Mumsnet Talk

As the title says my DS's school has just gone into special measures. Come and cheer me up and tell me this won't doom him leaving school with no qualifications. He is in Yr 8

doom him = mean

TBH it's probably good news. People will swing into action - Ofsted will be back well within the year, there will be strategies put in place, possibly some extra money, a lot more people asking a lot more questions and the HT will be challenged to within an inch of his/her life. And the turn around from Special Measures can be dramatic, and reasonably quick. Don't panic just yet.

As Hassled says its a good thing (in a roundabout kind of way). Better to be in a school that will be pumped full of resources and have Ofsted breathing down their neck and checking they improve rather than in a school coasting along at a low standard but not low enough to justify extreme measures and monitoring.

I didn't mean to sound unsymapthetic above. Obviously I am sure you'd prefer a good school without the need for drastic changes. But for the school to have failed its Ofsted it must have been in trouble for sometime and therefore it is better to reach crisis point sooner rather than later so it isn't in a slow decline for all the years your son is there. At least this way things will happen and happen fast.

It came as a surprise (they were rumours on the local news forums) because the last ofsted had been good with outstanding features. However they have changed to an academy last summer.

You need to understand what the reasons are for this collapse in status from good with outstanding features to special measures.
It is possible that it is something technical like a child protection issue that is worrying but easily solved or alternatively it could be that the school is coasting along and the results are not up to scratch.
What does the Ofsted report say or tell me which school and LA and I will look at what it says.

admission everything is bad straight 4's across the board, behaviour, leadership, progress. The results themselves are fine 68% inc Eng and Maths.

Don't feel that comfortable giving name out, but will say it is an all boy academy (previously high school) at the seaside where Corrie sometimes films. (Sorry to be so cryptic)

I've found the report as it has been in the local newspapers quite a lot since the results came as a shock to everyone. Its not all bad news. It seems (if I have the right school and I won't name it here either) that the students actually do really well in Maths and English but their progress in everything else is not great given that so many of the intake start well above the national average in every subject.

It seems however behaviour observed was really really bad (reading between the lines) but this may have something to do with the timing of the inspection I guess (again without outing the school it is the time any teacher would dread to be inspected)
The rest seemed admin related ie progress tracking systems, lack of lesson planning of some but not all teachers (again the timing of the inspection may have been unfortunate there).

Apart from that there were good comments made and some obviously strong teaching. It seems that the Inspectors were swayed a lot of bad behaviour and were pretty displeased. They are obviously not enthralled with the new leadership team either. The Head Teacher appears to be quite upset about it but from your point of view, at least you know that all the things that they found fault with will be addressed and that the school is capable of good things so hopefully this is a blip.

Sounds like it CustardCake - same initials as a department store (should confirm if you have the right one)

Bugger.
Its an academy.
Makes it much harder to turn round as the LEA cannot parachute in a new HT / SMT / GB
You need to find out what action the Academy Sponsor or Governing Body plan to take and if needs be start calling the DFE for advice

OFSTED do not get involved in pulling schools out of special measures
that is down to the LEA or the DFE
good luck.

Yes - I think I have the right school in that case littletreesmum. As TalkinPeace2 said I then wondered what an Academy does in this situation. The assumption is that any school likely to fail an Ofsted isn't converted into an Academy in the first place. I don't know what happens if the LEA aren't in charge of turning it around.
Maybe admission (the poster here who is an expert on such matters) knows?
An article in the local paper outlined some changes that the school seems to want to implement but, from reading their response the phrase "complete denial" springs to mind which could be a problem. Normally the LEA parachute in as TalkinPeace2 says and give everything a good shake-up. Nothing goes under challenged or underfunded until the school is O.K again. But as they are outside LEA control and as they seem very reluctant to accept anything that Ofsted said about them, it does beg the question how and how much will they change?

OK I've just read the inspection report.

It is in special measures because for some INSANE reason they were allowed to convert to an Academy, the SMT put all their efforts into that, stopped recording data because the slate was wiped clean last July (but not to OFSTED) and have generally taken their foot off the gas.
The only serious issue for you as a parent is that they have been sweeping behaviour problems under the carpet with all of the internal exclusions and chill out rooms.
The fact that the teachers felt free to report such to inspectors is an excellent sign.
Hopefully the Dfe will pressure the Head (and probably deputies) and CofG to resign PDQ and the school will sort itself out in a term or two.

