Ofsted head says English schools should not turn away ‘difficult’ pupils

Schools should not turn away "difficult" pupils over fears they will harm their results, and face being evaluated on how inclusive they are towards local children, Ofsted's chief inspector of schools has said.

Sir Martyn Oliver , the head of Ofsted, told England's school leaders that there would be a focus on inclusion in the new report-card style inspection reports to be introduced next year.

"First and foremost, schools must meet the needs of all their local children. It really shouldn't be the case that local children have to fit into the needs of their school," Oliver told the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) in Birmingham.

Speaking to journalists, Oliver said his intention was "ensuring that schools can match the needs and provision of children, especially children with special educational needs, or who are finding learning difficult, or are economically disadvantaged, or are vulnerable, whatever is their characteristic, and making sure that their school is working for them.

"Or it could be that they are high performing ... [and] making sure that schools are delivering for the local communities holistically."

But Oliver warned that Ofsted would be likely to mark down schools that deliberately restricted their admissions or intakes.

"What we don't want to see is schools turning children away because of Ofsted, because they get this sense that these might be difficult children, and they can't be educated here or that might bring our school down," he said.

"We want to make sure that Ofsted plays its part, to recognise that schools have difficult work to provide for children, and that's why I want to look at more than just raw data."

Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said Ofsted and the Department for Education (DfE) needed to define what it meant by inspecting inclusion.

"The change needed to build more inclusive schools cannot happen overnight and needs investment in staffing, training, access to specialist services and a curriculum and assessment system fit for purpose," he said. "Ofsted needs to be aware of the barriers schools face in the current system and recognise good practice in the face of this when inspecting."

Oliver said that school behaviour policies needed to be flexible and "appropriate", with pupils who were excluded or suspended placed in suitable "high-quality" alternative provision.

"We don't mean that we will penalise schools that use suspensions and exclusions legitimately. But we will want to know that the highest standards are in place to make sure all children are receiving the most appropriate provision," he said.

But Oliver said while Ofsted would not penalise schools that used exclusions and suspensions "legitimately", he was concerned about ensuring those children received high-quality alternative provision.

"It's about making sure that where you have repeated suspensions or repeated permanent exclusions, that you are being reflective as leaders, especially trust leaders who are working in groups of schools, to see whether their practices are meeting the needs of those children," he said.

Oliver's comments came a day after comments by Bridget Phillipson , the education secretary, that exam grades alone "do not set young people up for a healthy and happy life", as she called for a greater emphasis on wellbeing and belonging.

Oliver also reported that some school leaders had become "adversarial" towards Ofsted inspectors, placing them under "undue influence" during inspections, and he pleaded for more civility.

"I am hearing about occasions where trust leaders are putting pressure on inspectors and making the inspection process more adversarial," he told the CST conference. "Inspections won't work as we all want them to, if they run 'hot'. I really want to take the temperature down."

Oliver later said that over the past 18 months Ofsted had been through "a very heightened period" that had been challenging for the inspectorate, referring to the death of the headteacher Ruth Perry last year and a later coroner's finding that implicated the conduct of an Ofsted inspection of Perry's school.

Leora Cruddas, the CST chief executive, said: "Trust leaders and inspectors should always follow the principles of public life, and approach inspections in a spirit of partnership. It is important that trusts feel able to raise any concerns about an inspection in that spirit."