Inspection requirements for safeguarding in UK schools

How are safeguarding and child protection practices assessed?

Each regulatory body in the UK follows its own inspection framework. Evidence is collected to assess how well a school meets the required standards.

England

Ofsted uses the education inspection framework (EIF)¹ following the information set out in the school inspection: toolkit, operating guide and information guidance.²

Schools are inspected in these evaluation areas:

• safeguarding
• inclusion
• curriculum and teaching
• achievement
• attendance and behaviour
• personal development and well-being
• leadership and governance.

Where applicable, schools will also be evaluated on early years and sixth form provision.

Safeguarding is evaluated on a ‘met’ / ‘not met’ scale and the evaluation considers whether:

• the school has an open and positive safeguarding culture that puts children’s interests first
• leaders take an effective, whole-school approach to safeguarding.³

Northern Ireland

The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) uses the inspection and self-evaluation framework (ISEF).⁴

Schools are evaluated on a set of key indicators:

• overall effectiveness
• outcomes for learners
• quality of provision
• leadership and management
• governance
• care and welfare
• safeguarding.

The ETI inspects schools with the view that safeguarding and child protection should be a core part of how the school operates. The safeguarding key indicator focuses on how the school follows policy and procedures and if the children feel safe and secure.

The care and welfare key indicator looks at evidence of effective practice in areas such as supporting children to overcome barriers to learning and monitoring of attendance and engagement. It also includes the inspection of the statutory curriculum around relationships and sexuality education.

Scotland

Schools in Scotland are assessed using Education Scotland’s How good is our school? self-evaluation framework.⁵

The framework focuses on a school’s capacity to improve:

• leadership and management
• learning provision
• successes and achievements.

Each of these three areas has its own set of quality indicators (QIs). The safeguarding and child protection QI comes under the heading of learning provision. It looks at:

• school policies for safeguarding and child protection
• strategies to support children who have unexplained, regular, or long-term absence
• the standard of safeguarding record keeping
• how staff respond to any child protection or safeguarding issue
• if children are safe and feel safe in school
• if children feel that they have trusted adults to talk to when they need help.

Wales

Estyn’s approach to inspections is set out in its What we inspect guidance.⁶ Inspectors evaluate Welsh schools using five inspection areas (IAs):

• learning
• wellbeing and attitudes to learning
• teaching and learning experiences
• care, support and guidance
• leadership and management.

Safeguarding and personal development come under the IA of care, support and guidance which covers:

• the school’s approach to safeguarding
• the degree to which leaders promote and support a culture of safety and wellbeing within the school
• how well pupils believe that the school’s leaders will take seriously any concerns they have about their safety
• the general security of the school buildings and setting.

How does the inspection process work?

Each nation uses a combination of pre-prepared information and inspection visits to assess a school’s ability to safeguard their pupils.

England

Schools in England are evaluated using information provided by the school, feedback from questionnaires and an inspection visit.

The inspection process is set out in Ofsted's education inspection framework (EIF)¹ and school inspection: toolkit, oerating guide and information guidance.²

Schools are usually inspected around every 4 years, except if they are in one of Ofsted’s monitoring programmes. 

Schools may receive additional monitoring visits from Ofsted if: 

• any evaluation area has been graded as ‘needs attention’
• the school received a grade of ‘requires improvement’ for its overall effectiveness or for any key judgement at its last inspection
• the school has been placed in a category of concern, due to a need for urgent improvement.

Ofsted will normally contact the school by telephone between 9.30 and 10am on a Monday morning to let them know about an inspection. This is the notification call. During this, Ofsted will schedule with the school a planning call. 

The planning call may last up to 90 minutes and Ofsted will ask questions to understand the school’s context, its strengths and priorities for improvement and what will happen on the inspection days.

The school will then have until on the first day of inspection to put together the documentation the inspectors need to review.³ Requested safeguarding information includes:

• the single central record, summarising the checks and vetting of all staff working with pupils
• a list of concerns that have been shared with the designated safeguarding lead
• any referrals made to the local authority designated officer regarding staff or other adults
• a list of all pupils who have open cases with children’s services and all pupils who have a multi-agency plan
• records and analysis of incidents such as sexual harassment and bullying or discriminatory behaviour.

During the evaluation, the inspectors will observe pupils to evaluate aspects of personal development and welfare. Inspectors will ask pupils about their experiences of behaviour in the school, including how the school deals with any form of harassment and violence.

Ofsted will also gather further feedback from pupils, parents, staff, and other stakeholders, through questionnaires and informal meetings during the inspection.

Northern Ireland

Schools in Northern Ireland self-evaluate their safeguarding practices using questions from the inspection and self-evaluation framework (ISEF).⁴ This self-evaluation is then reviewed alongside findings from the inspection visit, as set out in the Education and Training Inspectorate’s (ETI’s) overview of the inspection process.⁵

Educational settings are inspected at least once every 3 years. If an inspection identifies important areas for improvement, a follow-up inspection will take place within 1-2 years.

