From Outstanding to Good...

[camelBack]

A popular local secondary was rated Outstanding in 2010. Since then I've heard the Ofsted inspection regime has got a lot tougher. The school also has a new head - formerly the deputy - who doesn't seem as strong. The rumour mill suggests some teachers have left as a result. They had an inspection of their science department in 2012 which was rated Good.

Anyone know when their next inspection is likely to be and whether there might be and what metrics will be used to determine whether it is still Outstanding? I'm wondering if there might be clues in their published exam results but I'm not sure what to look for.

[Whichseason]

Old outstanding is now good, so IMO they have not changed grade. The grade was only for one department and not representive of the whole school. If the science inspection was trigger by falling grades, this does not mean low but significantly lower then English or Maths then they would have not been able to get outstanding.

If they were last seen in 2010 they are probably due an inspection soonish. However the school and the lea (if they have one) who has access to other information which the DoE may or may not have requested are unable to accuraletly predict when Ofsted are coming other than we think they may come sometime in the next year.

Why do you want to know when Ofsted is coming? If you look at an ofsted report you will see that results, variations within result eg are all result high do children from deprived backgrounds do well, how safe are children, including pastoral care, internet not hack able, bullying, how strong is the leadership and a whole host of other things are looked at.

[lljkk]

I was very pleased when Dd's secondary did this (O to G). They went from stupidly over-subbd to 50 spaces (DS's upcoming yr group).

[PastSellByDate]

camelback:

DD1's secondary has a great reputation locally and is generally a very happy school. But the year before we were looking at prospective secondary schools it was rated NEEDS IMPROVEMENT after having been outstanding for decades. Locals were completely astounded, but some issues are now clear:

1. School converted to an academy - harsh ratings tend to proceed forced conversion around here. Head stayed but the school is now an academy.
   
   
2. School was picked up on the fact that they have a relatively high intake of pupils working above expected standard at entry but don't seem to maintain that high ability work for this cohort across KS3/4. Certainly GCSE results have well less than

[rabbitstew]

My understanding is that a school rated outstanding might not be inspected for donkeys' years - they are exempt from routine inspection, so Ofsted might only come back if there is a reason to, which generally means falling exam results or qualifying complaints, which will probably be a good few years after the school started going downhill. A new headteacher doesn't appear to be a reason, in Ofsted's eyes, to inspect a school.

[noblegiraffe]

Inspections can be triggered out of cycle by the Dashboard data (exam result analysis) or by safeguarding concerns (e.g. Trojan horse). A local school had a snap inspection recently triggered by exam results being poor for pupil premium students, so headline figures could be great but closer analysis could throw up problems.

[Millymollymama]

I would strongly suggest you look at the Data Dashboard on the Ofsted. If this shows poor progress and exam results in comparison to other schools, this may well trigger an inspection. Also, if the higher achieving children on entry or pupil premium children are not making good progress, this could also be a red light. Our grammar schools have lots of level 5 children and therefore can score highly on the value added and progress. I would have thought an inspection would be anticipated within 18 months.

[cressetmama]

Our local school went from Outstanding to Special Measures a few weeks ago! That was a bit of a shock to some. It did appear to be coasting though.

[Millymollymama]

RI or Inadequate? Outstanding to Inadequate would be a pretty major failure!

[Charis1]

A policy not written in the correct jargon can fail a school. It's all pretty meaningless in my experience. Outstanding can be a terrible result for staff.

[Charis1]

It did appear to be coasting though

still have no idea what this is supposed to mean.

[cressetmama]

All the way to Inadequate MillyMM! An epic fail by any measure.

And no, it wasn't about failing the jargon test; the school does jargon rather better than teaching. By "coasting", I mean that the school is inclined to push Media Studies instead of English, for example, (personal experience at the evening for A level choices) and was inclined to enter anyone who was regarded as borderline for Foundation Tier in preference to Higher to protect their A*- C statistics (which are still only very modestly above the national average) even when the student has already indicated the requirement for at least a B to continue that subject to A level. Post A level, the destinations for which they aim are not generally at the ambitious end of university education, or even the solid second tier!

[icklekid]

Primary here but we went from outstanding to good despite the ofsted report itself stating how much the school had improved so for us we take the positives knew already what we had to improve on and keep doing that!

[admission]

Any outstanding school can be inspected at any time but in the general run of things this will happen when various "red flags" start appearing in Ofsted data. Things such as a new head teacher, parental complaints on parent view, increasing levels of exclusion and yes, results starting to go the wrong way.
It is also true to say that the latest Ofsted inspection framework is quite different from the previous ones, so many schools that were outstanding on the old framework may not be outstanding on the new frame work. There is much more emphasis on progress. Many schools previously had high attainment and would / could be considered outstanding but in reality their level of progress is not that good and hence get a shock when Ofsted come calling. That I am afraid is also an indictment of the senior leadership team and the governing body because they have not kept up to date with inspection frameworks and not done anything to resolve the poor level of progress.

[cressetmama]

There was a change of head, and the Governors were slammed in the report. Teacher expectations and quality of teaching were picked up as inadequate too. I do approve of the new emphasis on progress, and hope the school will respond by upping its game. It's not as if there's an abundance of choice around here! There are options post-16 and fortunately DS was leaving anyway.

[Millymollymama]

The new ofsted inspection regime is very new and does not apply to old inspections, so possibly not yours, cress. However, ofsted have always looked at progress, but you had to persuade them to do so. As long ago as 1999 I was a governor of a school where we stressed progress because our results were not stellar. Ofsted have all the data about progress made and clearly good schools with a less than average intake should be able to prove they have educated the children well. Therefore good or outstanding progress should be recognised as well as the good results. If it was only good results, then many schools would never get close to being outstanding! Where there is now more emphasis is on ensuring that good results cannot mask average or poor progress.

Too many governors do not understand progress. They should receive detailed information from the SLT on the progress made by different cohorts of children and recognise where there is underachievement. This should be tackled in their Development (or Improvement) Plan. A Governing Body or SLT that has not done this will, deservedly, be criticised. A new Head may not have had time to put any plan into effect, but a new Head should, immediately, be aware of the problems and demostrate an ability to rectify them. If they cannot, there is yet another problem. The Governing Body might be replaced.

The quality of teaching is often difficult to turn around. Will the poorly performing teachers be able to improve? Does the SLT know what good teaching looks like ? This will be changing under the new Ofsted system too. If the school needs new teachers, where will they come from? Low teacher expectations usually stem from poor lesson planning based on poor assessment of the childrens' abilities so the lessons do not meet the learning needs of all the students. Some schools can improve rapidly but it sounds like this one will need a lot of help.