Introducing the plan, Bell had said it was a "response to the fact that pupils are surrounded by intense activity during inspections but are often never told, in language they understand, what the outcome is".
This cut no ice with Hart. "I think the chief inspector has gone off the rails on this one," he said. His concern, as reported in The Independent, seemed to be that young people would be given "ammunition" to criticise individual teachers or wider groups who might be identifiable from the report.
Time for a flashback to July 1997. In that month, Sarah Briggs, 15, a student at a Mansfield school, wrote to a local newspaper saying that weaknesses identified in a recent Ofsted inspection were not being addressed. She said that students didn't feel properly prepared for their GCSEs the following year. She was expelled for "behaviour that brings the school into disrepute".
Later events received less publicity. In November 1997, the local education authority published a scathing report that confirmed Sarah's view that standards were "unacceptably low". The head teacher resigned.
There are many lessons for David Hart from this. Here are two. Young people are entitled to express their views. And it is better to work with them than against them.
A spat has broken out in Leyton, east London. The Waltham Forest Guardian reports that sixth-formers are being blamed for spitting and dropping litter in nearby residential areas.
But just how big is this problem? The paper's fearless reporters spoke to the people who know. "One resident said he counted 61 spots of spit as he walked 500 yards from his home to the college."
The college principal condemned spitting in public as a "disgusting habit" but defended her students. "I see adults both spitting and dropping litter," she said.
She should demand a recount.
