Taking part in a BSO accreditation inspection audit is the perfect way to understand how your processes and teams will react and ‘hold up’ during a re-accreditation inspection, or if you are ready to go for your first British Schools Overseas accreditation.
Inspection of British Overseas schools requires specialist Overseas Team Inspectors. The value of a BSO accreditation scheme lies in the rigour of the inspection process that gives recognition to a school and highlights both its strengths and weaknesses in relation to clearly defined UK standards and expectations.
After the audit you will have the time to make any necessary adjustments within your organisation based on an honest, critical evaluation of your processes and practices.
We provide schools with a BSO accreditation audit service delivered by quality-assured and respected inspectors with high levels of credibility and relevant experience.
Unrivalled Experience in British Schools Overseas
All our inspection teams have extensive BSO Inspection experience. Many are serving ISI* inspectors, as well as inspectors for other DfE accredited BSO inspectorates. The collective depth and breadth of experience ensures your experience is of the highest quality and value.
In addition to inspecting, many of our teams are also former independent school Headteachers or Senior Leaders from HMC, GSA, GDST or IAPS schools, and many have worked at Executive level in Independent School groups in the UK and Internationally.
Amongst our inspection team are:
- A former Director of The Headmaster’ and Headmistress’ Conference (HMC)
- A former National Director of The Boarding School’s Association (BSA)
- Former Directors of Education at Cognita Schools
- Former Board members of the Independent School’s Council (ISC)
- Regional Ambassadors for the Independent Schools Association (ISA)
*NB – ISI does not permit its serving inspectors to conduct consultancy work under the ISI name, all our consultants and advisors are working in an independent capacity and are not sanctioned by ISI.
The spirit and nature of our accreditation audit visit is that of a supportive school audit and review and our teams will offer a mixture of training, coaching and mentoring throughout the process in order to support your journey to accreditation and to inform school development priorities. It is also intended to extend and support the school self-evaluation process, not exclusively to make checks ahead of an inspection.
The Impact of a JMC BSO Accreditation Inspection Audit
All British Schools Overseas must meet the BSO Standards, (very similar to the Independent School Standards – ISSRs) in order to gain and maintain their BSO accreditation. BSO compliance is integral to getting a positive inspection outcome.
Many BSO schools combine their BSO accreditation inspection with an education quality inspection in order to demonstrate that they have undergone a rigorous evaluation to highlight comparable standards with the UK system.
An EQ assessment within the inspection audit will help your school to enable benchmarking and comparisons for improving pupil outcomes – in line with the ISI Education Quality framework.
As a school you will quickly identify where support is required and where secure evidence is already in place that can be provided for the inspectorate.
Pre Inspection Training – BSO INSET
Our BSO INSET outlines the general framework of a BSO Inspection for all international schools. A school specific BSO Accreditation Audit provides a bespoke and comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of your school compliance aspects, quality of education, safeguarding arrangements and leadership and management.
Pre Inspection Checks
As in a real BSO inspection, prior to the BSO inspection audit visit, our team will access your school website and review the policies appropriate to a BSO inspection, as well as other relevant documentation. We can also include in this process what a BSO lead inspector would carry out as part of the pre-inspection visit or touch base with the school; this can be a valuable exercise in helping a Headteacher and their Senior Leadership to prepare for the inspection. It will all be completed as a coaching opportunity to learn about the process.
BSO Accreditation Inspection Audit Visit
Our inspection team will then visit the school and conduct a ‘mock’ BSO inspection that replicates aspects of the real process over 1-3 days. (This will depend on the scope of the brief & the size of the school).
We will can offer the following:
- A BSO Standards Inspection Audit – where a school’s policies and practices are assessed for compliance with the BSO Standards as set by the DfE
- A BSO Educational Quality Inspection Adit – An inspection of education quality that focuses on pupil outcomes in achievement and personal development
- A combination of the two aspects (what many BSO schools opt for)
- An audit and review of a particular aspect of BSO Standards or EQ that you wish to explore as a school.
- With the August 2023 changes to the Standards, some schools may wish to have additional focus on their RSE or NMS provision and outcomes. JMC can provide this support.
Early Years Provision Audit
If you have a EYFS provision within your BSO school, we can provide a specialist team to evaluate this area of your school against the BSO standards.
Use of Inspection Audit Evidence
The team’s judgements within the audit will be based on first-hand evidence and include the following activities:
- Observation of lessons and scrutiny of samples of pupils’ work
- Discussions with pupils
- Discussion with the proprietor, governors or other representative(s) of the school
- Discussions with staff
- Analysis of evidence provided by pupils and staff
- Learning walks
- Analysis of documentary evidence, including performance indicators and self-evaluation
BSO Accreditation Inspection Audit Report
You will receive both verbal feedback and a comprehensive written report which can be presented to the School Governors or Proprietors.
How much will it cost?
We pay particular attention to team composition ensuring that our staff are suitable given the size and character of the school.
- The cost depends on 4 factors:
- Location of the school
- Size of the inspection team
- Number of days
- Scope of the inspection – BSO Standards, EQ or both (or parts thereof)
- Nature of the school: E.g. Size, age range, number of sites, provision of Boarding
For a quote or to learn more about our mock inspections, then don’t hesitate to get in touch using our enquires form
