A CONTROVERSIAL plan to inspect schools more frequently but at shorter notice has received a mixed response from local education figures.

The chief inspector of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), David Bell, recommended this week that schools undergo checks every three years instead of every six.

He said giving schools less notice that an Ofsted inspection was imminent would give the public a "warts-and-all" picture of how schools were performing.

Mr Peter Biddick, headteacher of Eastbury Farm Mixed Infant and Nursery School in Northwood one of four local schools to win praise in the chief inspector's annual report last month said the plan had merit.

He said it would be a good thing if it reduced some of the pressure schools face when an Ofsted inspection loomed.

He said: "You know you are doing your very best but does everyone else know that?

"What would be really beneficial is if Ofsted provided schools with support and advice after an inspection had been carried out."

If agreed, the new proposal could see schools across the district given as little as two or three days notice in which to prepare for visiting inspectors.

Mr Biddick said this idea was unworkable.

He said: "They would have to give more notice than that. What if a school was away on a trip?"

However, the Hertfordshire branch of the National Union for Teachers (NUT) has slammed the proposal.

The NUT's local branch secretary, Jon Berry, said: "We have been, and always will be, against the testing of schools and to suggest they be carried out more frequently is complete madness.

"We have always argued that Ofsted inspections do very little aside from highlighting the problems in individual schools, which they themselves are already aware exist."

The consultation will close on Thursday, April 8.