SIAMS Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools) is the system of inspection employed by the National Society, on behalf of the Church of England and Methodist Church, to fulfil their legal obligations under section 48 of the 2005 Education Act.

As such, it makes judgements on religious education, collective worship, and pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural (SMSC) education in Church of England and Methodist schools.

These judgements combine to enable an evaluation of how schools, through their theologically rooted Christian vision, are living up to their foundation as Church schools, enabling people to flourish. SIAMS does this within the context of and with reference to the Church of England’s Vision for Education and the Methodist Transforming Lives Strategy.

SIAMS recognises and celebrates the specific contextual diversity of Church schools and their communities. Therefore for academies, it also evaluates the impact that being part of a strong multi academy trust, whose vision resonates with that of the Church school, has on the individual school. This line of enquiry makes a significant contribution to the judgements that are made.

SIAMS judgements are shared with the school community, the National Society, the Diocesan Board of Education (DBE) and/or the Methodist Academies and Schools Trust (MAST), the church, and the Department for Education. This is so that all those who have an interest in the school can understand the extent to which, through its theologically rooted Christian vision, the school is living up to its foundation as a Church school.

In this way, SIAMS provides a framework within which individual schools can answer for themselves three important questions: Who are we? What are we doing here? How, then, shall we live and learn together? It also provides an accountability mechanism for external judgement to be made on the same.