With the introduction of new Ofsted inspection arrangements introduced in autumn 2005 came a new framework for the inspection of Church schools. Although it focuses on exactly the same areas as Section 23 inspections did in the past, just as with Ofsted, schools now have to take the responsibility for evaluating their performance as Church schools. The inspection itself, usually lasting only one day, is about testing out and verifying the school's understanding of itself.
SIAS inspections focus around four key questions the answers to which combine to substantiate a headline judgement in answer to the question, "How distinctive and effective is this school as a Church of England School?" The other questions are as follows:
- How well does the school, through its distinctive Christian character, meet the needs of all learners?
- What is the impact of collective worship on the school community?
- How effective is the religious education?
- How effective are the leadership and management of the school as a Church school?
Schools have to be able to describe and explain how they are distinctive and effective as Church schools and be able to provide evidence to substantiate their claims. In order to support schools with these elements of their self evaluation, the National Society has developed a toolkit. This is a substantial Word document. It is intended to be exactly what its name implies 'a toolkit to help schools.' It unpacks and thoroughly explores a wide range of aspects of each of the inspection questions in order to highlight for schools all the evidence they may have, or be able to gather, to answer each of the four main questions as richly as possible. It is important for schools to remember that it is not essential to answer all the prompt questions in detail in order to demonstrate their distinctiveness and effectiveness as Church schools they should not be constrained by the toolkit if they have other evidence they want to include evidence provided for an inspector does not have to be in the Toolkit format, some other form of presentation can be chosen.
The Report
The SIAS inspection report will be just two sides of A4 in length. It will contain clear judgement statements, using the Ofsted terms, outstanding, good, satisfactory or inadequate, in response to each of the above questions. All SIAS reports relevant to Church schools within the Diocese of Oxford are published on this website as well as that of the National Society (www.natsoc.org.uk)
