusions and inappropriate part-time provision
Continued focus on e-safety
Referrals made to children’s social care – case studies and records will be evaluated
Behaviour “units” and off-site provision
Do your pupils feel safe while at school? How do you know?
Is the Single Central Record in place and up-to-date. Is it checked regularly by governors?
Are there safeguarding procedures in place? How do governors ensure that safeguarding arrangements are effective? Are effective safeguarding and staff behaviour policies in place and are they well understood by everyone in the setting?
Has the governing body signed off the annual review monitoring (ARM) provided by the safeguarding team?
What can you tell me about Safeguarding? Who is responsible in school? Who is contacted and when should an issue arise?
How many people have completed safer recruitment training? Who on the Governing body has responsibility for safer recruitment and how is that covered in interviews?
Are health and safety procedures in place?
Does a governor have this specific responsibility?
How are they monitored?
Are there any concerns or issues?
Note: All governors should have read the Keeping Children in Education Safe. There is detailed guidance on how inspectors evaluate safeguarding arrangements in ‘Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education, skills settings’.
Inspectors should look for evidence of the extent to which leaders, governors and managers create a positive culture and ethos where safeguarding is an important part of everyday life in the setting, backed up by training at every level

13. Inspectors should consider whether governors:
ensure that they, and the school, promote all forms of equality and foster greater understanding of and respect for people of all faiths (and those of no faith), races, genders, ages, disability and sexual orientations (and other groups with protected characteristics), through their words, actions and influence within school and more widely in the community.
ensure that the school prepares pupils positively for life in modern Britain and promotes the fundamental British values.
Before making the final judgement on the overall effectiveness, inspectors must evaluate:
The effectiveness and impact of the provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (this includes British Values)
The extent to which the education provided by the school meets the needs of the range of pupils at the school including: - disabled pupils and pupils who have SEN.
Inspectors would be seeking to ensure that governors were asking the right questions of leadership and management. They might ask, for example:
How do governors ensure that pupils are receiving appropriate opportunities for understanding the issues and developing balanced views about living in a British multicultural, diverse society?
How does the governing body ensure that the school promotes the British values of
democracy,
the rule of law,
individual liberty, and mutual respect and
tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
Inspectors would be expecting that governors had securely tested out what they were told by leadership and management.
Do governors understand issues faced by the school?

14. Inspectors should consider whether governors:
work with leaders to communicate the vision, ethos and strategic direction, including long-term planning (for example, succession)
and develop a culture of high expectations, and ambition
What is your vision for the school and how is this shared with stakeholders?
How will you achieve it?
An example is a school where the following questions were given to children, staff, parents and governors at visioning meetings:
What values do we want all members of our school community to have?
(e.g. how would you describe a child / member of staff / parent / governor etc. from our school?)
What should motivate us to come to school every day?
What do we want the children to achieve / learn / experience by the time they leave?
(e.g. reaching required attainment?, working with the local community?, being able to swim?)
How do we want to teach / Want the children to learn?
(Think of a time that a child either overcame a challenge to be successful or was just utterly excited about an aspect of their learning. What factors brought this about?)
Is the overall culture of the school one of high expectations for teaching, learning, pupil behaviour and safety?

15. contribute to the school’s self-evaluation and understand its strengths and weaknesses, including the quality of teaching, and reviewing the impact of their own work
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the school and how do you know?
How well does the self evaluation lead to planning that secures continual improvement?
This is a real opportunity for governors to really evidence what the school does well BUT don’t be complacent
They gathered much evidence from children’s books and wanted to go back to books started by the children in September. We were very tight on maths and writing targets, but hadn’t set targets on reading as our school excels in this area. That was a learning curve for our school as you can’t become complacent with what you are already doing well in.
For us it was attendance – attendance is well above the national average, however the inspectors looked in detail about what the school was doing about the few absences that the school had.
How good is the quality of teaching? How do you know? What checks do you make?
How are leaders raising the quality of teaching?
Quality and rigour of school self-evaluation – How well do governors understand standards of teaching /learning? How do they know? What are school’s priorities and why?
How do you deal with underperformance in teaching?
How does performance management improve quality of teaching? How do you know?
Are there any concerns or issues with teaching?
What do you know about the professional development of your staff? What is the impact of professional development? How do you know? Can you give some examples? How do you ensure that students in every group (SEN, FSM etc) are able to make progress?
What has been the governing body’s impact on improving teaching?
This needs to include how the quality of teaching is monitored against the children’s achievement and how the governing body ensures that performance management is linked to pay. How is performance management used to promote effective practice across school?
How is good and excellent work rewarded?

16. understand and take sufficient account of pupil data, particularly their understanding and use of the school data dashboard
Have all governors had RAISEonline training?
What does the Raise Online Inspection Dashboard tell you about your school?

