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Ofsted inspection of boarding schools
IfIf a school is not independent, or not a member of one of the five independent school associations (GSA, HMC, IAPS, ISA, Society of Heads), it will be inspected by Ofsted. Unless a school requires improvement or there are immediate concerns, Ofsted inspects boarding once in a three-year cycle under the Social Care Common Inspection Framework (SCCIF): boarding schools and residential special schools. This framework came into use on 1 April 2017, with minor updates most recently in March 2022.
Inspections of boarding and education are fundamentally separate processes. However, if the scheduled boarding and education inspections of a school fall within the same year, Ofsted will try to ensure the two inspections are aligned.
More information can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/social-care-commoninspection-framework-sccifboarding-schools-and-residentialspecial-schools/social-care-commoninspection-framework-sccif-boardingschools-and-residential-specialschools
Most inspection activity was paused in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, but has now resumed.
The evaluation criteria for Ofsted boarding inspections are used to make a judgement of the overall experiences and progress of children, taking into account: • how well children are helped and protected • the effectiveness of leaders and managers.
Details can be found in the framework document.
Reports do not comment in any detail on the Boarding Schools: National Minimum Standards (NMS) but will state clearly any which are deemed not to have been met. Schools, and indeed Ofsted, consider the NMS to be a minimum requirement which schools should aim to exceed considerably.
The education provision at the school will be inspected in the same way as it is at any day school which Ofsted inspects, other than where it has been possible to align or integrate the inspections as above. A new framework for inspecting education provision was launched on
Dale Wilkins
Senior Director, BSA Group
1 September 2019 and can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/education-inspectionframework
As well as giving a judgement on overall effectiveness, inspectors will report on: • quality of education • behaviour and attitudes • personal development • leadership and management. •
The Ofsted report grades both education and boarding in four categories: • Outstanding • Good • Requires improvement • Inadequate.
PProspective parents and boarders who are considering a state boarding school or an independent school inspected by Ofsted should read the school’s most recent reports, available at: https://reports.
ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/findinspection-report
Education and boarding reports are usually listed under separate registration numbers. To focus on the boarding element, click on ‘Children’s Social Care’ and then check the box entitled ‘Residential and boarding’. The education report can normally be found simply by searching under the name of the school. There are two government documents which relate to safeguarding and safer recruitment: Keeping Children Safe in Education (2022) (KCSIE)
https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/keeping-children-safe-ineducation--2
Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) (WTTSC) (with minor updates in December 2020)
https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/working-together-tosafeguard-children--2 SCHOOL INSPECTIONS OUTSIDE ENGLAND
Scotland and Wales have well-established school inspection systems. Details are available on the BSA website at www.boarding.org.uk Both independent and state schools in Wales have their education provision inspected by Estyn, the education and training inspectorate. Boarding schools in Wales have additional residential inspections from Care Inspectorate Wales, who use the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools (Wales) as a baseline. In Scotland, Education Scotland inspects all education provision. The Care Inspectorate inspects boarding, using both the Health and Social Care Standards and their own ‘Quality Framework’. There are also boarding standards in the Isle of Man, and boarding schools in Northern Ireland receive visits from the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA). BSA has its own set of voluntary accreditation standards for schools outside the UK to use.
THE BSA GUIDE TO BOARDING SCHOOLS • AUTUMN 2022 / CHOOSING AND ASSESSING SCHOOLS / 25 Dale Wilkins became a boarding tutor at Norwich School in 1987, shortly after taking up a post there as a language teacher. From 1990 to 1992, he and his wife ran a junior girls’ boarding house at Tettenhall College, before moving to Old Swinford Hospital, a state boarding school where Dale was Housemaster of both senior and junior boys’ houses, Director of Boarding, Deputy Head and Designated Safeguarding Lead. From 1998 he was also involved with BSA as a course tutor and in 2002 he was among the first group of boarding inspectors trained to inspect against the then new NMS. Since 2017 he has worked full-time for BSA, originally as Head of Safeguarding and Standards and now, as Senior Director. Dale lives in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, close to his former school. Dale is also a Deputy District Commissioner for the Scout Association, Chair of Youth Services for the Rotary Club of Stourbridge, and Chair of the Friends of Dudley Performing Arts, the music, art and drama service for schools in Dudley Borough. He enjoys travel (when COVID-19 allows!) and is a former sports coach and referee, who still plays cricket occasionally.
