Frequently asked questions

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 Parent View survey. However, parents and carers can complete a Parent View survey at any time — not only when a school is being inspected.  

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. Ofsted Parent View responses also help Ofsted in making decisions about which schools to inspect and when.  

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.

Registration with an email address and sign in helps us keep Ofsted Parent View secure and prevent misuse. Other security measures are also in place to identify misuse.

  • Only parents and carers can give us their views on their child's school. 
  • Anyone can sign up to set up email alerts for when we publish survey results for a school.

To create an account:

  1. Go to the register page.
  2. Enter an email address and, if applicable, confirm that you are a parent or carer.
  3. Follow the simple on-screen guidance to complete your registration.
  4. Wait for a confirmation email. Use the link in the email to validate your registration and activate your account.
  5. Choose a secure password with at least 8 characters. A password strength indicator helps you create a secure password.
     

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 submit a survey. These details help us prevent multiple or false submissions. More information is available on our preventing misuse page.  

 

Please check for the confirmation email in your ‘junk’ or ‘spam’ folder. If you still haven't received your email after 30 minutes email websitecontent@ofsted.gov.uk using the email address you tried to register with.

To change the email address for your Parent View account:

When registered with Ofsted Parent View, a parent or 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.

If you are completing the survey during an ongoing inspection, you will also be able to add comments to your survey responses for a period of time. 

During an inspection a comments box is 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. Parents and carers can write comments up to 12pm on the final day of the inspection.  

The questionnaire can be completed for the following types of school:  

  • all maintained schools and academies and some non-maintained special schools  
  • non-association independent schools: schools that are not members of independent school associations. 

Ofsted inspects non-association independent schools at the request of the Department for Education; approved independent inspectorates inspect association schools.

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.

Most questions in the survey are relevant to maintained nurseries, as well as schools at various stages of a child's education. 

When a parent or carer registers for Ofsted Parent View, they tell us how many schools they have children at.

Parents and carers can register and complete surveys for up to 9 different schools — but they can only complete 1 survey for a school in an academic year. If a parent or carer submits the survey again, it will replace their previous survey for the academic year.

If a child has more than one parent or carer, each can complete a survey for their child. This allows us to take account of different perspectives about the same school. 

To complete a survey for their child each parent or carer must use a different email address to register with Ofsted Parent View. 

A parent or carer can submit another survey for the same school at any time — but they can only complete 1 survey for a school in an academic year. If a parent or carer submits the survey again, it will replace their previous survey for the academic year.

 

If parents and carers have already completed a survey 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.

Once signed in, parents and carers can submit a survey about their child’s school at any time during the academic year — but they can only complete 1 survey for a school in an academic year. If a parent or carer submits the survey again, it will replace their previous survey for the 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. 
 

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 talk directly to parents and carers during the inspection.

Parents and carers can provide written comments or contact and speak directly with an inspector.  

Written comments are not published on the website, 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.  

Information from 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 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 Parent View are taken into account but do not, on their own, trigger an inspection.    

Schools do not have access to information parents and carers provide. 

As explained above, inspectors have access to the information parents and carers provide. 

Ofsted staff who require the information for their work also have access. For example, we examine email addresses and IP addresses when investigating potential misuse; more information is available on our preventing misuse page. We do not provide a school with any email or IP address information as part of an investigation into potential misuse.
 

A school’s survey 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 is 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. 

A school's results page has tabs for several previous academic years. You can see results where a previous academic year has at least 10 responses.

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.

Yes. 

You need to first register with Ofsted Parent View and then 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:

 

You can search for a school to Take our survey or See Parent View results. You can search using the school’s name or address.

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 has a concern about its survey results on Parent View, the headteacher should email websitecontent@ofsted.gov.uk and include the school’s name and Unique Reference Number (URN) in the email subject line.  

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.  

No.

A school’s survey results to any given question will only be available on Ofsted Parent View when we have received a minimum of 10 responses from parents and carers. So where fewer than 10 people have responded to the second part of the SEND question, the results will not be available to anyone.

All responses remain confidential and no personal details are shared with the school.

No.

A school’s survey results to any given question will only be available on Ofsted Parent View when we have received a minimum of 10 responses from parents and carers. So where fewer than 10 people have responded to the second part of the bullying question, the results will not be available to anyone.

All responses remain confidential and no personal details are shared with the school.

Parents and carers cannot use Ofsted Parent View to make complaints. 

Parent View does not replace the current arrangements for raising a complaint or notifying the appropriate body regarding concerns about the safety or wellbeing of a child.

Ofsted does have powers to consider certain complaints, known as qualifying complaints, about schools. 

Find out how to complain 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 council. This is usually the council where the child/young person lives.

Send general enquiries and feedback to enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

If concerned about a school’s results, the headteacher should email websitecontent@ofsted.gov.uk, including the school’s name and Unique Reference Number (URN) in the email subject line.
 

You should tell the school if you think some of the information about a school is incorrect.

The school data on Ofsted Parent View comes from Get Information about Schools — a service managed by the Department for Education. Schools can amend their information by logging into Department for Education Sign-in.