Inspections
To be recognised by the Department for Education, a British school overseas (BSO) must have an inspection report which shows that their performance against all the standards is at least satisfactory. This reflects the standards required for continuing registration as a school in England. Schools meeting the standards will have their inspection reports published on the Department's website and will be allocated a unique reference number on the national school reference system, Edubase.
Under this inspection framework, voluntary inspections of British Schools Overseas (BSO) take place every three years. Any inspections of COBIS schools undertaken since January 2011 have taken place under the BSO arrangements. Schools which were inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) before this date, under the previous six-year cycle, can opt to change immediately to the BSO arrangements or to complete their six-year cycle and then change.
In all cases they will retain their COBIS membership. The DfE agreed that ISI reports from 2008-2011 would also be published on its site but carry only a 3-year validity. Reports for schools inspected before 2008 and for those which do not change immediately to BSO will therefore have a temporary 'gap' on the DfE site.
Full reports for the following COBIS schools which have been inspected by DfE approved inspectorates under the BSO framework can be found on the DfE website. These published reports can also be downloaded below. In addition, In order to make all reports, including pre- BSO, ISI reports widely accessible, and to serve the interests of all its schools, COBIS is now linking all inspections reports to its own site alongside the profile of the school concerned. This process will be completed by the end of spring 2012.
Abu Dhabi: The British School Al Khubairat
China: The British School of Beijing
France: British School of Paris
Nigeria: Lagos Preparatory School
Czech Republic: Park Lane International School
Malaysia: The Alice Smith School
Qatar: Doha College
As a condition of full COBIS membership schools must undergo a voluntary inspection by one of the DfE approved Inspectorates for BSO.
The following inspectorates have been approved by the DfE to inspect British schools overseas
- Independent Schools Inspectorate
- Penta International
- CfBT Education Trust
- Cambridge Education
- G2G Education Ltd
- Tribal Education Ltd
The following inspection providers are in operation and are being monitored by Ofsted:
- Independent Schools Inspectorate
- Penta International
- CfBT Education Trust
- Cambridge Education
Following a successful inspection by one of the DfE approved Inspectorates listed above, COBIS is able to confer formal recognition on its member schools worldwide.
Heads and senior leaders in COBIS schools are also eligible to train as ISI inspectors and to participate in inspections of both British International Schools and schools in the UK. Inspection teams for COBIS schools have an independent lead or reporting inspector and include team members who are practitioners in international schools as well as those from the UK.
More details are available from COBIS Executive Director, Colin Bell
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