Ofsted inspection of schools rated ‘requires improvement’

Last reviewed on 31 August 2023
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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.

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

This is explained in paragraphs 41 and 173 of the School Inspection Handbook 2023.

When it's business as usual

If you're 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'.

You'll normally be monitored before you receive another graded inspection within 30 months (2.5 years) after the publication of your most recent 'requires improvement' judgement report.

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Also in 'The inspection system'