• Find a school inspection report
• Understanding a school inspection report
• Types of school Ofsted inspects
• Inspecting schools
  • Inspecting maintained schools
    • Before a maintained school inspection
      • Preparing for a maintained school inspection
    • During a maintained school inspection
    • After a maintained school inspection
    • Main inspection documents for inspectors
  • Inspecting independent schools
  • Inspecting boarding and residential special schools
  • Inspecting initial teacher education
• Parent View
• Safeguarding children
• About our survey reports
• How to complain

Before a maintained school inspection

By law, we have a duty to inspect schools at prescribed intervals.

The lead inspector will inform the school that is it to be inspected, usually at, or shortly after, noon on the day before the inspection, unless the inspection is unannounced.

The lead inspector will discuss the inspection process. The school is asked to make some key information available to the inspection team at the start of the inspection, for example an evaluation of their provision (if available) and not already shared with the lead inspector.

The lead inspector’s contact and other pre-inspection activities aim to make the inspection run smoothly and effectively with minimum demand on the school.

The lead inspector analyses pre-inspection evidence including:

• the summary of the school’s self-evaluation (if available)
• data from RAISEonline (Reporting and Analysis for Improvement through School Self-Evaluation) report (see our RAISEonline overview), the sixth form performance and assessment (PANDA) report, the learner achievement tracker (LAT) and available data about success rates.
• the previous inspection report
• the findings of any recent Ofsted survey and/or monitoring letters
• responses from parents/carers on Parent View (Ofsted’s online survey available for parents)
• issues raised about, or the findings from, the investigation of any qualifying complaints about the school
• information available on the school’s website, which may include a prospectus and other information for parents.

During the inspection, the lead inspector gathers the views of the school’s staff using questionnaires. The staff questionnaire is voluntary. Inspectors will also gather the views of staff through discussion.