SIAMS
All Church of England dioceses and the Methodist Church use the Church of England Education Office’s framework for the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) under Section 48 of the Education Act 2005.
Church schools will employ a variety of strategies and styles appropriate to and reflective of their particular context, in order to be distinctively and effectively Christian in their character and ethos. SIAMS inspectors therefore do not look for a set template of what a church school should be like, but rather take the particular context of the school into account and base their evaluation on the outcomes rather than the process.
SIAMS inspection
Approximately every five years, church schools are subject to a SIAMS inspect which explores ways in which each school’s theologically rooted Christian vision drives its work and enables the school to live up to its foundation as a Church school.
The framework has a series of questions that inspectors will explore with the school. They will gather evidence so that they are able to make a judgement about the strengths and areas for development.
The Inspection Questions (IQ) are;
IQ1. How does the school’s theologically rooted Christian vision enable pupils and adults to flourish?
IQ2. How does the curriculum reflect the school’s theologically rooted Christian vision?
IQ3. How is collective worship enabling pupils and adults to flourish spiritually?
IQ4. How does the school’s theologically rooted Christian vision create a culture in which pupils and adults are treated well?
IQ5. How does the school’s theologically rooted Christian vision create an active culture of justice and responsibility?
IQ6. Is the religious education curriculum effective (with reference to the expectations set out in the Church of England’s Statement of Entitlement for Religious Education)?
The following question is for voluntary aided maintained schools, academies that were formerly voluntary aided schools and academies that were formerly voluntary controlled schools in which denominational religious education was taught.
IQ7. What is the quality of religious education in voluntary aided and former voluntary aided schools, and in former voluntary controlled schools in which denominational religious education is taught?
Church of England information
Documentation and information relating to SIAMS, including school self summary templates, are available on the Church of England’s Education Office website HERE.
The webpage provides the current SIAMS framework HERE.
The Annual Report of the National Director of SIAMS 2022-23 and be found HERE.
The report for 2023-24 can be found HERE
