Outstanding Sheffield schools: Ofsted inspections for city's best schools are out of date by up to 10 years

A combination of interruptions brought on by Covid-19, as well as how top-rated schools are not visited for up to five years at a time, means some of Sheffield’s schools have not been scrutinised in nearly a decade.

They include sites like Stannington Infant School and Holt House Infant School, which – despite earning glowing reports in their last visits – have not been inspected since 2009.

It comes after Ofsted rolled out a new framework for how it grades schools in September 2022.

The watchdog claims the new scheme will not create a “cliff edge” for schools to earn a ‘Good’ grade, noting: “We do not expect curriculum to be perfect or a ‘finished article’.”

Historically, schools and nurseries rated ‘Outstanding’ – the best grade available from Ofsted – were not subject to full Section 5 re-inspections.

Instead, they were monitored with ‘short inspections’, which could be spaced out by as many as five years, if not more.

This changed in January 2021, and Outstanding schools are now subject to routine full inspections.

However, the previous rules, in combination with how inspections were paused between March 2020 and September 2021 during the pandemic, has led to some schools not being rated in close to a decade.

Progress is being made, however, as The Star understands schools like St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary – which had not been visited since 2007 according to their website – was inspected in the weeks before the summer holiday and is waiting for its new report.

In November 2021, the Government announced £23m in funding with a goal for all schools nationwide to have an inspection by 2025.

Listed below are a number Sheffield ‘Outstanding’ state-funded schools that have not been inspected in as many as 13 years, according to Ofsted’s and their own websites.