Ofsted – Better education and care

A. You can: use the search engine available via the top of every page on the site; use the postcode search engine in the reports section; use the local authority listings in the reports section.

A. Details such as address, Head Teacher information, contact details, that appear on a school’s or college’s page on the Ofsted website are supplied by EduBase. EduBase is a register of all compulsory age educational establishments (5-16 years old) as well as Further and Higher Education establishments in England and Wales, which is maintained by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. If you have a query regarding your details, you can contact EduBase in the first instance on 0870 120 25 27. Requests for amendments should be made by e-mailing helpdesk@edubase.gov.uk. This is required in order to provide an audit trail. You can also update your details via the EduBase Schools Interface website at http://schools.edubase.gov.uk. Updates submitted by schools and colleges do not appear immediately as they are checked before being actioned. There is therefore a delay of a day or so before the amendments appear. Please note that the number on roll is only changed after the annual Census in January, when it is updated automatically. If you do not have a username and password for the interface, please contact the DCSF’s Data Services department on 01325 392 626 to request one.

A. A school's report will be available within seven weeks of the start of the inspection. On receipt of its report, the school has 10 working days to provide parents with a copy of the summary. It also must provide the summary and the full report on request; anyone is entitled to one free copy of the summary, while the school may charge you for the full report, up to the cost of copying it.

A. A school will receive its report 10 working days after the end of the inspection.

A. A school's report should normally be published on the Ofsted website within 3 weeks (15 working days) from the end of the inspection.

A. A common reason is the school holidays. A school may receive its report during the holidays, but the ten working days to make it a public document do not start until the new term starts.

A. Please contact the school, who are required to produce the report on request. If you do not have a child at the school, they may charge you for photocopying the report.

A. The inspection contractor sends the report to the school and Ofsted. Ofsted's database releases it for upload after 15 working days from the end of inspection.

A. Ofsted does not distribute reports for such schools and they are removed from the website. If two schools have been merged, then the new school can provide you with their reports if it wants to.

A. New schools are usually inspected for the first time in their second year. An inspection in the first year is unlikely.

A. Reports are uploaded to the website every working day. You can sign up to be alerted to new reports by using the email alerts facility, accessed at the top of the page.

A. These are all kept within the maintained schools section of the forms and guidance page. You can click through using the link below.

A. You can search the full list of all particularly successful schools and colleges since 1993. Since 2005, the list includes those institutions which have been graded as outstanding.

A. Until 2005, schools named as 'particularly successful' were notified of their success in a letter from HMCI. Many of these schools framed this letter and hung it in a prominent place. Ofsted became increasingly aware of this practice and from 2005 onwards we introduced certificates. We are unable to back date certificates for schools who were on the list before 2004/05 however, these schools are permanently named on our website.

A. We supply the art work and design guidance to outstanding providers when we publish the list of outstanding providers with our annual report, usually in October of every year. So, for a provider judged outstanding between September 2006 and August 2007, it would be supplied in October 2007.

We know that there is considerable interest amongst outstanding providers in being able to use the logo as soon as the judgement is awarded, and we are looking at how we can do this. If there is a change we will write to providers judged outstanding during 2006/07, and supply the logo and guidance, as quickly as we can.

A. Please consult the appropriate annual report available in the publications section. Recent annual reports are complemented by individual subject booklets in the publications section A–Z under ‘O’ for ‘Ofsted Subject Reports...’.

A. You will need to contact the four education departments listed below.

A. Information from Ofsted about an individual school is only available in its own report. School reports are available in the reports section; you can either click through the options or use the search facility. The Department for Education and Skills produces achievement and attainment tables (formerly performance tables aka league tables) which show how well schools do in exams and tests.

A. Contact the Department for Children, Schools and Families: 0870 000 2288; info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk.

A. Key organisations include the following: Department for Children, Schools and Families; General Teaching Council for England; Learning and Skills Council; Qualifications and Curriculum Authority; and Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

A. Utnil the end of the summer 2006 term schools who wished to, could complete a SIS using the on-line from on the Ofsted web site.Since September 2006, the inspection service providers (RISPS) have been responsible for collecting SIS information and sending it to Ofsted. The website, therefore no longer needs to show the on-line form.