So, what can you do as a parent? Be loud. Keep it in the local press. Call meetings and hold the SMT to account on its action plans. Email the Dfe to ask about the action plans.

And keep your DCs away from the fighting in the corridors!

OK, now I have a problem. As I do not watch Corrie I have absolutely no idea where this school is, the one place I thought of does not have any academies in special measures. Anybody like to educate me with a PM!

put "academy special measures" into google news
you'll find it.
but it'll be best if we do not name it on this thread once you've read the news coverage and the ofsted.
Interestingly it is in the LEA that had the worst record in the UK for getting pupils into Oxbridge and RG unis - which may explain the impetus to go for academy status

I live in the LEA and know the school referred to. To pick up on talkinpeace's point re Oxbridge etc, the LEA does have good results and progress to Higher Education - it is simply that people prefer to stay local. We are fortunate in having many high quality universities/courses within reasonable distance - my child is currently at one!

Thank you for the help.
Its a damning report given that Ofsted speak tends to be neutral and understating. It seems to have been a coasting school for a number of years in which the pupils attainment has been OK but not to what they should have achieved. This high attainment has masked the decline in achievement.
Most revealing are the comments that show that the senior management team did not appreciate how far things had slipped and that systems were not in place or not being used to reveal this. The number of comments on poor behaviour and how it is being handled (or not) is interesting.
It does appear that the SMT currently seem to be unable to accept that things ain't quite right in the school, so it will be interesting to see how things develop. If they do not accept the report and act on it, then the school will not recover quickly.
Who actually now sorts the school out is an interesting question. In theory it should be the DfE but do they have the people to do it? I am sure that the department will not want this school to become an albatross around its neck, so i suspect a lot of help will be forthcoming.

This is the second academy to go into special measure in the last couple of months. As pointed out, now that it is no longer the community school, the LA will not be able to offer it specialist help.

For the sake of the children and teachers at the school, I hope that the DfE do give the school the necessary help. Though if there are concerns at this point in the academy agenda that they might not have the people to help one school, it doesn't bode well for when many, many academies go into special measures as they - and other schools - inevitably will under the 'everyone's got to be better than average' Ofsted framework.

If DS is in Year 8 then there is still time for the school to be turned around but the questions is how far down does the rot go?

A school about two miles from me went into special measures a few years ago. I don't know the history (crap teachers? bad intake?) so I've no idea how it got there. What I do know is that parents avoid it like hell and those children that do end up there for Year 7 seem to be evenly split between those who couldn't get a place at a better school and those whose parents didn't care what the school was like.

So, although the 'experts' swooped in the school still had a Year 8/9 of disruptive kids and until those kids leave, the school will still struggle to raise overall standards.

I'm not sure what changes have been made but the school is being rebranded in September since the old name is synonymous with failure as far as local parents are concerened.

DS's school was in special measures about 4 years ago now. I remember driving past (it had a reputation for a while before going into special measures) and thinking the only way my DS will go there will be over my dead body.

Guess what, he goes there. It's now become one of the best schools in the borough.

Academies are looked after by the YPLA not DFE. Hopefully they are tasked with helping them out of special measures. It's bound to happen to some and, especially, as the framework has changed. Schools cannot be expected to get the same score every time if bars are changed or raised.

I dont know about the academy thing but my DCs secondary school goes in and out of special measures like it's caught on the door handle.

It is not the end of the world nor a consignment of your DCs to the scrap heap of life. Assuming that the reason is crap management then the teaching will generally be okay if a bit shambolic.

You need to become a manager so far as your DCs education is concerned. You need to be active in ensuring that interventions take place, that individual teachers are aware of any requirements/special needs of your DCs. You have to be very active in your DCs education and leave nothing to chance. If you dont know if a message has got through then assume that it hasnt. You have to be totally selfish. You are responsible for your DCs education not for anybody else's.

It is hard work but we did find that teachers joined in the game and if DCs and I put in the effort, they did.

Kez
I see nothing here www.ypla.gov.uk/aboutus/contactus/complaints/
about standards in academies
its all about finance, managed by a quango employing a bundle of people on well over £100k ....

The DfE is the 'next tier' up from the school, so talking is right - appropriate support is the responsibility of the DfE.

Wow, so does no-one actually know what happens to an academy in special measures?

I don't mean 'wow' as in good, obviously, more 'wow' as i "why the fuck are parents in this country sleep-walking into Gove and Wilshaw privatising our education system without saying 'what the fuck do you think you're doing?'"