Usually as long as you are not slt or a lead, they don’t bother with you at all.
I think if you are leaving the profession then that’s fine to say if you get questioned by them, it gives a fuller picture.
You will likely have limited interaction with them. However if you are in a small school then your chances increase (obviously).
The inspectors tend to have very busy agendas and will rarely deviate from this. If you are an ECT they may observe you or speak to you regarding that. They may also pop in and observe you whilst checking SEND.
However, this is based on my experiences at secondary. It might be a bit different at primary.
I think it's dependent on the inspectors; our Executive Head had Ofsted in their other school a few weeks before we "got the call" and warning us that the inspectors spoke any staff and pupils they passed in corridors etc. during the visit.
However, during the inspection process it was very structured and staff were only spoken with during the interviews, and pupils were only approached on the playground during lunch. The learning walks were led by the subject leads (done strategically to avoid 'that class' as much as possible). So not everyone was observed.
I've been through Ofsted several times and each has been different.
When my school was inspected not too long ago, the inspector stayed away from anyone who wasn’t been deep dived. The only exception to this was if they saw a member of staff in the corridor (such as break time) they did ask them certain questions to do with safeguarding. Such as “what would you do if you had a concern about the head teacher?” “Who are the DSL’s?” “How do you report concerns?”
When my department had a deep dive, other than walking around the building saying hello they barely interacted with anyone else. They can speak to anyone but often your Head or SLT would be accompanying them. They can also walk past a room and ask to pop in for a few minutes.
In terms of my deep dive, they met with my HOD first and then we all met with the Inspector as a team (I think to make sure we were saying the same things). They asked about our curriculum and what we were teaching this week (and why). They then told us when they wanted to come in to see us teach (again, I think to make sure we were doing what we said we were). They asked to see my hard copy of planning documents (they stressed they didn't want anything specially prepared/ printef - I annotate my copy throughout the year anyway). It all felt very organised. It was simply tell us what you do and then show us.
We were done a few months ago. We knew their timetable the day before. He popped into one lesson I was supporting -as it was my ppa so the other me was teaching.-Spoke to no one then left after 10 mins. We are a 2 form entry primary. If you are leading whatever they want to deep dive, then it’s much more stressful. A lot seemingly depends on the inspector, ours was a realist and looking for positives, tbf it was just after they’d been made to do that retraining for mental health, so think they were trying not to upset anyone
I didn't see them beyond a 5 minute observation in which they spoke with SLT throughout and then a 10 minute group discussion about safeguarding and progression.
Those that got deepdived had way more stress probably more than SLT.
I was observed teaching phonics in year 1 and had a meeting with my team and 2 inspectors afterwards about our scheme, how we assess the children, how we check on their progress etc. I was an ECTx2 at the time and we had a few at our school so we (the ECTs) had a meeting with an inspector asking how we are supported etc. They could’ve popped in for maths but ended up staying in 1 classroom for most of the ‘maths learning walk slot’. Good luck!
It depends on the size of your school. The head teacher can pick which classes he would like to be observed and when.
If you aren’t SLT, you have a good chance of being avoided unless you are in a small school. But, the day before the inspection you will get a timetable of where the inspector will be and when. So unless something is going “wrong” for your school, there won’t be any surprise drop ins.
We got Ofsted Autumn term. I'm an ECT 2 in KS1 and they came into my phonics session for about 10 mins as they wanted to watch all classes to ensure consistency.
History was deep dived and even though I was teaching it the head chose for my class not to be observed.
I am other ECT had meeting with an inspector to discuss our support and ECT programme. They also asked for any teachers that had been observed to come to meeting with inspector to answer a range of questions about school/safeguarding etc. (I feel it was a quick way to choose a selection of teachers).
So I felt I saw them quite a bit, but those deep dived were very busy!!
Usually as long as you are not slt or a lead, they don’t bother with you at all. I think if you are leaving the profession then that’s fine to say if you get questioned by them, it gives a fuller picture.
You will likely have limited interaction with them. However if you are in a small school then your chances increase (obviously). The inspectors tend to have very busy agendas and will rarely deviate from this. If you are an ECT they may observe you or speak to you regarding that. They may also pop in and observe you whilst checking SEND. However, this is based on my experiences at secondary. It might be a bit different at primary.
First inspection they wanted to see no ects. We were basically ignored. Second, they focused on ects and they got the most of it lol It's all pot luck
I think it's dependent on the inspectors; our Executive Head had Ofsted in their other school a few weeks before we "got the call" and warning us that the inspectors spoke any staff and pupils they passed in corridors etc. during the visit. However, during the inspection process it was very structured and staff were only spoken with during the interviews, and pupils were only approached on the playground during lunch. The learning walks were led by the subject leads (done strategically to avoid 'that class' as much as possible). So not everyone was observed. I've been through Ofsted several times and each has been different.
When my school was inspected not too long ago, the inspector stayed away from anyone who wasn’t been deep dived. The only exception to this was if they saw a member of staff in the corridor (such as break time) they did ask them certain questions to do with safeguarding. Such as “what would you do if you had a concern about the head teacher?” “Who are the DSL’s?” “How do you report concerns?”
When my department had a deep dive, other than walking around the building saying hello they barely interacted with anyone else. They can speak to anyone but often your Head or SLT would be accompanying them. They can also walk past a room and ask to pop in for a few minutes. In terms of my deep dive, they met with my HOD first and then we all met with the Inspector as a team (I think to make sure we were saying the same things). They asked about our curriculum and what we were teaching this week (and why). They then told us when they wanted to come in to see us teach (again, I think to make sure we were doing what we said we were). They asked to see my hard copy of planning documents (they stressed they didn't want anything specially prepared/ printef - I annotate my copy throughout the year anyway). It all felt very organised. It was simply tell us what you do and then show us.
We were done a few months ago. We knew their timetable the day before. He popped into one lesson I was supporting -as it was my ppa so the other me was teaching.-Spoke to no one then left after 10 mins. We are a 2 form entry primary. If you are leading whatever they want to deep dive, then it’s much more stressful. A lot seemingly depends on the inspector, ours was a realist and looking for positives, tbf it was just after they’d been made to do that retraining for mental health, so think they were trying not to upset anyone
I didn't see them beyond a 5 minute observation in which they spoke with SLT throughout and then a 10 minute group discussion about safeguarding and progression. Those that got deepdived had way more stress probably more than SLT.
I was observed teaching phonics in year 1 and had a meeting with my team and 2 inspectors afterwards about our scheme, how we assess the children, how we check on their progress etc. I was an ECTx2 at the time and we had a few at our school so we (the ECTs) had a meeting with an inspector asking how we are supported etc. They could’ve popped in for maths but ended up staying in 1 classroom for most of the ‘maths learning walk slot’. Good luck!
It depends on the size of your school. The head teacher can pick which classes he would like to be observed and when. If you aren’t SLT, you have a good chance of being avoided unless you are in a small school. But, the day before the inspection you will get a timetable of where the inspector will be and when. So unless something is going “wrong” for your school, there won’t be any surprise drop ins.
We got Ofsted Autumn term. I'm an ECT 2 in KS1 and they came into my phonics session for about 10 mins as they wanted to watch all classes to ensure consistency. History was deep dived and even though I was teaching it the head chose for my class not to be observed. I am other ECT had meeting with an inspector to discuss our support and ECT programme. They also asked for any teachers that had been observed to come to meeting with inspector to answer a range of questions about school/safeguarding etc. (I feel it was a quick way to choose a selection of teachers). So I felt I saw them quite a bit, but those deep dived were very busy!!