The Education (School Inspection) Regulations 1993

PART II SCHOOL INSPECTIONS

3.  In this Part of these Regulations—

• “action plan” shall be construed in accordance with paragraph 10(1) of Schedule 2 to the Act;

• “appropriate authority” shall be construed in accordance with paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Act;

• “inspection” means an inspection of a school under section 9 of the Act;

• “inspection team” has the meaning set out in paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 2 to the Act;

• “registered inspector” means an inspector registered under section 10(1) of the Act.

Intervals for inspection

4.  The Chief Inspector for England shall ensure that every school in England to which section 9 of the Act applies is inspected by an inspector registered under section 10(1) of the Act—

(a) (i) in the case of a secondary school, on or after 1st September 1993 but before 1st August 1997;

(ii) in any other case, on or after 1st September 1994 but before 1st August 1998; and

(b) thereafter in either case, within four school years from the end of the school year when the last inspection took place.

Notification of inspection

5.  Where an inspection is arranged, the appropriate authority shall take such steps as are reasonably practicable to notify—

(a) in the case of a maintained school which is not a grant-maintained school and for which the governing body is the appropriate authority, an appropriate officer of the local education authority;

(b) in the case of a maintained school for which the local education authority is the appropriate authority, the chairman of the governing body;

(c) in the case of a voluntary school or a grant-maintained school which, immediately before it became a grant-maintained school, was a voluntary school, the person who appoints the school’s foundation governors;

(d) in the case of a special school which is not maintained by a local education authority, or an independent school approved by the Secretary of State under section 11(3)(a) of the Education Act 1981(1), an appropriate officer of any local authority which is paying fees to the school in respect of a registered pupil at the school;

(e) in the case of any other school, the Secretary of State; and

(f) in the case of a secondary school, the Training and Enterprise Council for the area in which the school is located, and such members of the local business community as the appropriate authority think fit, after considering whether it would be desirable to include in particular members who have recently employed former pupils of the school

of the time when the inspection is to take place.

Meeting with parents

6.  The appropriate authority, in arranging a meeting pursuant to paragraph 6(b) of Schedule 2 to the Act, shall—

(a) select a time for the meeting before the time when the inspection is to take place;

(b) in selecting a time and place for the meeting, have regard to the convenience of parents;

(c) take such steps as are reasonably practicable to give written notification at least three weeks in advance of the time and place when the meeting is to take place to—

(i) the parents of registered pupils at the school and, if a registered pupil is a child who is looked after by a local authority, an appropriate officer of that authority; and

(ii) in the case of a special school which is not maintained by a local education authority or an independent school approved by the Secretary of State under section 11(3)(a) of the Education Act 1981, an appropriate officer of any local authority which is paying the fees of a registered pupil at the school, if a parent of that pupil so requests;

(d) not permit anyone to attend the meeting except—

(i) the registered inspector and the inspection team;

(ii) any person whom the registered inspector may request to attend the meeting for the purpose of providing administrative support or of recording what is said;

(iii) the parents of registered pupils at the school and, if a registered pupil is a child who is looked after by a local authority, an appropriate officer of that authority;

(iv) in the case of a special school which is not maintained by a local education authority or an independent school approved by the Secretary of State under section 11(3)(a) of the Education Act 1981, an appropriate officer of any local authority which is paying the fees of a registered pupil at the school, if a parent of that pupil so requests;

(v) an Inspector monitoring the inspection under section 3(2) of the Act;

(e) arrange for the registered inspector to have control of the meeting in all other respects.

Reports and action plans

7.—(1) An inspection shall be carried out during a period not exceeding two weeks.

(2) The registered inspector shall, within five weeks from the completion of the inspection, prepare in writing a report of the inspection and a summary of the report.

(3) The appropriate authority shall, within forty working days from the date when the registered inspector reported to them, prepare an action plan.

(4) The appropriate authority shall, within five working days from the date when they completed the preparation of the action plan, send copies of it to the persons and bodies mentioned in paragraph 10(2) of Schedule 2 to the Act, to all persons employed at the school and, in the case of a secondary school, the Training and Enterprise Council for the area in which the school is located.

Fees for provision of the report and summary and of the action plan

8.—(1) A fee of 10 pence per sheet is payable where, under paragraph 9(5)(b) of Schedule 2 to the Act, an appropriate authority provides—

(a) a copy of a report to any person or body who is not otherwise entitled to receive one;

(b) a copy of a summary to any person or body who already has a copy.

(2) A fee of 10 pence per sheet is payable where, under paragraph 10(5)(b) of Schedule 2 to the Act, an appropriate authority provides a copy of an action plan to any person or body—

(a) who is not otherwise entitled to receive one and who lives or whose principal office is located outside a radius of 3 miles from the school; or

(b) who already has a copy.

(3) The fee payable under this regulation includes a fee payable in respect of any part of the report, summary or action plan which relates to inspections of denominational education under Part III of these Regulations.

(1)

1981 c. 60.