From Ofsted to ISI

In July 2024, at the end of our first year, Wildwood was inspected by Ofsted. While the inspectors were happy with the key areas of well-being and safeguarding, they judged that the school had not reached the required standard for ‘Quality of Education’. This meant, also, that we could not pass the area relating to leadership.

After a monitoring inspection in October 2025, Ofsted judged that we had then passed all standards. We immediately moved away from Ofsted and are now inspected by the ISI.

We never expected to score highly in Ofsted inspections because our focus on well-being and autonomy is at odds with the very narrow framework inspectors use. Most of the parents whose children attend Wildwood have told us that the whole reason they chose the school is because they don’t want a school that worries about pleasing Ofsted inspectors over ensuring their children are happy. Many of them see it as a badge of honour that we failed our first Ofsted inspection!

It’s also important to note that new state schools are given an additional 2 years to settle in before being inspected on quality of education.

That said, we knew that in July 2024, by our own standards, the quality of teaching and learning was not where we wanted it. We had spent our first year very focused on well-being, and settling a cohort of children for whom just coming to school was a traumatic prospect, because of their previous experiences in mainstream. 

Over the following two years, we focused on turning our educational philosophy into the systems and practices that deliver on our goals of ensuring that children have a love for learning while also being  fully prepared for the next phase of their journey.

You can read the Ofsted reports here.

We’re looking forward to being inspected by ISI - who are no less rigorous in ensuring schools meet the independent school standards, but who recognise that one size doesn’t fit all.