Office of Education Standards

Questions and answers about the Office of Education Standards (OES) inspections of schools and Early Years Centres

This section of the website has been designed to help colleagues to prepare for inspection and to outline the kinds of activities which will take place during the time OES are visiting your school/Centre.

What do the inspectors do when they are in the school or Centre?

During the inspection we shall have a particular interest in how the school is developing and assessing children’s and students’ skills and understanding in English, mathematics and science. In Early Years Centres, the focus will relate to the four areas of learning specified in the Early Years curriculum framework, namely communication, well-being, exploration and respect.

Strong provision in these important areas enables children and young people to benefit from the best possible learning at every stage of their education.

In primary and secondary schools, we will also look at the quality of teaching in other subject areas and within each team we shall ensure that inspection team members with particular subject expertise have professional dialogue with relevant staff, wherever possible.

We shall use what we learn during our time in school to evaluate the school’s capacity to improve and comment upon the seven performance standards from ‘Successful Schools and Achieving Students’.

• Helping our students to achieve in key areas of their learning.
• Promoting our students’ personal and social development.
• Ensuring effective teaching to support our students’ learning.
• Offering a curriculum that meets the educational needs of all of our students.
• Keeping our students safe and always supported.
• Leading and managing our school and developing our links with the community we serve.
• Overall performance. How good is our school?

We will report on each of these standards using a four-point scale (excellent, good, satisfactory or weak).

In providing answers to the key questions, inspectors will use the quality indicators from ‘Successful Schools and Achieving Students’ (The Cayman Islands Government, 2018) to support evaluations of the school’s work and provide information on how the school can improve. In doing so, inspectors will take account of the context and nature of the school and children’s and students’ needs.

What happens during the inspection?

The Lead Inspector and the inspection team will arrive at the start of the school day on the first day. These timings may vary in Early Years Centre inspections or in the case of smaller schools. The team should be located in a base which has access to the internet and sufficient power points to allow use of laptop computers. At the beginning or end of the first day (usually Monday), the Lead Inspector may meet staff to introduce members of the inspection team, brief them on the inspection and answer any questions they may have. Attendance at this meeting is voluntary for staff and the inclusion of the meeting is at the discretion of the Principal. OES are aware of the fact that other meetings and extra-curricular provision may militate against the arrangement. As part of the planned activities, the following meetings are required during the inspection but should be organised in advance of Day One to support the efficient running of the inspection.

• Meeting/s with groups of learners (usually up to 10 students from each main phase of the school), lasting between 30 minutes and one hour.
• Meeting/s with staff responsible for standards in the key subjects (English, mathematics and science), lasting up to one hour.
• Meeting/s with relevant members of the Senior Leadership Team to discuss the school improvement plan and any self-evaluation undertaken. The meeting will be for around one hour.
• Meeting with the SENCO to discuss the school’s arrangements for student support and guidance, lasting around one hour.
• In private schools, meeting with the Chair of Governors or a representative member/s of the Governing Body. The meeting will be for around one hour.

Inspectors will undertake a range of activities over the course of the week. These are designed to provide the team with information to consider the school’s performance in relation to the standards from ‘Successful Schools and Achieving Students’ and offer opportunities to support the school to improve. The programme of activities will be informed by the opening discussion on Day One. It will involve class visits (including the nursery/Reception class, where there is one), meetings with staff, children and young people, and reading key documentation.

At the end of each day, the inspection team will have a team meeting during which findings from the day will be discussed and reviewed. The Lead Inspector will meet briefly with the Principal at the end of each day to discuss findings and seek further clarification of issues raised.

Once the inspection team is confident that they have sufficient evidence, there will be a final team meeting during which the evaluations are agreed. The Lead Inspector and team members will meet with the Principal and SLT on the final day of the inspection, to share judgements and findings using the standards listed above as the agenda for the meeting.

The feedback meeting will usually take place on the final afternoon of the inspection. The Lead Inspector will keep the Principal informed of the exact timing, so that the meeting can be confirmed with any Department of Education Services representatives who may wish to attend. We would encourage the Principal to have one or more colleagues at the meeting, typically members of the senior management team.

