Ofsted & Data

How Ofsted inspects

We inspect providers across education, children’s services and further education and skills and tell you what we find in our inspection reports.

The type of inspection will determine such things as:

• the number of inspectors

• the length of the inspection

• the amount of notice a provider gets

• what happens during the inspection

• the content of the inspection report.

A typical inspection has one or more inspectors visiting a provider to find out about them. The inspection will follow a framework and report on particular aspects of the provision.

After the inspection we tell you what we find out in our inspection reports. We publish these reports on our website, and in some cases the provider has to provide the report on request.

The content of a report will depend on the type of inspection. An inspection report will describe the provider, then go on to tell you about our inspection findings and judgements with the grades given by the inspector.

How we carry out an inspection will depend on the type of provider. For more information go to the relevant section to find out about how we inspect and what is in inspection reports.

• Schools

• Further education and skills

• Children and families services

• Early years and childcare