Last week Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, wrote in her new newsletter for Directors of Children’s Services that there has been much positive feedback on the new school inspection arrangements.

However, she also wrote that some misunderstanding seems to have developed about judgements on pupils’ attainment and safeguarding. Attainment is not a limiting judgement for the overall effectiveness grade for the school. Pupils’ learning and progress are of prime importance and while it is true that more weight is now given to attainment, the new evaluation schedule takes into account all three aspects of attainment, progress and learning when reaching a judgement about pupils’ achievement overall. Achievement, not attainment, remains the prime focus of the inspection.

A full article about the new arrangements, especially the judgements about attainment, achievement and safeguarding, will appear in the December issue of Ofsted News, which is due to be published shortly.