Catholic School Denominational Inspections

Roman Catholic School’s within the England, are inspected under Section 48 (or their academy equivalents) of the Education Act 2005

Dioceses therefore, have a canonical and legal responsibility to ensure that the inspection of their school is witness to Catholic values and are compatible with both the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the law of the land. Dioceses will exercise this responsibility by appointing accredited inspectors who are able to carry out this pastoral and legal function effectively.

In conducting inspections, each Roman Catholic diocese is exercising a statutory pastoral function on behalf of their Bishop. Inspection is one of the ways a Bishop acts as a shepherd of his schools, protecting, supporting and encouraging them.

In November 2019, the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, unanimously agreed to a National Framework for the Inspection of Catholic Schools, Colleges and Academies. This provided, inter alia, for all inspectors to be accredited, on behalf of every diocesan bishop, in accordance with a nationally agreed protocol approved by the Department of Education and Formation, to inspect in any diocese.

The framework for Catholic School Inspection (CSI) can be found in the Catholic Schools’ Inspectorate Inspection Handbook.

Under the new National Framework, evaluating the school’s Catholic Self Evaluation Document (C-SED), the inspector will make judgements on the ‘Catholic life and mission’ of the school; ‘Religious education’; and ‘Collective worship’. The inspectors will draw their evidence from three different perspectives:

1. Pupil outcomes
2. Provision
3. Leadership and management

In the instance where the Diocesan School is part Roman Catholic and part Anglican, they will be inspected under a specific joint framework.

For state schools, these inspections are conducted in addition to Ofsted inspections; this is explained in paragraphs 58 to 63 of Ofsted’s school inspection handbook.

For independent schools and special schools, these inspections are conducted in addition to Independent Schools Inspectorate or School Inspection Service inspections.