Ofsted inspection of schools rated ‘requires improvement’

If your school is rated 'requires improvement', you may receive a monitoring inspection before your next graded inspection. Understand what happens during a monitoring inspection and when Ofsted is likely to inspect you next.

Last reviewed on 26 January 2024See updates
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 12493
Contents
  1. Current timings of inspections
  2. When it's business as usual
  3. Before a monitoring inspection
  4. During the monitoring inspection
  5. At the end of the monitoring inspection

Current timings of inspections

You can expect an inspection 2 years later than you would have done prior to the pandemic (so, around 4.5 years after your last inspection). You'll continue to receive monitoring inspections.

Date of last inspectionLikely date of next inspection
Before January 2020Before January 2024
Before April 2020Before January 2025
After April 2021Within 2.5 years after your last inspection

This is explained in paragraphs 42 and 184 of the School Inspection Handbook.

When it's business as usual

If your school is judged 'requires improvement'

You'll have a graded inspection within 2.5 years of your most recent graded inspection report being published.

If you receive 2 successive ‘requires improvement’ judgements 

This is usually where you show improvement in some areas and there is a general upward trend, but key aspects of performance remain less than 'good'.

Monitoring