Ofsted Overview

Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. They inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills for learners of all ages.

Every week, they carry out hundreds of inspections and regulatory visits throughout England and publish the results online. Their goal is to achieve excellence in education and skills for learners of all ages, and in the care of children and young people.

They are responsible for:

• inspecting maintained schools and academies, some independent schools, and many other educational institutions and programmes outside of higher education
• inspecting childcare, adoption and fostering agencies and initial teacher training
• publishing reports of our findings so they can be used to improve the overall quality of education and training
• regulating a range of early years and children’s social care services, making sure they’re suitable for children and potentially vulnerable young people
• reporting to policymakers on the effectiveness of these services