Would you like to learn more about our proposed new report cards, or how we’ll inspect inclusion? Ofsted is consulting on changes to our education inspections. Host Mark Leech (Deputy Director, Communications) speaks to Ofsted’s Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver, Lee Owston (National Director, Education) and Claire Stewart (Deputy Director, Inclusive Education) about our consultation proposals, including our new report cards, inclusion grade and education inspection toolkits. Take part in our co...
Apr 07, 2025•31 min•Ep. 43
What's the picture of local areas and how well they are working to prepare children and young people with special educational needs for adulthood? What support are they offering to allow young people to reach their full potential? Preparation for adulthood arrangements in local areas: a thematic review - GOV.UK Briony Balsom 0:07 Hello everyone, and welcome to this edition of Ofsted talks. I'm Briony Balsam, and this time we're focusing on preparing for adulthood. In December 24 Ofsted and the C...
Feb 27, 2025•30 min•Ep. 42
Ofsted's report into multi-agency responses to serious youth violence: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/multi-agency-responses-to-serious-youth-violence-working-together-to-support-and-protect-children Safer London's report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-and-families-experiences-of-multi-agency-support-when-impacted-by-serious-youth-violence https://saferlondon.org.uk/ Briony Balsom Hello everyone, and welcome to this edition of Ofsted Talks. I'm Briony Balsam, an...
Dec 16, 2024•32 min•Ep. 41
Here's the report discussed in this episode of the podcast: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thematic-review-of-the-quality-of-education-in-young-offender-institutions-yois Mark Leech 0:03 Hello. Welcome to Ofsted Talks. My name is Mark Leech, and today I'm hosting a conversation about young offender institutions, or YOIs for short. I'm very pleased to be joined by not one, but two of His Majesty's chief inspectors. We have Sir Martyn Oliver, His Majesty's Chief Inspector here at Ofste...
Oct 02, 2024•24 min•Ep. 40
Host Mark Leech listens in to Lisa Pascoe, deputy director (regulation and social care policy), Helen Humphries (specialist adviser for residential care) and Jenny Bird (research lead) as they discuss the findings from our recent research report ‘Good decisions: children with complex needs in children’s homes’. Read the report ' Good decisions: children with complex needs in children's homes ' Read the blogs: Providing good experiences for children with complex needs Children with complex needs ...
Aug 21, 2024•24 min•Ep. 39
In this episode, Mark Leech (Deputy Director, Communications) speaks with Wendy Ratcliff (HMI, Early Education), Dan Lambert (SHMI, Schools) and His Majesty's Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, about Ofsted's Big Listen. Ofsted's Big Listen closes on 31st May and we want to hear from everyone we work with and work for. Take part here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/ofsted-big-listen . Transcript: Mark: Hello and welcome to another edition of Ofsted Talks. Actually, this episode, co...
May 17, 2024•14 min•Ep. 38
Briony Balsom Hello, welcome to Ofsted Talks. I'm Briony Balsom, and today we're talking about alternative provision. Firstly, let me welcome our guests, here today with us we have Mark Vickers who's chair of the National MAT CEO network for alternative provision and special educational needs and disabilities and CEO of Olive Academies, we have Grace who attends the Olive Academy in Cambridge. Jo Fisher the Chair of the ADCS, that's the Association of Directors of Children's Services education c...
Apr 22, 2024•21 min•Ep. 37
In this episode Mark Leech, Deputy Director of Communications, talks to Kirsty Godfrey, Senior HMI, and Zoe Enser, HMI, about Ofsted's recently published English Subject report. Transcript Mark Leech 02:02 Hello and welcome to another edition of Ofsted Talks. My name is Mark Leach and today we're going to be talking about English. We've recently published our subject report looking at the teaching of English in primary and secondary schools and I'm joined today by Kirsty Godfrey and Zoe Enser. H...
Apr 12, 2024•17 min•Ep. 36
Ofsted will inspect supported accommodation from September 2024. To support this work, we carried out a consultation where we not only received responses from the sector, we spoke to young people about what they wanted and needed from their supported accommodation. Read more here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofsted-confirms-plans-for-inspecting-supported-accommodation Briony Balsom 0:09 Hello and welcome to Ofsted Talks. Today I'm going to be speaking to our guests about the importance of...
Mar 18, 2024•15 min•Ep. 35
In this episode, Briony Balsom (Head of Internal Insights) talks to our new HMCI, Sir Martyn Oliver. Transcript Briony: Hello, I’m Briony Balsom and welcome to Ofsted Talks, the Ofsted podcast. Ofsted Talks is the official Ofsted podcast, and we cover everything from early years to schools, social care to further education and skills, alternative provision, special educational needs and more. Today you join us for a slightly shorter but also slightly special edition where we take the opportunity...