17. assure themselves of the rigour of the assessment process
What assessment procedures are used in school? How do you know these are rigorous?
How do governors know assessment is accurate? How is the assessment leader held to account by governors?
Do governors ask probing questions about assessment procedures?
Does assessment information from leaders provide governors with sufficient and accurate information to ask probing questions about outcomes for pupils?

18. are aware of the impact of teaching on learning and progress in different subjects and year groups
Do governors challenge school leaders well by asking probing questions about pupil outcomes?
How effectively do leaders monitor the progress of groups of children, how do governors hold them to account for this?
What extra curricular opportunities are offered at the school to extend pupils’ knowledge and understanding and to improve their skills in a range of artistic, creative and sporting activities?

19. provide challenge and hold the headteacher, and other senior leaders, to account for improving the quality of teaching, pupils’ achievement and pupils’ behaviour and safety, including by using the data dashboard, other progress data, examination outcomes and test results;
When have you held the head teacher to account? – Need to triangulate evidence including through the use of research., reports from middle leaders etc (Sources of evidence document)
How good is the quality of teaching? How do you know? What checks do you make?
How are leaders raising the quality of teaching?
How do you deal with underperformance in teaching?
Where is the good teaching in the school?

20. use the pupil premium and other resources to overcome barriers to learning, including reading, writing and mathematics
How well do governors know how additional funding such as pupil premium, sports funding and SEN funding is used and the impact on outcomes of this? What checks do they make? (Sutton Trust report, Sports premium funding)
How much Pupil Premium does the school receive and where is it spent?. How is it monitored and by whom?
Do you think the Pupil Premium funding reaches the most disadvantaged children?
How do governors track how pupil premium is allocated and the impact that is having on standards?
Can you tell me where your key gaps are with Pupil Premium? What is the role description of the governor with responsibility for pupil premium? Janet Haywood Harehills Primary
How is Sports Funding put to use and does it benefit the pupils?

21. ensure solvency and probity and that the financial resources made available to the school are managed effectively
What’s the state of the school budget – is it healthy?
How are the school’s finances managed?
Are governors aware of how the school’s finances are being managed and how staff are recruited?

22. are providing support for an effective headteacher or are hindering school improvement because of a lack of understanding of issues facing the school
Do governors understand issues facing the school?
Do you ensure that the Head has a reasonable work life balance – as part of your duty of care to the Head?
What training have governors undertaken? Have you conducted a skills audit? Do governors recruit on a skills basis? Have governors undertaken a review of governance?
What has the governing body done as a result of the external review of governance?
What has been the impact?

23. monitor performance management systems and understand how the school makes decisions about teachers’ salary progression , including the performance management of the headteacher, to improve teaching, leadership and management
How well does the governing body manage the performance of the headteacher?
How does performance management improve quality of teaching? How do you know?
Are objectives for all staff SMART and linked to the school improvement plan? – How do you know?
Are there any concerns or issues with teaching?
Is performance management used to promote effective practice across school?
What is the quality and value for money from CPD?

24. engage with key stakeholders
What do parents and the community think of your school? How do you know?
How does the GB engage with stakeholders? What has been the impact?
Parent View
What other different sources of information do governors use to find out the views of parents, staff and children?
School council – British Values democracy
Staff?
How well do leaders ensure that the school has a motivated, respected and effective teaching staff to deliver a high quality education for all pupils, and how effectively do governors hold them account for this?

25. are transparent and accountable, including in terms of recruitment of staff, governance structures, attendance at meetings, and contact with parents and carers
Do parents know who the governors are?
Does the website have all the statutory requirements on it: -
- the structure and remit of the governing body and any committees, and the full names of the chair of each
for each governor who has served at any point over the past 12 months: - their full names, date of appointment, term of office, date they stepped down (where applicable), who appointed them (in accordance with the governing body’s instrument of government)
relevant business and pecuniary interests (as recorded in the register of interests) including: governance roles in other educational institutions
any material interests arising from relationships between governors or relationships between governors and school staff (including spouses, partners and close relatives); and
their attendance record at governing body and committee meetings over the last academic year.
Governing bodies should also publish this information for associate members, making clear whether they have voting rights on any of the committees to which they have been appointed

26. The feedback meeting
The feedback meeting usually takes place late afternoon on the second day. As many governors as possible should attend the meeting.
The feedback meetings vary to being a brief overview to being very detailed.
Governors are reminded at this point that the information is confidential as the judgements are not final until the report is published.
Before leaving, the lead inspector must ensure that the school is clear: …
◾ that the grades are provisional and may be subject to change as a result of quality assurance procedures or moderation and must, therefore, be treated as restricted and confidential to the relevant senior personnel (as determined by the school) and must not be shared under any circumstances. Information about the inspection outcomes should only be shared when the school receives a copy of the final inspection report

27. Prepare!
As ever with inspection, the key word is preparation. Use the inspection handbook, become familiar with the new framework and make sure that you drive your inspection so that it is done “with you” and not “to you”.

28. External reviews of governance
Now explicit that these will be followed up at the next inspection