Commenting as the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) today call on Ofsted to defer school and college inspections on request because of the ongoing disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Nick Brook, deputy general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said:

"Ofsted inspections are a distraction to schools while they are still struggling to cope with the impact of Covid and are rightly putting all their efforts into pupil’s recovery.

“The government should back schools and children by pausing inspection, so that all the focus can be where it should be: on the most important task of helping children’s education and wellbeing to recover.”