Boarding and Day School
for Girls and Boys aged 13-18 admissions@shrewsbury.org.uk | shrewsbury.org.uk 01743 280 552 Start your journey now at: shrewsbury.org.uk/open-days
WINNER
Independent School of the Year 2020
Weekly boarding: great fun and no school run
Boarding during the week at a school in the countryside is an opportunity for girls and boys to develop important life skills and can really take the pressure off busy city families, leaving theweekends free for quality time together.
‘I speak to a lot of parents who are keen to take the stress out of family life but don’t want their children to miss out on all the activities they enjoy – sports clubs, music lessons, drama groups, for example, and being with their friends,’ says George Masters, Deputy Head at Felsted, a boarding and day school for girls and boys aged four to 18 in north Essex. ‘Weekly boarding can be the answer. The time usually spent on the school commute can instead be invested into schoolwork, as well as enjoying their interests in the company of other students from around the world in a very safe and beautifully spacious environment.’ Felsted’s 90-acre rural campus is set in idyllic countryside just 40 miles from London, with rugby, cricket and hockey pitches, tennis and netball courts, and an indoor pool and sports centre. There’s a dedicated music school too, with a professional auditorium and plenty of practice rooms, plus a historic theatre and a brand new state of the art academic centre.
Felsted school buses collect weekly boarders from across the region on Sunday night and drop them off on Saturday afternoon in term-time. In between, their home away from home is one of Felsted’s eight boarding houses, each one furnished with comfortable sofas, beanbags and cushions with televisions and games consoles, pool or table tennis tables and other fun equipment.
‘It’s important that the boarding houses are relaxing places to be – boarders’ wellbeing is the top priority and every house has fulltime houseparents as well as a fully-staffed medical facility and wellbeing centre’ says George.
To find out more about boarding at Felsted, please visit www.felsted.org
Boarding from a Houseparent
Boarding schools have come a long way since the tales of cold showers, uncaring staff and dormitories lined with homesick children. Now the emphasis is on patience and guidance as students navigate social interactions and meeting the high expectations of a new school while being away from home for the first time and living with 30 other peers. Indeed students today often describe their boarding school as a ‘home from home’ or ‘one big sleepover’ where not only can they flourish academically but also learn tolerance, resilience, discipline and independence, while making life-long friends.
Evenings and weekends are packed with activities, and as well as large grounds and facilities, children can enjoy the company of hundreds of others every day and weekend, with senior students becoming older sibling figures.
At Gordon’s, the boarding journey begins in Year 7 in the bespoke junior family-run boarding house. Woolwich Houseparents Sam and Daisy Cooper get to know their new charges months before their arrival with in-person meetings or Zoom calls with parents to try and glean as much information about their child so they can be helped to settle in as quickly as possible.
Parents meanwhile, can help prepare their children by increasing their independence and encouraging practical tasks and chores such as making their own bed.
The boarding house is run as an extension of Sam and Daisy Cooper’s home – the kitchen door is always open and their children and dog running around. Saturday morning pancakes in their kitchen is a weekly treat! Students feel comfortable, safe and secure – it’s their term time home and their aim is to make them feel that way. In the early stages the children are kept busy with many activities. If they’re playing rounders then they won’t be feeling homesick! However, it is always going to crop up, usually at bedtime. Then they come downstairs and are on the sofa with hot chocolate and talking it through. They also support each other in their bunk beds early on – that is how they develop those lasting friendship bonds.
Sam and Daisy Cooper, Houseparents of Woolwich House. Sam Cooper is also Head of Boarding at Gordon’s School, Tes Boarding School of the Year 2022.
