‘Cut and paste’ inspections row over Ofsted reports with identical wording

Union leaders claimed inspectors were simply “cutting and pasting” in reports, warning that there is a problem with formulaic guidelines for school visits.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said that the practice is unacceptable, given that the fate of a school can rest on an inspection.

Two reports, one on Belvedere Junior School in Bexley, and one on Malmesbury Primary School in Tower Hamlets, east London, were found to include a high number of similarities, the Times Educational Supplement reported. Ofsted said it stood by the judgments in the reports, but is looking into the similarities in wording.

Both contain the sentence: “Some teachers do not plan learning for pupils at their different levels of ability and marking is not leading to improvement.”

Both state: “The majority of parents and carers are positive about how well the school develops their children’s skills in reading, writing and mathematics.”

In each report, inspectors disagree with this view.

Both also make similar comments about the low attainment of pupils in reading, writing and maths.

One goes on to say: “This is because pupils, especially in Key Stage 2, have not been taught effectively to sound out individual letters and groups of letters to work out unfamiliar words when reading.

“They have not been provided with enough opportunities across the curriculum to write at length and their grasp of basic number skills is not as secure as it should be.

“These weaknesses mean the curriculum is inadequate.

The second says: “This is because pupils have not been taught effectively to sound out individual letters and groups of letters to work out unfamiliar words.

“They have not been provided with enough opportunities across the curriculum to write at length, and their grasp of basic number skills is not as secure as it should be.”

Both schools were visited by a team led by the same inspector from Tribal, a company contracted to carry out inspections.

Belvedere was inspected in January, with the report published in March. Malmesbury was inspected in March, with the report published a month later.