What engagement will staff, children and young people have with the team?

Inspectors will engage with children, young people and staff throughout their time in school. The team will meet different groups of children and young people for different purposes.

For example, we may discuss any issues from the inspection questionnaire or listen to how their views are sought and acted upon. Students from Y5 upwards and all staff will be invited to complete an on-line survey prior to the start of the school-based part of the inspection.

For members of the senior team, engagement can start with attendance at the opening discussion on the first day of the inspection. For all other staff, it will begin at the end of the day on Monday when team members can meet staff (both teaching and support staff are invited to attend) and answer questions about the inspection process.

Meetings will be arranged with selected members of ‘middle’ management to discuss aspects of school improvement.

Inspectors will spend a large proportion of time in lessons observing teaching and learning. There will be no formal feedback to individual teachers but key generic information arising from lesson observations pertaining to phases or particular year groups, will be shared with the Senior Leadership Team on a daily basis.

What engagement will parents have with the team?

Parents will be invited to complete an on-line survey in advance of the inspection.

The results from the survey will be available to the Lead Inspector prior to arrival in the school. The Lead Inspector will also meet with a group of up to 10 parents including the Chair of the PTA/Parent Council. The Lead Inspector will discuss the selection of parents with the Principal on the first day of the inspection.

What happens after the inspection?

The Office of Education Standards will provide the school/Centre with a draft copy of the inspection report usually within four weeks following the end of the inspection.

The Principal, the Chair of Governors (for private schools), the Department of Education Services and Ministry of Education will be asked to provide any comments or suggested corrections to the draft report within two days week of receipt. This is a factual check of the report content. Members of the Office of Education Standards team will engage with the Department of Education Services about the inspection as part of his/her on-going liaison activities.

Where necessary, the Director of the Office of Education Standards will discuss with the Principal and the Ministry of Education any issues about further inspection or other continuing engagement with the school.

The Office of Education Standards shall publish the report following receipt of comments. The Principal, Chair of Governors (private schools only), Ministry of Education, Department of Education Services and Education Council will receive an electronic copy of the report.

Monitoring inspections

It is the responsibility of the Director of the Office of Education Standards to monitor the quality of the inspection ensuring that judgements that are made are well evidenced, fair and robust. Each inspection will receive a visit either from the Director or another member of the Office of Education Standards professional team. As part of this process, the quality assurance check may require a brief interview with the Principal/Head of Centre to receive feedback regarding the inspection process and the conduct of the inspectors in school.

Which documents are to be provided in advance of the inspection?

Schools and Centres are requested to send ONLY the following items (electronically if possible) to our Executive Officer (OES) prior to the inspection. The information will be requested within the notification of inspection letter.

• The school/centre development or improvement plan.
• Any recent reports (internal or external) on the quality of any aspect of the school’s work.
• Information about the school’s management structure, in the form of a diagram, if possible.
• A list of the teaching and administration staff, showing which subjects and/or age groups they teach and any management responsibilities they hold.
• The school’s weekly timetable, showing clearly for each class the name of the teacher and the location of the lesson.
• A floor plan of the school building(s).
• Information about children and young people’s performance over time, including performance in external and national examinations and any available benchmarking data.

Which documents are to be provided for the team on arrival?

Schools and centres are requested to provide the following information in the inspector base on the first day of the inspection week. THERE IS NO REQUIREMENT TO SEND THIS INFORMATION IN ADVANCE.

• Information used by the school to monitor and evaluate school and children’s and young people’s performance, including wider achievements.
• Access to a sample of students’ progress records.
• List of children and young people with special educational needs and brief details of support provided.
• Information about your curriculum e.g. curriculum overview, course choice information.
• Any guidance for teachers and/or staff handbook (if available).
• Sample of agendas and minutes of Parent Council meetings, student council meetings and staff meetings.
• Information used by the school/centre to monitor and evaluate the quality of learning and teaching.
• A sample from different stages/ year groups of reports for parents regarding children’s and young people’s progress/learning.
• Examples of school communications with parents and the wider community e.g. newsletters, prospectus, parent handbook.

Last Updated 2018-08-14