Every week, they carry out hundreds of inspections and regulatory visits throughout England and publish the results online.  They help providers that are not yet of good standard to improve, monitor their progress and share with them the best practice they find.

Their goal is to achieve excellence in education and skills for learners of all ages, and in the care of children and young people.

They report directly to Parliament and we are independent and impartial.

Ofsted are responsible for:

• inspecting maintained schools and academies, some independent schools, and many other educational institutions and programmes outside of higher education
• inspecting childcare, adoption and fostering agencies and initial teacher training
• publishing reports of our findings so they can be used to improve the overall quality of education and training
• regulating a range of early years and children’s social care services, making sure they’re suitable for children and potentially vulnerable young people
• reporting to policymakers on the effectiveness of these services

Ofsted Priorites:

• put in place our strategic plan to continue to raise standards and improve lives
• use our new education inspection arrangements to ensure short inspections of good schools and further education providers are consistent, efficient and effective
• use more good and outstanding sector professionals as part of inspection teams
• review inspection for early years and social care
• develop and implement our workforce strategy
• focus inspection on services that are less than good or whose performance has slipped
• focus on the performance of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable
• identify and promote exceptional leadership in each of our inspection areas
• identify and report on issues of concern in the sectors we inspect
• promote the improvement of technical, vocational and further education
• work with parents and carers, learners and employers to ensure their views inform inspections and they use and value our inspection reports
• work with policy makers and influencers to ensure they understand our work and are able to promote it and our findings
• work with those we inspect to ensure they find our inspection and regulatory work fair and credible and it helps them to improve