Secondary School Inspection - Notes for parents
Inspection of secondary schools
This section aims to help parents to understand the inspection of a secondary school.
What happens in an inspection of your child’s secondary school?
Your child’s secondary school is to have an inspection to find out how well your child is being educated and looked after. Inspectors will take account of the type and nature of the school and its pupils’ needs. The inspection will be carried out by a team of HM Inspectors (HMI), Associate Assessors (AA), and a Lay Member (LM) working for HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE).
The inspection report will highlight what the school does well and where it needs to improve. It will answer the following questions.
- How well do children learn and achieve?
- Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
- How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning?
- Are staff and children actively involved in their community?
- Does the school have high expectations of all children?
Before the inspection
- You may receive a confidential questionnaire so that we can see what you think about the school. We will also ask staff to complete a confidential questionnaire. All the replies we receive will be treated in confidence unless they raise issues about the safety and welfare of pupils or staff in the school.
- Using information from the questionnaires, we will contact a sample group of a few parents who will be invited to meet with a member of the inspection team.
During the inspection
- We will visit classrooms, observe learning, and talk to staff and pupils about their learning.
- We may spend some time looking at your child’s work and reading his/her reports.
- We may work with your child as part of a small group or in a classroom.
After the inspection
- We will publish a report and send it to the education authority or Board of Governors, where appropriate to the chairperson of the Parent Council, to school staff, parents and the general public. It will also be published on the HMIE website.
- If necessary, the secondary school, with the support of the education authority or Board of Governors, will amend its development plan to bring about any improvements that the report says are needed.
- In some cases, we will carry out follow-through inspections to support the school to make improvements.
When will another inspection take place?
HMIE normally inspects each secondary school in Scotland approximately every six years.
The term 'parents' should be taken to include foster carers, residential care staff and carers who are relatives or friends.