School Inspections Are Changing
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education in Scotland (HMIE) is reviewing how schools are inspected.
We have responded to their consultation. You can read our full response to the Consultation by clicking here.
Why HMIE is Reviewing Inspections
Inspections help educators see what works well and what needs improvement. It is not just about giving a pass or fail; it is about making education better for every learner in every school.
HMIE know that, for some young people, the current system is not working as well as it should.
To do this review well, they need to hear from many different people. That is why they opened this consultation. This will enable them to get a wide range of views on how to make the inspection system a better driver of improvement.
Why We Are Giving Our Opinion
We are interested in these changes for three main reasons:
- We provide education at our Sensational Learning Centre (SLC). This is a specialist school that gets government funding (known as a ‘Grant-Aided Special School’, or GASS).
- We provide wellbeing support for neurodivergent young people who are unable to attend ‘mainstream’ school on a full-time basis.
- We try to influence positive change. We do this by meeting with political leaders and government officials to discuss these issues.
Our Recent Inspection
In March 2025, Education Scotland inspected our school.
SLC was rated ‘Good’ in every area they checked.
The inspectors said that SLC has established an inclusive and nurturing culture. They also noted that teachers demonstrated a strong understanding of the children’s needs. This included their overall wellbeing and their social, emotional and communication needs.
You can read SLC’s full inspection summary on their website by clicking here.
The Key Changes We Want To See In Inspections
We believe the school inspection process must change in these ways:
- There should be less focus on academic results when judging what makes a school “good.” Current methods still value traditional standards too much and overlook inclusive, holistic measures. These wider measures are essential to our wellbeing-focused approach to learning.
- Specialist schools like ours should be inspected using distinct criteria, rather than those used for ‘mainstream’ schools.
- That fast, short-form inspection should be stopped. Every inspection should be a full, detailed check that looks at all aspects of the school, not just academic performance.
- Giving a school a rating on a scale (like a six-point scale) is not helpful. Instead, they should include a summary on how well the school is working overall.
- The new inspection system should highlight how well schools work with partner organisations in their community.
- Recognition that getting the opinions of the pupils in the school is the most important part of any inspection.
- That every member of the HMIE inspection team take part in neurodivergence awareness training.