Feb 20, 2024•6 min•Ep. 34
On this episode, we're talking to two further education and skills leads from Ofsted about the FES curriculum and what it means for students and teachers. And have you seen this report we've published into FES curriculums for business, both classroom-based and work-based? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-education-and-skills-report-business-education Anna Trethewey: So, today we’re talking about what high-quality education looks like in the further education and skills sector, ...
Nov 20, 2023•18 min•Ep. 31
In this episode, Mark Leech (Director, Strategy and Engagement) talks to Paul Joyce (Deputy Director, Further Education and Skills), Helen Flint (Specialist Policy Adviser, Quality and Training) and Commander Kate Scott of the Royal Navy about Ofsted's recent Welfare and duty of care in the Armed Forces initial training report. Transcript Mark Leech Hello, welcome to another edition of Ofsted Talks. And today we're talking about an interesting area of work. And one I thing a lot of people are qu...
Nov 13, 2023•30 min•Ep. 32
In this episode, Mark Leech (Director of Strategy and Engagement) talks to Richard Beynon (Senior HMI, FES Policy) and Kate Hill (Specialist Adviser, FES Policy) about enhanced inspections and how colleges are meeting skills needs. Transcript Mark Leech Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of Ofsted Talks, the Ofsted podcast. My name is Mark Leech and today we're going to be talking about an area of work in our further education and skills inspections. We're going to be talking about e...
Nov 09, 2023•12 min•Ep. 33
In mid 2023, Ofsted published a report into T levels: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/t-level-thematic-review-final-report Here we hear from two college leaders, John Laramy, Principal, Exeter College and Diana Bird, Principal, Shipley College, about the challenges, opportunities and hopes for the future of the newest addition to the qualifications on offer for learners. Shreena Kotecha 0:00 Hi I am Shreena Kotecha head of strategy at Ofsted. And joining us today we have Diana Bird fr...
Nov 02, 2023•30 min•Ep. 30
Are young people getting the #careers information, advice and guidance they need? Listen here to our podcast on careers with thanks to Nicola Hall, Careers and Enterprise Company, Ryan Gibson, Gatsby Charitable Foundation and Katy Tibbles, Turner Schools. Mark Leech 0:12 Hello and welcome to another edition of Ofsted Talks. My name is Mark Leech and today we're going to be talking about the wide world of careers and careers education. Ofsted has recently published 'The independent review of care...
Oct 23, 2023•35 min•Ep. 29
In this episode, Shreena Kotecha (Head of Strategy) talks to Lee Owston (Deputy Director, Schools and Early Education) and Wendy Ratcliff (Principal Officer, Early Education) about the second part of our early years research review series. Wendy and Lee explain how this report builds on the first part of the series and share what the next report will focus on. Transcript Shreena Kotecha Hi everyone, welcome to this edition of the Ofsted Podcast. Today we're going to be talking about the Best sta...
Oct 20, 2023•13 min•Ep. 28
What are the common strengths and weaknesses we identified in how a sample of schools teach geography, PE and music? Ofsted has published three new subject reports in our series. We talked to the leads for each new report to get a quick preview of what they found and what teachers can take away from each report. Important messages included making sure that: there is a focus on geographical skills, the body of knowledge about how we do geography PE is for all pupils and that leaders think really ...
Sep 28, 2023•14 min•Ep. 26
In this episode, Mark Leech (Acting Director, Strategy and Engagement) talks to Matthew Brazier (Project Director, Supported Accommodation) and Rachel Holden (Senior HMI, Supported Accommodation) about the development of our plans for regulating and inspecting supported accommodation. Alongside the podcast, you can learn about the following related topics on our YouTube channel: Notice of inspection for supported accommodation What makes effective supported accommodation? Supported accommodation...
Sep 21, 2023•15 min•Ep. 27
As schools return and settle into the new academic year, host Shreena Kotecha talks to Lee Owston, Ofsted’s deputy director of schools and education, about some of the recent changes made to the way Ofsted inspects schools. Shreena also finds out what schools inspectors get up to during the summer break. For more information read the Ofsted blog or sign up to an Ofsted webinar . Shreena: Hello, and welcome to a bite size episode of Ofsted talks to mark the start of the new academic year, which I...
Sep 11, 2023•11 min•Ep. 25
Ofsted has launched a consultation on proposed changes to our post-inspection arrangements and complaints handling, closing on Friday 15 September 2023. Host Shreena Kotecha, Head of Strategy, speaks to our Principal Officer for Inspection Quality and Complaints Administration, Paul Trusselle, about the consultation and proposed changes. To respond to the consultation, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-ofsteds-post-inspection-arrangements-and-complaints-handlin...
