How Ofsted inspects 'leadership and management'

Last reviewed on 3 September 2021
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 36195

Be clear on how your school's leadership and management will be inspected under the Ofsted inspection framework and read a summary of the grade descriptors.

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Contents

  1. Your role as a governing board
  2. The impact of COVID-19
  3. What inspectors are looking for 
  4. How inspectors will gather evidence
  5. Possible evidence of 'outstanding' leadership and management
  6. Grade descriptors

Your role as a governing board

As a governing board, you'll be inspected under Ofsted's 'leadership and management' judgement. However, this article doesn't cover specifically how governance is inspected, so read this article instead to find out.

The sections below are about how Ofsted inspects the rest of the 'leadership and management' judgement, focusing on school leaders. You don't need to know this information in great detail, but knowing the basics could help you to hold the senior leadership team (SLT) to account, which you are expected to do.

The impact of COVID-19

Inspectors will seek to understand how your school has adapted its school development plans as a result of COVID-19, including the rationale for any new or modified school improvement priorities.

This is explained in paragraph 23 of the School Inspection Handbook.

What inspectors are looking for 

High expectations of all pupils (including those who are harder

Read next

Also in 'The inspection framework'