Website with OFSTEd early Warning

[sparkeh]

That surely must mean they either didn't look at your website or they didn't use an Ofsted internet connection (they probably used their home connection).

Oh they definitely looked, it was remarked upon. They just didn't use an Ofsted connection.

[timbo343]

We too have just had the call - make or break time.

 

The myth about the website is false - i've been monitoring our google analytics page and the last ofsted hit we had was back on the 2nd march. I informed the SLT here about the initial hit so we have been prepared. We will see what happens.

[FN-GM]

One of our schools recently had an Ofsted inspection. They looked at the website and policies during the inspection, not before.

[JordanT91]

We too have just had the call - make or break time.

 

The myth about the website is false - i've been monitoring our google analytics page and the last ofsted hit we had was back on the 2nd march. I informed the SLT here about the initial hit so we have been prepared. We will see what happens.

 

How is it false? I know for a fact it does work. Just because it doesn't work all the time (I suspect when the inspectors don't use an Ofsted connection) doesn't mean it doesn't work at all.

[mikeprice]

Sounds like the reality is that

a) if you get hits from OFSTED addresses then they MAY be looking prior to an inspection

b) if you don't get hits they may be using their own home addresses which you won't see

c) or they may just wait and look afte rthey arrive

d) or you may get hits just 'cos they are looking for some other reason

 

 

what we don't have is the percentages for each option

[timbo343]

How is it false? I know for a fact it does work. Just because it doesn't work all the time (I suspect when the inspectors don't use an Ofsted connection) doesn't mean it doesn't work at all.

That is true, but when people say use your website to check, i'd have expected to see more connections from the ofsted network but lile others have said, it gives schools a heads up which it did, be it 7 weeks for us.

[sparkeh]

So in summary:

• If your website gets a hit from the Ofsted network you may, or may not, be inspected in the near, or medium term.
  
• If your website doesn't get a hit from the Ofsted network you may, or may not, be inspected in the near, or medium term.
  

 

Useful.

[mavhc]

So in summary:

• If your website gets a hit from the Ofsted network you may, or may not, be inspected in the near, or medium term.
  
• If your website doesn't get a hit from the Ofsted network you may, or may not, be inspected in the near, or medium term.
  

 

Useful.

 

However the probability of both options is not equal, so it is slightly useful

[FN-GM]

Had 3 inspections recently, none detectable using the analytics.

 

It might work, but probably not.

[FN-GM]

Just to add, for the current inspection, the policy was pulled during the inspection when they are on site.

[sloughman]

As I've thought all along it's a waste of time. My analogy is this, it's like having a smoke alarm in your house that may, or may not go off when smoke is detected, (or it may not go off until smoke is too thick to survive), or it may still go off when there is no smoke and no fire.........I wouldn't bother using it !

[SEdwards]

This document someone posted on here a while ago explains setting up an alert for service providers with Ofsted in the name, which Ofsted's network has. It worked for us and gave 7 days notice. I know it has worked for at least one other school also.

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/behind-red-door/150323-ofsted-viewing-school-website-3.html#post1451958

 

I set this up in one of my previous schools and it in fact did work. We set up analytics to alert us via email if "OFSTED" is found in the ISP name of a visitor. It was triggered 2-3 times through the year, then suddenly we got a lot of hits from it which was followed by an inspection.

[JDeacy]

This looks interesting I will look at it.

[Davit2005]

Shouldn't organisations be at a standard that it should not matter when an inspector turns up?

 

The following sprang to mind on reading this thread though

[mikeprice]

As far as I can tell the success is variable

 

Sometimes it works and you suddenly get loads of hits from websites that look suspicious

and sometimes an inspection follows this

 

but I have spoken to inspectors who have either

a) looked at policies etc etc from home so the hits come from all over the country

b) looked at policies from 'the office' (which may be via a remote link) but on a research basis - hence producing a false positive

 

 

When I was in charge of a school website I kept an eye on the hits - and a few time a year we got a flurry of hits from a different part of the country (often London-ish) but no inspection followed

 

I think there are some companies that look at school websites and check their policies in order to look for school that do not comply - and then try to sell their services to get them up to scratch

I certainly got several phone calls that implied that a company had done this

Hence, more false positives

 

 

 

In my opinion (for what it is worth) these things are likely to give false alarms - but that is not totally a bad thing as it may provide an incentive to get their ducks in a row - which they should be doing anyway

 

YMMV

[nathan]

Shouldn't organisations be at a standard that it should not matter when an inspector turns up?

 

The following sprang to mind on reading this thread though

 

Yes, but thats the flaw in the Ofsted process.

[cloud31]

Hi everyone. Does anyone know if this approach to using analytics to monitor for Ofsted activity still works? Conscious the thread is a few years old now but keen to investigate if this is all still possible to do...

[itakephotos]

Hi everyone. Does anyone know if this approach to using analytics to monitor for Ofsted activity still works? Conscious the thread is a few years old now but keen to investigate if this is all still possible to do...

I too further this request

[speakercon]

It looks like the Service Provider and Network Domain service have been removed from GA?

[Rob446]

We just have an analytic to alert when the Policies page of our site gets more than 10 hits in day. That's when you know...

[mikeprice]

We just have an analytic to alert when the Policies page of our site gets more than 10 hits in day. That's when you know...

 

An inspector I used to know sai dthis may be an indication - but it is not at all certain

 

Someone may decide to check out a group of school to check what the current normality is and see if any common mistakes are being made

this can sometimes be a private company looking to sell a service

Or OFSTED just checking on stuff

 

or OFSTED preparing for an inspection

[TechMonkey]

Do OFSTED still look at the website? I'm pretty sure ISI now have the school upload the policies to a portal. Ruined my SharePoint warning system.

[cyonno]

We use Google Analytics , and i had a report setup that if the network name contained the word OFSTED to email me. I got a notification one day to say it had a match, i looked at the data, told the head that OFSTED were sniffing round our website, next day we get a call from them to say they are coming in.

 

How do you set up that report? Sorry, know it's a dated post

[Brax]

How do you set up that report? Sorry, know it's a dated post

Bit late but sadly the Network Domain and Service Provider are deprecated and will only show "Not set" if you try to setup a custom report.

[ITGuyNW]

The weeks leading up to our last inspection were some of the quietest weeks our website had, so never bothered with stuff like this.