Ofsted and the Army Foundation College

About this page

The Army Foundation College (AFC) in Harrogate is the UK's sole initial training site for army recruits who enlist as adolescent children aged between 16 and 17½ years. Approximately 1,000 such recruits are under training at AFC at any time. The Ministry of Defence contracts Ofsted to inspect AFC under a bespoke inspection framework that excludes the educational standards expected of a civilian college, focusing instead on the arrangements and procedures to ensure recruit welfare. CRIN has repeatedly shared evidence of abuse of under-18 year old recruits at AFC with Ofsted, yet Ofsted, tasked with monitoring recruit welfare, has repeatedly overlooked the substantial body of evidence of staff abuse and other harms and have graded AFC ‘outstanding’ for welfare continuously since 2012.

This page acts as an publically accessible archive of all Ofsted reports on AFC since 2012. It also contains all Ofsted inspectors notes from visits to AFC. Finally included in this page is an archive of each letter CRIN has written to Ofsted about the abuse of recruits at AFC and Ofsted's response.