School Premises Inspection Checklist

Who this is for

The premises round for a school, written down as you walk it. Each line names the part of the site and what was looked at, carries a result, and records the defect, who it was reported to and the date it is wanted by.

Caretakers, site managers, business managers and premises staff in primary, secondary and independent schools, nurseries and colleges, and the governors or trustees who ask to see the round afterwards.

What this helps you track

• Which parts of the site were walked on this round and which were not reached
• What was found wrong, in the words you would use to the contractor
• Who each defect was reported to, so nothing sits with nobody
• How many defects this round found compared with the last one

How to use it

1. Name the school, the buildings covered and the person walking, and date the sheet.
2. Take the prefilled lines in order, or reorder them to match the route you actually walk.
3. Mark every line OK, Defect or N/A, and write what you saw rather than a bare tick.
4. Put a name in the reported-to column for each defect and a date in the by-when column.
5. Add your own lines for anything on your site the list does not cover — a pond, a kiln, a minibus bay.
6. Sign it, hand the defects on, and keep the sheet where the next round and any visitor can find it.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Does this cover playground equipment?

Only as a glance from the outside. Fixed play equipment has its own record with a line for each item and each part of it, which is the sensible place for the detail. Use both and cross-refer them.

How often should the premises round happen?

The sheet does not say. That is set by the rules where your school is, by your own policy and by how the site is used. Dating each sheet lets you show the pattern you have chosen.

Can it be used during the holidays?

Yes, and many sites find the empty-building rounds the most useful ones. Write the reason for the visit in the notes so a run of holiday sheets makes sense later.

What if a room is locked or in use?

Mark it N/A and say why in the finding column. A record that shows a room was not reached is worth more than a tick that pretends it was.