These frequently asked questions (FAQs) explain how parents and carers can share their views through Ofsted Parent View, and how those views help Ofsted understand how well schools enable children and pupils to achieve, belong and thrive.
Q1: What is Ofsted Parent View?
Ofsted Parent View is our main online source for hearing from parents and carers about their child’s school.
When a school is notified of an inspection, parents and carers can share their views through the short Ofsted Parent View survey. However, parents and carers can complete an Ofsted Parent View survey at any time — not only when a school is being inspected.
Q2: Why do we want the views of parents and carers?
Inspectors consider the views of parents and carers when evaluating state-funded schools and non-association independent schools. This feedback helps us to understand how well children and pupils are supported to achieve, belong and thrive. Parent View responses also help Ofsted in making decisions about which schools to inspect and when.
Q3: Why do parents and carers have to register to use Ofsted Parent View?
Registration with an email address and log-in helps us keep Ofsted Parent View secure and prevents misuse. Other security measures are also in place to identify misuse.
Once logged in, you can complete a survey as often as you want during an academic year for a school, but your latest submission will replace your previous one for the academic year. This means that you will only have your most recent submission telling us what you think of the school per academic year.
Q4: How do parents and carers and others sign up to Ofsted Parent View?
To register and complete a submission on the Ofsted Parent View website, follow these steps. These measures are in place to prevent site misuse.
1) Enter an email address and, if applicable, confirm that you are a parent or carer.
2) Follow the simple on-screen guidance to complete your registration.
3) Wait for a confirmation email — which should arrive instantly — sent to the email address supplied. Use the link in the email to validate your registration and activate your log-in.
4) Choose a secure password with at least 8 characters.A password strength indicator helps you create a secure password.
Users who are not parents or carers — for example, headteachers, governors or other interested parties — can register on Ofsted Parent View and sign up to receive email alerts when a school receives a new submission. However, they are not able to complete a survey — this is only available to parents and carers.
Q5: Can parents and carers complete Ofsted Parent View for all types of schools?
The questionnaire can be completed for the following types of school:
- all maintained schools and academies and some non-maintained special schools
- independent schools (that are not members of associations). These schools are inspected by Ofsted at the request of the Department for Education; association schools are inspected by approved independent inspectorates.
Where schools have boarding or residential provision (including non-maintained special schools with residential provision), parents and carers are asked additional questions about these aspects.
Q6: How can I search for a school's results on Ofsted Parent View?
To search for a school, visitors should click on the Ofsted Parent View results icon at the top of the home page. Visitors can then type in the name of the school and any part of the school’s address (street, city or postcode) in the search boxes, and then select the correct school shown from the results.
Q7: When can parents and carers give their views to Ofsted?
Parents and carers can complete a survey about the school that their child attends at any time. As explained in Q3, their latest response replaces any earlier one for that school in the same academic year. Parents and carers are notified when their child’s school is due to be inspected. The notification includes an invitation to complete a survey on Ofsted Parent View. During an inspection a comments box will be present for a limited time.
Q8: What happens if parents or carers want to change the views they previously submitted on Ofsted Parent View?
You can submit another survey for the same school at any time. Your latest submission automatically replaces your earlier one for that school during the academic year.
Q9: Can parents and carers give views about more than one school?
Yes, when a parent or carer registers they are asked how many different schools their children attend. Parents can register and give their views for up to 9 different schools. If parents need to add additional schools after registering on the site this can be done via the My Profile page when logged in.
Q10: Can more than one parent or carer complete Ofsted Parent View for their child?
Yes if a child has more than one parent or carer, each one can complete Ofsted Parent View. Each parent or carer must use a different email address and register with Ofsted Parent View. This allows us to take account of different perspectives about the same school.
Q11: What happens if a child changes school during the year?
If parents and carers have already completed a questionnaire for their child’s previous school they should add the new school to their My Profile page. This allows parents and carers to give their views about a new school.
Q12: How does Ofsted ensure that responses to Ofsted Parent View remain anonymous?
Schools do not have access to any personal information from Ofsted Parent View about parents or carers. Ofsted’s inspection teams do not receive any personal information — inspectors see the overall data for a particular school and during an inspection they also read the anonymised free text comments submitted by parents and carers.
Q13: What information can parents and carers give to Ofsted?
Ofsted Parent View asks parents and carers to give their views on several aspects of their child’s school. The survey asks a short set of questions covering areas such as children’s happiness, safety and wellbeing; behaviour, inclusion and respect; communication and how concerns are handled; leadership and the extent to which children are supported to learn and succeed. The topics reflect what parents and carers tell us matters most, and includes areas that can indicate strengths or concerns.
Q14: Can parents and carers provide written comments?
During an inspection a comments box will be present for a limited time. Parents and carers can share additional comments linked to their answers. If the school has boarding or residential provision and you select ‘Yes’ for ‘Is your child a boarder at the school?’, there is an additional box to comment on that provision. Comments can be given up to 12pm on the final day of the inspection.
Comments are not published on the site but are shared confidentially with inspectors during an inspection. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) software to summarise and identify themes in written responses from surveys. This helps us test whether AI can support our work more efficiently in the future. This work takes place outside of inspection activity and therefore does not influence any inspection outcomes.
Q15: What happens if parents and carers have a safeguarding concern about a school?
Ofsted does not investigate safeguarding concerns about individual children. If parents and carers have a safeguarding concern, they should speak to the person in the school who is the designated lead for safeguarding. If you remain concerned, contact the children’s services department of your local authority (this is usually the local authority where the child/young person lives).
Q16: What happens if parents and carers want to make a complaint about a school?
Parents and carers cannot use Ofsted Parent View to make complaints. Ofsted Parent View does not replace the current arrangements for raising a complaint or notifying the appropriate body regarding concerns about the safety or well-being of a child.
