{"id":52940,"date":"2015-01-27T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-27T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=6a4c19f8839f29c2100aa0286dd77c94"},"modified":"2015-01-27T10:30:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T10:30:00","slug":"press-release-review-concludes-no-advance-warning-given-to-norfolk-academies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=52940","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Review concludes no advance warning given to Norfolk academies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Her Majesty\u2019s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, appointed a senior legal professional Julian Gizzi to undertake a detailed review of the original investigation into claims first made in a Sunday newspaper in August 2014.<\/p>\n

Mr Gizzi, a partner at international law firm DAC Beachcroft, was asked to examine all the evidence considered as part of the investigation by Ofsted\u2019s Director of Quality and Training, Sir Robin Bosher, and the conclusions reached in his report published on 23 September 2014. He was also asked to consider further material relevant to the allegations which came to light after Sir Robin had completed his review.<\/p>\n

Mr Gizzi has concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, no-one associated with any of the three schools in question, Ormiston Victory Academy, Great Yarmouth Primary Academy and Thetford Academy, received more than the requisite half a day\u2019s notice of the date of their inspection, contrary to claims published in the Observer newspaper. <\/p>\n

He said that Sir Robin Bosher had carried out his original investigation \u201cwith an open mind, that he acted with fairness and integrity and that his overall approach was methodical and diligent.\u201d His conclusion was that Sir Robin\u2019s investigation \u201cwas, overall, appropriate\u201d and the conclusions he reached \u201cwere reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documents provided to the independent reviewer also supported Sir Robin\u2019s conclusion that the academies at the centre of the allegations expended considerable time and energy preparing for impending Ofsted inspections.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s 56-page report has been published in full and without redaction on the Ofsted website.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the conclusions of the independent review, Sir Michael Wilshaw said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to thank Julian Gizzi for carrying out this comprehensive review.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe claims that were made about certain Norfolk schools being given advance notice of Ofsted inspection dates were very serious and damaging. I am, therefore, pleased that the overall findings in our original enquiry are supported by the conclusions reached by the independent and impartial review. I am also pleased that Mr Gizzi has recognised that Sir Robin\u2019s original investigation was professional, substantial and rigorous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Michael added:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat today\u2019s review does lay bare is the extent to which some Norfolk schools were on such a high degree of \u2018Ofsted readiness\u2019 for weeks and even months before the inspection actually took place. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important that schools maintain a sense of proportion when preparing for an Ofsted inspection. In my experience, the best schools devote their energies to getting things right for their pupils, not for inspectors. Leaders should be focusing on making sure there is good teaching, robust assessment and a positive and respectful learning culture at their school. If they are attending well to these things then an Ofsted inspection will usually take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notes to editors<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. The independent review is online and can be accessed at: https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/review-of-alleged-inspection-irregularities-at-three-norfolk-academies-dac-beachcroft-llp<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
  2. Sir Robin Bosher\u2019s report, published on 23 September 2014, is online and can be accessed at: https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/investigation-into-allegations-of-inspection-irregularities-in-three-norfolk-schools<\/a>\n<\/li>\n
  3. The Office for Standards in Education, Children\u2019s Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages in England. It regulates and inspects childcare and children\u2019s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children\u2019s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.<\/li>\n
  4. Media can contact the Ofsted Press Office through 0300 130 415 or via Ofsted\u2019s enquiry line 0300 123 1231, between 8.30am to 6.00pm, Monday to Friday. Out of these hours, during evenings and weekends, the duty press officer can be reached on 07919 057 359.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Ofsted has today published the full independent review into alleged inspection irregularities at three academy schools in Norfolk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}