Our School Inspections
Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. They inspect services providing education and skills for learners of all ages. They also inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people. Ofsted’s role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training and care services in England do so to a high standard for children and students.
During the inspection, inspectors observe lessons, check records and gather a range of evidence to inform their judgements, including speaking to staff, governors, pupils and parents and scrutinising pupils’ work.
The new Ofsted framework puts less emphasis on test results than previous inspections did. There is a greater focus on how schools foster pupils’ broader development, including character, citizenship and resilience.
They also look at how schools manage behaviour, including low-level disruption and bullying.
So for example, when talking about teachers, Ofsted now say: “we want them to spend their time teaching and making a real difference to children’s lives, which is why they entered the profession in the first place.'
The most recent inspections of ACE Schools (2018) and ACE Tiverton (2024) rated both schools Good.
This means that the school: “provides well for the needs of its pupils and prepares them effectively for the next stage of their education or employment. Schools rated as 'good' receive a one-day short inspection every three years, or a full inspection if the school's performance has changed dramatically”
Transforming Futures Trust is disappointed with the recent Ofsted report for Courtlands Special School. Despite this challenging outcome, we acknowledge the school needs improvement and have been making significant progress over the past year, ensuring a safe environment and sound governance. We believe the report does not accurately reflect the evidence and have raised this with Ofsted. Our commitment to rapid and sustainable improvement remains unwavering as we intensify our plans to address the issues.