How Ofsted inspects 'leadership and management'

Be clear on how Ofsted will inspect your school's leadership and management, and read a summary of the grade descriptors.

Updated
on 30 September 2024
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School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 36195
Contents
  1. Your role as a governing board
  2. What inspectors are looking for 
  3. How inspectors will gather evidence
  4. Possible evidence of 'outstanding' leadership and management
  5. Grade descriptors

Your role as a governing board

As a governing board, you'll be inspected under Ofsted's 'leadership and management' judgement. Another of our articles covers how governance is inspected in detail.

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 hold your senior leadership team to account, which you are expected to do.

What inspectors are looking for 

Have high expectations of all pupils (including those who are harder to reach), ensuring: These are embodied in leaders' and staff's day-to-day interactions with pupils The way the school uses the pupil premium funding is founded on good evidence That practices such as ‘off-rolling’ do not take place Focus attention on the education provided by the school Align continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers and staff with the curriculum