Submit your questions below 

Chris Russell, Ofsted South East Regional Director explains the work of Ofsted and gives you the chance to quiz an Ofsted inspector.

FOR those who don’t know about Ofsted and its work:

We are the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills.

We inspect and regulate services providing education and skills for learners of all ages, as well as those that care for children and young people.

Every week we carry out hundreds of inspections and regulatory visits across England – from childminders to colleges, schools to children’s homes – and we publish our findings online.

We have about 1,500 employees across eight regions: London, South East, South West, East of England, East Midlands, West Midlands, North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber.

As well more than 300 Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI), we also contract directly with more than 1,500 Ofsted Inspectors (OIs), who carry out inspections of schools and further education and skills provision in their region.

The majority of our OIs are current school or college leaders and teachers.

Ofsted’s inspection reports help parents to make informed decisions about where to educate their children.

Fundamentally, we exist to act as an advocate and champion for children, young people and adult learners.

We do this by ensuring that they receive the standard of education and care to which they are entitled.

That’s why it’s so important for us to listen to the views of parents and students, as well as the institutions we inspect.

We are always seeking better ways to engage with people about our work.

So it’s great we have this opportunity to take questions from Oxford Mail readers.

This is a first for us in the South East region and we are really looking forward to receiving your questions.

Sarah Hubbard, HMI for Oxfordshire, will take the helm in answering your questions.

HMI for education, Sarah Hubbard:

"I’m really delighted to have this opportunity to answer any questions you may have about Ofsted, its work and those we inspect.

I’ve been a lead HMI in Oxfordshire for four years.

During this time I have thoroughly enjoyed working with my colleagues in education as well as children and young people within the county.

Recently I have been focusing on helping to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

I am also Ofsted’s national lead advisor for English at both primary and secondary school level.

I have experience of inspecting a range of providers, including local authority maintained schools and academies, special schools, independent schools, and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) institutions.

I am a qualified teacher and was a school leader for over 10 years.

Before joining Ofsted, I started my career as an English teacher in Birmingham and went onto become a deputy head responsible for curriculum, teaching and learning.

So if you have any questions for me, please do get in touch by emailing here or tweeting them through to @TheOxfordMail.

Or, you can submit them easily using the button on this article. 

-We will chose a selection of questions to put to Sarah Hubbard. The deadline for submissions is midday on Wednesday and the answers will be published in the Oxford Mail on Saturday, March 17.