Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools in England, requested greater powers to monitor independent schools over potential safeguarding issues, but her requests were ignored by ministers, the Guardian has revealed. Documents show Spielman complained to the Department for Education (DfE) in 2018 and 2019 that Ofsted was unable to oversee the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), which inspects elite private schools such as Westminster and Dulwich College.
The revelations come amid a growing scandal over sexual assault allegations at private and state schools, documented on the Everyone’s Invited website. Conservative MP Maria Miller has called for Ofsted to investigate why “nothing has changed in the last five years”. In 2018, Spielman told the DfE that Ofsted had been unable to monitor the ISI’s inspections adequately due to DfE restrictions over the previous three years.
In November 2018, Spielman wrote to then education secretary Damien Hinds, expressing concern that the system was not configured to spot problems, including potential safeguarding issues. She asked for greatly increased powers, including unannounced on-site monitoring visits and termly safeguarding checks. However, in late 2019, schools minister Lord Agnew told Spielman that Ofsted’s oversight role would be taken over by the DfE.
The ISI inspects about 1,250 association independent schools, including Harrow and St Paul’s Girls’ School. Its previous chief inspector, Christine Ryan, was appointed chair of Ofsted in July 2020. Ofsted declined to comment but pointed to remarks by its deputy director of independent schools, Victor Shafiee, who told MPs last week that the allegations of sexual abuse are concerning.
