The Subject "Deep Dive": How to prepare for Ofsted... (Instalment 2 of 3)

SJ Eastwood
Mar 21, 2023
4 min read

From 'The Journal of a School Leader' series...

How to prepare for an Ofsted "Deep Dive"

Whether you've been a middle leader for 20 minutes or 20 years, don't panic. The inspection process is new, but not insurmountable. No one is expecting your curriculum area to be perfect. If you think it is, there would be concerns!

Remember...

Development is expected. We're all on a journey. But the number one rule is 'to know your destination'.

Where are you taking your subject area and team? What are your future goals?

Here are my 6 Top Tips:

No 1. Understand Ofsted's Focus

Read the latest Ofsted frameworks. You can achieve this more easily with the 'Summary of Changes' that is published with each new update. Think of the latest framework as your mark scheme for success. It will also give you insight into their likely focus areas. The current focus is 'curriculum design' and 'implementation', but in the past it's been a myriad of things from PP, SEN, underachieving boys and so on. It doesn't mean that past foci are no longer important, just that you are most likely to get a good 'grilling' on their new one. Read the framework to ensure you are meeting or working towards all relevant areas. Just like I tell my students: "If it's not on the mark scheme, then you are getting 0 marks.'

No 2. The Quality Assurance Folder

If you are or want to be a successful leader, then you need effective quality assurance procedures. In fact, it is expected as part of the role to hold your teams to account. There are many ways to do this, but one thing you need is a Quality Assurance Folder. I place EVERYTHING linked to my Head of Department role in mine. I have an electronic folder and a hardcopy version (for less confidential items) because I find it easier to work from hardcopies.

You'll likely have your own headings, but mine are:

Department Evaluations
Department Policies (House style)
Curriculum Overviews
Team Lesson Observations
Work Scrutiny Checks
Data analysis
HOD/ Curriculum Meetings
Line Management
Key Documents
Other

No 3. Know your Curriculum Rationale

Before you disappear into blind panic that you need to remember 7 years of curriculum off by heart... you don't. Mine is placed on an easily digestible grid with units, rationale, exam and SMSC links etc., to boot. It's becoming increasingly common for schools to provide their own template for this. I kept a hardcopy of this curriculum overview to hand during my discussion with the inspector. I even gave them a copy to refer to during the deep dive. This was a way to start supplying evidence, provide useful discussion points... and to stop me becoming tongue-tied. The key thing to know: what is your rationale for each of your curriculum choices? e.g.

Why have you chosen your exam board?
How is each Key Stage different and why?
Why do you teach algebra in that part of the year?
How do you decide where in your curriculum to assess students?
And so on.

No 4. Choose a 'House Style'

Your school may or may not have a "house style", but your department definitely should. More than ever, the new framework is looking for consistency of what it is that you claim you do. Successful department colleagues should work as a team and not as individual islands. There should be a commonality towards marking styles, standardised tests, unit choices, lesson expectations, etc. For example, in my department there is an expectation that lessons start with 'Bell Work' (a pre-starter task designed to settle students into their learning) and assessment feedback requires lengthy 'green pen improvement' comments from students. The inspector wanted to see evidence of this 'house style' in the work scrutiny and in their conversation with students.

No 5. Triangulation is key

Once you have chosen your 'house style' expectations, you need to train your team and students to embed these into their day-to-day. This is key for surviving Ofsted's 'Triangulation' that accompanies the 'deep dive' process. Triangulation is a fancy term for checking the three points of a subject area are consistent with each other, namely: Head of Department, Staff, Students. A successful triangulation is when all sides of the triangle show consistency in their understanding of how the subject area works and why.

Think: is what you say is happening in your subject area...

1.) actually happening?

2). evidenced in books, lesson observations, etc.?

3). understood and consistently followed by all subject staff?

4). understood and seen by all your students?

No 6. Data is a must

Although schools report data home at certain points in the year, every subject area should have its own internal data records for in-house assessments. Ofsted will expect you to understand the 'impact' of your subject on student learning. And this means knowing your department data. My team uses a 'home-made' Excel sheet called an 'EAR' (English Assessment records) to track the progress of our students. We track year groups, as well as sub-groups (PP/SEN/EAL) and we focus on the different progress trajectories of higher, middle and lower learners, boys vs girls, and so on. Your chosen tracking areas will partly depend on the student intake of your school. If you are not sure what to track, ask your school's assessment and data lead, or other Heads of Department.