How Ofsted inspects alternative provision | Ofsted webinar for schools

In this webinar, we reflect on the national context in which alternative provision (AP) works. We talk about the complexity and dynamism of the AP landscape and discuss the pressures that the AP system is under. We also explore the activities inspectors do on an inspection and how they arrive at judgements.

Our panel:
Lee Owston HMI, Deputy Director, Schools and Early Education
Anna Trethewey, Deputy Director, Cross Remit Education
Steve Shaw HMI, Senior HMI, SEND Cross-Remit Policy
Dave Gilkerson HMI, Schools HMI, East Midlands

Content:
Setting the scene
The national context
Our approach to inspecting the curriculum in alternative provision
Our approach to inspecting AP
The telephone call and discussing and agreeing the deep dives
Exploring the curriculum
Inspecting behaviour in alternative provision

Questions:
Q1: When mainstream schools are using AP, how likely are inspectors to go off site and see some of the alternative provisions and arrangements there?
Q2: Where there are multiple APs used across year groups, how would inspectors decide where to focus the AP as part of the inspection?
Q3: What is your view on unregistered AP?
Q4: Has there been a recent thematic review of AP?
Q5: What kind of progress will Ofsted want to see when out on inspection?
Q6: How do you prepare your inspectors for inspecting AP; what training do they get?