Aug 29, 2023•10 min•Ep. 24
One of Ofsted's key strategic priorities acknowledges the relationship between early childhood experiences and a range of life outcomes, from educational success to well-being and good health. Read more here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsted-strategy-2022-to-2027 Shreena I'm Shreena Kotecha, welcome everyone to the Ofsted podcast. This time we're talking about the best start in life. Just start with a few introductions first introduction is the new co host on the podcast Mark Le...
Aug 16, 2023•31 min•Ep. 23
One of the talks from our FES team at this year's Festival of Education which was held at Wellington College in July. SPEAKERS Becca Clare, Martin Ward, Mike Finn from the Further Education and Skills team at Ofsted. High quality curriculum and teaching in Further Education and Skills. I'm Becca Clare, and I have with me two colleagues, Martin Ward, and Mike Finn, and we all work within the FES part of the curriculum unit in Ofsted. We're going to tell you a little bit about our work within Ofst...
Jul 24, 2023•26 min•Ep. 19
We published an independent research report into our findings about the tutoring programme in October 22, and we will be publishing a follow-up in the autumn of 2023. Our podcast spoke to some of the teachers and the researcher involved. Part 1 of the report can be read here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-tutoring-in-schools-and-16-to-19-providers/independent-review-of-tutoring-in-schools-phase-1-findings Shreena: So with us today we have two people from Bishop...
Jul 12, 2023•33 min•Ep. 18
Ofsted has published a package of measures to improve how we work with schools. Hosts Anna Trethewey and Chris Jones discuss the changes. Anna Trethewey Hello all and welcome to Ofsted's podcast. You've got me here, Anna Trethewey, deputy director for cross-remit education and... Chris Jones Hi everyone, Chris Jones, director of strategy and engagement here at Ofsted. Anna Trethewey We're going to do a run through of some of the different changes we've got to our practice here at Ofsted. So Chri...
Jun 16, 2023•12 min•Ep. 17
We were lucky enough to be able to welcome guests from the world of art education to the Victoria and Albert museum to launch our Art and Design Research Review. Here are some of the discussions and questions and answers about the review. Tristram Hunt: Morning. Good morning everyone. My name is Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum and it's such a pleasure to welcome you all today for the launch of the art and design research review. The V&A is very proud to support Ofst...
Mar 02, 2023•30 min•Ep. 16
We spoke to Charlie Taylor, His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, Femi from the Prison Reform Trust and Tracy from Keyring about why the state of education in prisons is so bad - and some ideas for what could be done to improve things. Chris Jones Hi everybody and welcome to this episode of Ofsted Talks the Ofsted podcast. My name's Chris Jones. I'm Ofsted's Director of Strategy and engagement and I've got with me, Shreena Kotecha, Ofsted's Head of Strategy. Hi, Shreena. We've got some great...
Feb 20, 2023•42 min•Ep. 15
A summary of the key points of this important report, from Amanda Spielman, Alex Jones, Lee Owston, Yvette Stanley and Chris Jones. Listen to what Ofsted inspections found from all the remits we inspect; early years, schools, further education and skills and social care. Transcript: Chris Jones This is a special edition, we're going to be focusing on our Annual Report for 21/22 which was published on the 13th of December. We've got a stellar lineup to talk you through what is in our annual repor...
Dec 13, 2022•22 min•Ep. 14
We talk to Ofsted's curriculum unit, teachers who've been involved in curriculum planning and a Head and subject lead who've recently been inspected about the deep dives they experienced. Chris Jones Hi everybody and welcome to the latest episode of Ofsted Talks, the Ofsted podcast. Today's subject is the curriculum. I'd like to introduce my new co-host Shreena Kotecha. Hi Shreena. Shreena Kotecha: Hi Chris. Chris Jones: Very nice to have you with us. I've also got some fantastic guests today. I...
Dec 01, 2022•45 min•Ep. 13
Ofsted's Kirsty Godfrey HMI, Phil Minns HMI and Ivana Vidakovic, from Ofsted's research and evaluation team, gave a talk and Q&A at the Wellington Festival of Education held in summer 2022. It covered phonics, the importance of encouraging a love of reading, and helping struggling secondary aged readers. Hannah Martin 0:07 We recently took part in the Wellington Festival of Education. Here's the session we recorded at the event on reading. Hope you enjoy it. Kirsty Godfrey 0:20 Well, it's a ...
Sep 05, 2022•27 min•Ep. 12
Chris Jones 0:04 Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of Ofsted Talks. Today, we're talking all about apprenticeships, and I've got a stellar lineup of guests with me to talk about what is an incredibly important topic. So get them to introduce themselves. First of all, we've got Ian Bamford in tell us about who you are and what you do. Ian Bamford 0:25 Thanks, Chris. Hi, I'm Ian Bamford, I'm the Chief Operating Officer for Paragon skills. We're a national training provider, predominantly ...
May 24, 2022•27 min•Ep. 11
