A sustaining improvement inspection is predicated on partnership working and focuses on the capacity of the school to sustain and effect improvement. Sustaining improvement inspections give greater autonomy to self-improving schools and usually take place three years after a full inspection where the school has been evaluated as having the capacity to identify and bring about improvement or a high level of capacity for sustained improvement.
The sustaining improvement inspection provides the school with the opportunity to demonstrate how it identifies and brings about or sustains improvement in the best interest of the learners. The school receives two full days notification of the inspection. At the beginning of the inspection, the Reporting Inspector and school principal identify and agree one or two lines of inquiry linked to the school’s development plan priorities and associated action plans. The school also provides an assurance on safeguarding arrangements.
The lines of inquiry inform: lesson observations; and, discussion with teachers, co-ordinators / middle leaders, senior leaders, other staff and governors.
Typically, a sustaining improvement inspection is conducted by the District Inspector and an associate assessor and takes place over two days.
At the end of the inspection, a report is published indicating the outcome of the inspection which, in turn, informs the next inspection activity which may be a full or further sustaining improvement inspection.
Monitoring and baseline monitoring inspections are very similar to a sustaining improvement inspection regarding the components of the inspection; however, the foci can be different (for example, a baseline monitoring inspection of a new/amalgamated school includes a focus on establishing an ethos) and the outcome informs when a full inspection will take place.