For full and follow-up inspections, the ETI notifies the school or education setting by telephone and email 2 weeks before the visit. Sustaining improvement or monitoring inspections are scheduled in between full inspections, with 2 days’ notice. Inspections can take anywhere from 1 to 4 days depending on the education setting.

In preparation for the visit, schools are required to provide the following safeguarding information:

• a questionnaire, known as the safeguarding proforma, reviewing the school’s safeguarding practice
• a safeguarding policy that reflects the guidance of the Department of Education

During the visit, inspectors will assess how well the content of the safeguarding proforma is understood and implemented.

Inspectors obtain information from pupils, parents, staff and governors, through conversations and questionnaires which take place before and during the inspection. Inspectors also examine lessons and examples of pupils’ work.

Scotland

Schools in Scotland evaluate their own work through the quality indicators (QIs) set out in the How good is our school? framework.⁶ This self-evaluation provides the basis of inspections, which focus on a subset of the QIs. All inspections include a focus on safeguarding.

Education Scotland selects an annual sample of schools to evaluate. Each school is notified of an upcoming inspection by email, which is followed up with a phone call. Inspections can take up to a week to complete.

Before the inspection, schools in Scotland are asked to gather information including:

• a self-evaluation summary
• a pre-inspection questionnaire and survey for pupils, parents, staff, and partners
• a child protection and safeguarding self-evaluation form.

During the visit inspectors may visit classes, read key documents, look at pupil’s work and have discussions with groups of children and staff.

Inspectors evaluate the school’s safeguarding procedures and how they are linked to locally agreed multi-agency procedures. As part of this they will meet with the school’s child protection coordinator to sign off the completed child protection and safeguarding self-evaluation form.

Further information on the inspection process is set out in Education Scotland’s guidance on inspections for heads of education settings (PDF).⁷

Wales

Estyn uses target outcomes that focus on strengths and required improvements to inspect schools in Wales.

Safeguarding practices are evaluated using the school’s own assessment of their safeguarding policy and any actions taken to address inadequacies, alongside the inspector’s assessment of the school during their visit. The inspection process is set out in detail in Estyn’s How we inspect⁸ and What we inspect (PDF)⁹ guidance for inspectors.

Estyn visits schools at least once in an 8-year-period¹⁰ and will make more regular visits to schools that require additional support.

Schools will be notified 10 working days before the inspection. They will then receive a follow-up phone call and be given further information about pre-inspection questionnaires. The length of the inspection is determined by the size of the education setting.

The inspection team will gather evidence through a range of means including:

• the pre-inspection questionnaires
• discussions with pupils, parents, and staff
• observing lessons and the children’s behaviour during the school day.

Estyn assesses the culture of safety and wellbeing in a school by looking at:

• the culture of safety and wellbeing
• the effectiveness of the school’s own evaluation
• the record keeping processes
• the security of school buildings and site
• child protection arrangements.

How do inspectors respond to safeguarding concerns?

If immediate or serious safeguarding concerns are found, these are raised during inspections. The guidance for responding to concerns differs in each nation. A summary of the guidance is shared below.

England

Safeguarding is evaluated as either ‘met’ or ‘not met’.

If the safeguarding evaluation area has been graded as ‘not met’ then the school will be placed in a category of concern and monitored.¹

For minor safeguarding issues identified during the inspection, safeguarding can still be graded as ‘met’ if: 

• the issues have no immediate or significant impact on pupils’ safety
• leaders resolve, or take the necessary steps to resolve, the issues.

If the safeguarding evaluation area isn’t ‘met’, but all other evaluation areas are at the expected standard or better, Ofsted may consider suspending the inspection. The decision to suspend an inspection will only be made if Ofsted believe leaders can resolve the safeguarding issues within 3 months and there are no significant risks to children. Ofsted will then return within 3 months to complete the inspection.

If a child protection or safeguarding concern arises during any inspection, the lead inspector should discuss the matter with the relevant senior manager at the setting and verify that a referral to the local authority’s children’s services will be made.²

Northern Ireland

If the school is described as ‘unsatisfactory’ for children’s care, welfare and safeguarding, the ETI will return within 6 working weeks to re-assess the progress on these issues.³

The ETI’s code of conduct for inspecting states that there should be prompt and appropriate action on any safeguarding or health and safety issues.⁴

Scotland

If a QI is found to be unsatisfactory, senior managers based within the school (such as headteachers) and staff from relevant agencies will support the school to take immediate steps to improve.⁵

If safeguarding concerns arise during the visit, inspection team members will discuss these with senior leaders as appropriate.⁶

Wales

Where safeguarding plans don’t meet requirements, inspectors will alert managers at the school, record the concern, and recommend strategies for improvement. After the inspection a ‘wellbeing letter’ is issued to the school and local authority to ensure that progress is being made. If inspectors find significant risks to pupils, the school will normally be assessed as needing special measures and senior leaders in the school will be notified.⁷

If safeguarding concerns arise during the visit, inspectors should alert the managers at the provision, and follow Estyn’s policy and procedures for safeguarding.⁸