Church School Inspections

All Church Schools, whether Voluntary Aided or Voluntary Controlled, face an additional inspection at the time of their OFSTED Inspection. This inspection is usually referred to as a "Section 23 Inspection" because it is legislated for under Section 23 of the 1996 Schools Inspection Act.

Special Features of the Section 23 Inspection Process

It is the responsibility of the Foundation Governors in a Voluntary Controlled School, and the whole Governing Body in a Voluntary Aided School, to select their own inspector and make a private contract with them for the inspection to take place. The Diocesan Board of Education & Training holds lists of trained inspectors and will be able to assist the school with this process.

The Governing Body of the School is responsible for paying the Inspector's fees. This payment may then be reclaimed from the DfEE. At present (1999), recommended primary school fees stand at £300 for a Voluntary Controlled School and £400 for a Voluntary Aided.

The Section 23 Inspection normally takes place in the same academic year as the OFSTED Inspection, but, within these limits, schools and governors may select an inspection date which is most appropriate for their own circumstances. In fact, the Section 23 inspection may take place at any time in the six year OFSTED cycle, but the DfEE will only repay the fees if the two inspections fall in the same academic year.

What the Inspection Includes

The Section 23 Inspection looks at those areas of Church School life in which its Church of England foundation should be most clearly visible. For all schools this includes:

1. Collective worship. In all Church Schools worship should be carried out in accordance with the School's founding Anglican Trust Deed (recently augmented by the Ethos Statement in the new Instruments of Government). Here the inspection looks at both the planning and content of collective worship in some depth.
2. Church School Ethos. This looks at the overall running of the school, in particular such areas as behaviour, spiritual, moral, social, cultural development, the pastoral system, policies, special needs provision, general church school ambience.

In addition, Voluntary Aided Schools' Inspections include:

3. Religious Education. In Voluntary Controlled Schools this subject area will be inspected by OFSTED, in Voluntary Aided it is an important part of the Section 23 Inspection.

The Process of the Inspection

The format and timings of a Section 23 Inspection follow closely those of OFSTED and the Inspector will probably prefer to liaise with OFSTED as much as is possible. There are however, several differences between the two inspections:

The Section 23 Inspector may choose whether to attend the Parents' Meeting and whether to issue a Parents' Questionnaire, although they will probably do both.

The Inspector will require less documentary information than OFSTED, but may ask for a wide selection of materials about the general life of the school and the community.

The Inspector will wish to interview the incumbent and/or a representative of the local church community.

The Inspector is not obliged to report back to the governors in person when the report is submitted, although will probably do so on request. As this is not covered by the inspection fee, this could involve the governors in additional expense. The Inspector should certainly give an oral report to the headteacher and interested governors at the end of their final official inspection visit to the school.

The school can expect the Inspector to keep to the same timetable as OFSTED for the writing of the report, and to adhere to the same standards of professional conduct. The report will probably be written in a more "user-friendly" style than OFSTED's, which most schools prefer. The Diocesan Board of Education & Training recommends that the school publishes the two reports together. Please send a copy of BOTH reports to us at the Diocesan Office.

The officers of the Board are always available to help schools through the details of the Section 23 process, and to give support both prior to and following the inspection.

Inspections

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