Ofsted does, however, have powers to consider certain complaints, known as qualifying complaints, about schools. For more information about these powers see the complain about a school page on GOV.UK.
Q17: What happens to the information parents and carers provide?
When making their evaluations about a school, inspectors consider the views shared through Ofsted Parent View alongside the wider evidence they gather during inspection. They may also talk directly to parents and carers during the inspection.
Parents and carers can also provide written comments or contact and speak directly with an inspector.
Information from Ofsted Parent View responses may also contribute to Ofsted’s annual risk assessment of a school to help decide if and when the school should be inspected. The risk assessment process uses a range of information, including performance and attendance data, any concerns raised with Ofsted by local authorities, and any other information Ofsted holds about a school.
In addition, if during the year the Ofsted Parent View responses give rise to a significant concern about a school, Ofsted may conduct a review of all the information we hold about the school. The responses from Ofsted Parent View are taken into account but do not, on their own, trigger an inspection.
Q18: When are a school’s results available to see on Ofsted Parent View?
A school’s results will be available on Ofsted Parent View when we have received a minimum of 10 responses from parents and carers. Data about each school are displayed in percentages and simple graphs. At the end of the academic year, results are ‘frozen’ for that year so new data can be collected for the new academic year, allowing year-on-year comparisons.
Q19: Can parents and carers view the results of an individual school?
Yes, results are published in real-time on Ofsted Parent View once a school has at least 10 responses for that year. They are visible to parents, carers, schools and the general public.
Q20: Can people view comments submitted for an inspection?
No. Comments are confidential and only shared with inspectors during the inspection. The information provided is handled in line with Ofsted's retention and disposal policy.
Q21: Can anyone interested in a school be kept informed about the results on Ofsted Parent View?
Yes. Registered users can sign up to receive email alerts when a school receives a new submission. You can choose how often you receive alerts and update your preferences any time from your My Profile page. To sign up for alerts, registered userts should click on the email alert icon present on a school’s page once logged in.
Q22: How secure is Ofsted Parent View?
We have put in place a range of measures to enhance the security of Ofsted Parent View, minimise the risk of abuse by individuals or small groups and ensure that all schools are treated fairly. We also have systems in place to alert us to any potential signs of misuse. If a school raises an issue, Ofsted reviews its Parent View results within 24 hours.
Q23: What is in the Ofsted Parent View survey?
Every registered parent and carer can share their views on the following.
- My child is/My children are happy at this school
- My child feels safe at this school/My children feel safe at this school
- The school makes sure its pupils are well behaved
- Has your child/Have any of your children been bullied at this school? [If you answer ‘Yes’ we ask your view on ‘When the bullying took place, the school dealt with it quickly and effectively’.]
- Does your child/Do any of your children at the school have Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities? [If you answer ‘Yes’ we ask your view on ‘The school gives them the support they need to succeed’.]
- The school communicates well with me about the things I need to know
- When I have raised concerns with the school, they have been dealt with properly
- When the school makes decisions, it has the child's best interests at heart
- The school gives my child/children the right support to enable them to learn well
- Would you recommend this school to another parent?
If your child is a boarder or in residential provision, you will also have the following.
- My child enjoys boarding and feels well cared for/My children enjoy boarding and feel well cared for
- My child is/My children are warm enough and comfortable in the residential accommodation
- The experience of boarding/welfare helps my child’s/my children’s progress and development
- I can easily contact the staff who care for my child/my children
The standard responses are:
- Strongly agree
- Agree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Disagree
- Strongly disagree
- Don’t know
There are additional responses in some instances.
During an inspection a comments box will be present for a period of time.
Q24: I have registered with Ofsted Parent View but have not received the email with a link to complete the registration.
Please check for the email in your ‘junk’ or ‘spam’ folder. Sometimes email account filter settings move the verification email there.
Q25: What happens if parents and carers want to change their email address?
Once parents and carers have registered, they are able to access their My Profile page where they can change their email address, password and details of the schools that their children attend.
Q26: Some details about my school are incorrect (for example, address, telephone number, number of pupils on the roll) — how can I get this information updated?
All education provider data on Ofsted Parent View comes from Get Information about Schools — a Department for Education database. Schools can amend their details by logging into Department for Education Sign-in.
Q27: How can a school contact Ofsted about Ofsted Parent View?
Enquiries and feedback about Ofsted Parent View should be sent by email to enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. Ofsted will respond to all enquiries.
Q28: My child attends a maintained nursery; how can I use Ofsted Parent View to provide feedback about the nursery?
Most questions are relevant to maintained nurseries, as well as schools at various stages of a child's education.
Q29: My child has special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Will I be identifiable by my response to the second part of the SEND question ‘The school gives them the support they need to succeed’?
No. All responses remain confidential and no personal details are shared with the school. A school’s results to any given question are published only when there are at least 10 responses from parents and carers to that question. So where fewer than 10 people have responded to the second part of the SEND question the results will not be available to schools and the public.
Q30: My child has been bullied. Will I be identifiable by my response to the second part of the bullying question ‘When the bullying took place, the school dealt with it quickly and effectively’?
No. As above, all responses are confidential and no personal details are shared with the school. A school’s results to any given question will only be available to schools and the public on Ofsted Parent View when we have received a minimum of 10 responses from parents and carers to that particular question. So where fewer than 10 people have responded to the second part of the bullying question the results will not be available to schools and the public.
Q30: What information do you keep?
We store only the details needed to manage registrations and ensure security. This includes the details that you provide as part of your registration including your email address, and the IP address of the device you use to access Ofsted Parent View. These details help us prevent multiple of false submissions. More information is available on our preventing misuse page.