翱蹿蝉迟别诲鈥檚 chief inspector has poured cold water on Labour plans to introduce a new annual review of safeguarding, saying it would be 鈥渕uch more expensive and complicated鈥�. Addressing the at Wellington College in Surrey on Thursday, Amanda Spielman said the government would 鈥渉ave to make something four times the size鈥� of 翱蹿蝉迟别诲鈥檚 current school inspection operation to roll out the proposals. She was not commenting explicitly on Labour plans, but was asked if safeguarding should be removed from the Ofsted inspection framework and undertaken as a separate “indicator”. In March, Labour outlined plans for yearly school safeguarding reviews at the annual conference of school leaders鈥� union ASCL. Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the safety of children was 鈥渢oo important鈥� to be left to infrequent inspections. Safeguarding would remain within the remit of Ofsted and the two inspections would 鈥渃omplement one another鈥�. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 actually make safeguarding a bigger thing, relative to everything else,鈥� Spielman added. 鈥淚t would take a very big commitment of energy.鈥� Ofsted dealt with Ruth Perry case ‘humanely’ Last month, Ofsted announced changes to the school inspection system following pushback in the wake of the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. Spielman in conversation with Schools Weeks editor John Dickens today It included a commitment to reinspect schools which are graded 鈥榠nadequate鈥� overall due to ineffective safeguarding faster. Perry鈥檚 family said she took her own life after her school was rated 鈥榠nadequate鈥� by Ofsted as a result of safeguarding failures at Caversham Primary School. An inquest into her death has yet to be held. On Thursday, Spielman described the case as 鈥渧ery, very sad鈥� and added that her sympathies 鈥渞emain with Ruth鈥檚 family and colleagues鈥�. Asked if she would have responded to the situation any differently in hindsight, given criticism from the sector, the Ofsted chief appeared to suggest she would not. 鈥淚鈥檓 confident that my team were professional, fair, sensitive and humane,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a very distressed family, every body has to be very sensitive and careful around that.鈥� Spielman ‘happy’ with legacy Spielman will step down as His Majesty鈥檚 Chief Inspector (HMCI) at the end of the year after seven years at the helm. It is understood her successor will be announced before the end of this month. Reflecting on her overall tenure in the top job, Spielman said: 鈥淏roadly I鈥檓 happy with how I鈥檝e approached the job.鈥� She added that she did 鈥渁 lot of listening鈥� to the sector before starting and would encourage the next HMCI to do the same. As in previous interviews, she defended single-word judgments, which have been a source of controversy in recent months. 鈥淧arents do value the simplicity and clarity,鈥� she said. Asked which single word she鈥檇 used to describe her tenure, however, she retorted: 鈥淚鈥檓 not playing that game鈥�.
David 7 July 2023 Asked which single word she鈥檇 used to describe her tenure, however, she retorted: 鈥淚鈥檓 not playing that game鈥�. Shame that schools don’t get the same choice. If Ofsted are saying that one word judgements offer “simplicity and clarity” then that is the biggest example of hypocrisy that I can think of. Ofsted needs to stop patronising every adult in the country. It has a duty to accurately reflect the work and impact of what is going on in a school, the current system simply doesn’t do that.
Helen Castell 10 July 2023 We currently have yearly safeguarding audits via our local authority so this seems like a nonsense. What we need is more support from outside agencies to deal with issues as in so many cases if a parent does not want to engage with for example Family Solutions they do not have to leaving nothing for families who do not meet the criteria for Social Care intervention.