What is BSO Accreditation?
The BSO Scheme is the UK Department for Education’s voluntary inspection scheme for overseas schools. Overseas schools describing themselves as “British” are subject to recognition by the British government under the voluntary inspection scheme.
The Department for Education (DfE) has put in place arrangements for inspection against a common set of standards that British Schools Overseas can choose to adopt.
The intention is to inform parents of pupils in British Schools Overseas how standards measure up against the standards that apply to independent schools in England. Inspectorates approved by the DfE and monitored by Ofsted are available to inspect
British schools overseas and produce inspection reports which are made available to parents and prospective parents. These reports will inform parents and prospective parents about the quality of provision within the inspected school, and its compatibility with independent schools in England.
An essential element of the inspection is considering the extent to which the British character of the school is evident in its ethos, curriculum, teaching, care for pupils and pupils’ achievements. By achieving UK inspection based approval, participating schools will be able to demonstrate that they provide a British education that has similar characteristics to an education in an independent school in England.
To be recognised by the DfE as a BSO accredited school your school must have an inspection report which shows that performance against all the BSO standards is at least satisfactory. This reflects the standards required for continuing registration as a school in England. Following a successful BSO inspection, you will be allocated a unique reference number on the UK's national school reference system, GIAS and access to a number of benefits of BSO accreditation.
Who can call themselves a British School Overseas (BSO)?
The term “British Schools Overseas” (BSO) may only be officially used by a school that has been inspected, by one of the inspectorates approved by the DfE within the last 3 years. Only schools with valid BSO accreditation can call themselves "British Schools Overseas". At AoBSO we are committed to supporting aspiring BSO schools to prepare for their first inspection.