Church School Inspection:

Statutory Inspection of Anglican Schools (SIAS)

Introduction

The SIAS inspection process is based on the school's own self-evaluation and the evidence that supports it. So listening to learners as well as documentary evidence is central to the process.

The overarching question behind SIAS is, ‘How distinctive and effective is this school as a Church of England School?’.  Four key questions are used to approach it:

• How well does the school, through its distinctive Christian character, meet the needs of all learners?
• What is the impact of collective worship on the school community?
• How effective is the religious education? (This question is for VA schools only)
• How effective are the leadership and management of the school as a Church school?

Inspections are carried out by inspectors registered with the National Society and trained by them or through our own local consortium - ChurchschoolsEast. The Consortium works across the Dioceses of Ely, Norwich and St Edmundsbury & Ipswich. The whole process is regulated by Section 48 of the Education Act 2005 and Inspectors are paid by the DfES via the National Society. SIAS takes place according to the same cycle as OFSTED and schools should contact the Diocese immediately OFSTED has made contact with them, so that the SIAS inspection can be set up to follow within four school weeks. Legally, it the Foundation Governors who are collectively responsible for the implementation of the inspection. Unlike OFSTED, governors themselves can express a preference over both the timing of the inspection and the choice of registered inspector to employ. It follows that there is a collective responsibility for the smooth and efficient exercise of the SIAS process.

SIAS Reports are public documents and are posted on both this Website and that of the National Society.   Reports are succinct (two pages only) and include clear evaluation statements, using the OFSTED terms, outstanding, good, satisfactory or inadequate, in response to each of the key questions. 

Inspection is just one mechanism to support school improvement and distinctiveness and should not be approached in isolation. Similarly, self-evaluation is not just a matter of filling in a form, but a way into thinking through from first principles and in practice what it means to be effective and distinctive as a Church School.

The National Society has published the detailed Framework and a supporting Toolkit together with a significant number of other Resources. However, we have produced user-friendly and locally-adapted materials to help schools work through the process in an accessible way. Below you will find a Step by Step Guide to SIAS in Ely Diocese and an Ely Diocesan Self-Evaluation Form (SEF). There is also a "Son of SEF" - a much less wordy version of the original document, and if you would like to go to the heart of the inspection questions and write a shorter form, then this is the route you should go.

Engaging with SIAS

The links below will take you to the documents you will need to guide you through the process.

Schools, of course, have to be able to describe and explain how they are distinctive and effective as Church Schools and be able to provide evidence to substantiate their claims.  Some schools will find this easier than others.  In order to support schools with these elements of their self- evaluation, the National Society has developed a Toolkit .  This is a substantial Word document.  It is intended to be exactly what its name implies – a toolkit to help schools.  It unpacks and thoroughly explores a wide range of aspects of each of the inspection questions in order to highlight for schools all the evidence they may have, or be able to gather, to answer each of the four main questions as richly as possible.  Individual schools may feel they do not need to answer all the prompt questions in detail in order to demonstrate their distinctiveness and effectiveness as Church Schools.  Equally, schools should not be constrained by the toolkit if they have other evidence they want to include.

Like all good self-evaluation, the SIAS SEF is not something to be filled out solely for the purposes of inspection, but should be part of a school's ongoing cycle of improvement, feeding into the School Improvement Plan (SIP) or School Development Plan (SDP)

When filling in the SIAS SEF you are encouraged to:

• Take your time; starting small and covering the ground systematically
• Involve foundation governors and the Bishops School Visitor in working with the materials, as well as appropriate staff
• Listen to learners, parents and stakeholders

A good way of tackling the evaluation process would be to distribute individual pages of the Toolkit to those members of staf and the governing body whose work they particularly concern, in order to collect their views and opinions, but ultimately write them up in "Son of SEF" format.

In-school training and support for governors and staff on the SIAS materials can be arranged through the Diocese. Contact shirley.hall@ely.anglican.org

There is also a Step by Step Guide to SIAS in the Ely Diocese.

SIAS Reports may be viewed on-line. See the appropriate schools' webpages.

Document Downloads

There are two versions of the SEF below, and these cover exactly the same questions but in a different format. Schools may use whichever version they prefer. Alternatively, the more detailed Toolkit may be used as a support document to complete the Ely SEF, e.g. by giving individual pages to appropriate colleagues to use as an evidence gathering form.

• Ely SEF - Word Document
• National Society Toolkit (follow link and see download box right hand side of Church of England webpage)

New for the 2008-2011 cycle! "Son of SEF" is now available - this is a tighter version of the Diocesan SEF which encourages you to go to the heart of the questions rather than getting trapped in the detail.... why not look here first? You can use this document for your inspection instead of one of the two above if you wish.

National Society Links

• Grade Descriptors download from Church of England website

SIAS Inspectors please go direct to ChurchschoolsEast for the documentation you need.