A. Ofsted only inspects independent schools which are not members of associations affiliated with the Independent Schools Council (ISC). The ISC has its own inspectorate which undertakes Ofsted style inspections of ISC schools: you may wish to visit the Independent Schools Inspectorate's website. In September 2003, Ofsted began a new inspection programme of independent schools which are not members of associations affiliated with the ISC. All schools will be inspected at least once in a six-year period. Under the previous programme, most schools only had monitoring and/or registration visits – these are not full inspections and do not have a published inspection report. The Independent Schools Council website is available at http://www.isc.co.uk/ The Independent Schools Inspectorate website is available at http://www.isi.net/

A. Higher education (HE) institutions and universities are inspected by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). On its website, you will find inspection reports and information for students. Ofsted inspects further education (FE) provision in HE institutions. Inspection reports are in the FE colleges A–Z. The FE inspection schedule includes FE in HE inspections. Ofsted inspects teacher training in HE institutions. Please see the Teacher Training FAQ. The QAA website is available at http://www.qaa.ac.uk/

A. The forms and guidance section has pages on all Ofsted inspections, together with links to further reading.

A. Ofsted inspects service children's schools for the Ministry of Defence. These are the only schools we inspect outside of England. If you have been told that an overseas school has been ‘inspected by Ofsted’, then a likely explanation is that the inspection was a private arrangement between the school and an inspection contractor. Contact the school for further details.

A. Ofsted inspects Initial Teacher Training (ITT) primary and secondary courses at a number of providers including universities and colleges of higher education colleges. You can view an A–Z listing of providers and their reports. Further reading can be found in the 'How we inspect' section of this site. For information on how to become a teacher, please visit the Teacher Development Agency's website.

A. Ofsted publishes termly lists of schools causing concern. They are in the publications section A–Z under ‘D’ for ‘Data on schools causing concern...’. Included are lists of schools removed from these categories during a term. There is also information on colleges that are considered to be inadequate. Please note that the information was correct and up-to-date at the time of publication. To double check whether a school is still in a category causing concern, journalists should call the Ofsted press office on 020 7421 6899/5866/6622/6574, while other parties should direct their questions to the Ofsted helpline on 08456 404040, or email us at enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

A. The Department for Children, Schools and Families website includes a parent's centre. This has advice on bullying and many other subjects dealing with children's education. You should also visit the DCSF bullying subsite.

A. An APA assesses local council's contributions to improving the lives of children and young people through its education and social care functions and covers other services, for example, the youth offending team. It is designed to support the council by establishing what action is needed to improve the quality of their children's services. The findings of the most recent APA decide the focus of the work of the next joint area review (JAR). These findings are used in addition to the Healthcare Commission's annual assessment of healthcare bodies and HMI Constabulary's baseline assessment of strategic police authorities.

A. A JAR provides a comprehensive report on the outcomes for children and young people in each local area. It incorporates the inspection of youth services and replaces the separate inspections of local education authorities, local authorities' social services, Connexions services, and the provision for students aged 14-19. Normally the JAR is carried out at the same time as the Audit Commission's corporate assessment of the council, and is aligned with the inspection of youth offending teams undertaken by HMI Probation.

A. Ofsted introduced a new framework for youth service inspections in January 2004. When the JAR was introduced, it was agreed that, where a service has not been inspected under the new youth framework, there would be enhanced coverage of youth service provision within the JAR. The enhanced youth inspection mirrors the principles agreed for the JAR: it is integrated into the JAR and, as such, dates for analysis, fieldwork and feedback coincide. However, the JAR is the primary inspection regime.

A. Ofsted is not responsible for individual complaints about the day-to-day running of a school. The chain of complaint is: 1) headteacher 2) governing body 3) local education authority 4) Department for Children, Schools and Families. Guidance on school issues can be obtained from DCSF public enquiries (0870 000 2288). Complaints have to be made in writing (Complaints.peu@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk). As a parent of a child at a school, you will be informed when a school is about to be inspected. The inspection team cannot investigate or comment on individual complaints, but will look for examples of the school's compliance with its own policies.

A. Please contact the Learning and Skills Council – complaints@lsc.gov.uk. You can find more information on the link below.

A. Please consult the publications section. You can use the search engine and/or the chronological and alphabetical listings. You may thus have to generalise your keywords. If you cannot find a suitable publication, please contact the Ofsted helpline on 08456 404040, or email us at enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You will need to include your name, the information you want, why you want it and who the information will be distributed to. Please be aware that the information you ask for may not be available. Ofsted's principal methods for distributing information are publications, inspection reports and the website. Information not found via these sources may not be available.

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