Bloody OFSTED!!!

[Ineedalife]

I know I need to get over this and move on but...

The awful school that Dd3 used to go to, that made her ill and verging on depression at 8 has just been told that they are outstanding at supporting children with disabilities and special needs

They got good overall.

The HT/SENCO is so good at lying and covering her tracks that she has once again conned OFSTED.

I am disgusted that despite at least 3 letters of complaint from parents of children with Special Needs Ofsted still think it is all wonderful there.

All the parents who have complained have been told that their complaints cannot/will not be upheld due to the correct procedure not being followed.

Dd3 was lucky to have parents who were not prepared to put up with the crap anymore and she is very happy where she is but I still feel sick at the thought of the HT getting away with damaging children as she does.

Nobody needs to answer this but I hope there are some ofsted spies on here occasionally

[Dev9aug]

whoever said that "BS might get you to the top, but won't keep you there" has obviously never worked in the public sector.

on your behalf.

[Jerbil]

know exactly how you feel... how frustrating! :-(

[Ineedalife]

You are right dev, I know I shouldnt be surprised but I had just hoped for a brief moment that the truth might be uncovered.

Thanks.

[Iceflower]

Feel angry on your behalf.

Did you know there is a newish Parent View section on the Ofsted website? I paid the site a visit at the weekend and gave my feedback on my ds' school :D

[Ineedalife]

I did know thanks ice flower and I nearly filled it in when I knew ofsted were in at the school but something stopped me.
I really need to move on because I still get really upset about the way we and especially Dd3 were treated.

I wish I had filled it in now though

[inappropriatelyemployed]

I feel your rage and your pain - DS was at a similarly 'outstandingly' shite school.

Was the report done by an HMI? Sometimes they send any old crap bod in.

You can complain to Ofsted that they are not taking you seriously enough but I have been told that their complaints process exists to deliberately send you round in circles until you tire yourself out (but isn't that true of all public bodies?)

Parents' view sounds a good idea.

[Ineedalife]

Yes, I had some experience of that complaints system because ofsted suggested that I write to the sec of state for education, which I did, only to be told to complain to ofsted!!

I gave up as I decided that my energy was better spent on Dd3.

[AgnesDiPesto]

DH and I have this idea which hopefully will one day come to fruition which is to have a Dr Foster type comparison website for SEN and for parents to be able to score schools and comment eg if children are excluded from school trips and also score LAs e.g. put on copies of woolly statements. I know it would take time to build but it would be a way of getting parents voices heard. Sort of like ebay feedback, perhaps schools would change if they knew their omissions would be publicly viewable.

I know potential libel issues etc but it must be possible to collect factual info eg children put on part-time timetables, schools not implementing statements, frequency of outreach visits that allow parents to come behind to see that previous parents have not been impressed.

Not just name and shame, an opportunity to reward the good but 'out' the bad.

Dr Foster had a big impact on doctors and hospitals with patients getting rights eg to see success rates, death rates, waiting times

Just somehow need to find time to do it...

[Ineedalife]

I think that is a great idea, agnes.

I would be happy to tell all about the above mentioned school and also the fab inclusive school she is in now.

I think all the parents I know who have moved their children from above school will be feeling the same as me tonight and so will a coupe of exTA's.

[badgerparade]

I know how you feel. I complained to Ofsted about awful things the school has done (and I was a governor there!) and still they got away with it. Still trying to move on from it but it takes a good while. You did your best and just have to hope that they'll get their just desserts one day.

[Handywoman]

INaL, I hear ya! I am in the middle of a complaint to the governors about the way my dd's 'outstanding school' (Ofsted, 2011) has handled my daughter's SpLD ? by denying any SEN and blaming me for the fact that my daughter is in tears when she is attempting her homework! What a total sham it is.

HW x

[2tirednot2fight]

I know how this feels. My child went to a special school rated outstanding but in reality the treatment he received was outstandingly poor. We made a complaint but it involved a member of the governing body with strong connections to the school, so they refused to go through the correct process, LA were useless and also sadly were Ofsted. I think there should be something done about schools like this but I have no idea how to effect change in the face of such collusion and a failure to keep children safe. Local Safeguarding board were as helpful as a chocolate teapot in this instance too. LGO is currently looking at the handling of this matter by the LA.

[hoxtonbabe]

Same here, DS goes to outstanding school but the worst ever SEN and the school are so arrogant that they actually try make you as the parent feel like crap for questioning them and their shoddy ways. It appears that outstanding equates to children with sen can be treated appallingly and the school can get away with it because they are outstanding?!?

[bochead]

At present Oftstead is just a political tool being used to push through the coalitions ideological (non-evidence based!) reforms. My son's current school got a lower Ofstead rating than his last one, where he & other children have been abused. Ofstead has nothing to do with educational standards, or even child welfare imho - it's just a very expensive propaganda machine & more corrupt than a 419 scam.

Frankly I found it very insulting that the school where the teachers & staff regularly go the extra mile and then some in ALL areas from the G&T to the SN kids, do loads of enrichment activities in their spare time and basically work their socks off even have the same job titles as the spiteful, ignorant, SATS manipulators at his previous institution.

Parents are leaving the first school in droves, writing complaint letters etc, etc yet this was totally ignored by OFSTEAD - the lack of bums on seats in an area where all other local schools are bursting at the seams with bulge classes etc should have been a major red flag, were the inspection regime remotely honest.

All I can really say is that no parent - SN or not should rely on Ofstead to choose a school in anyway shape or form any longer. I also feel extremely sorry for good teachers.

[hoxtonbabe]

Ofsted reports are rubbish, however I have found when a school or nursery has a unstatisfactory, it is usually correct ( well in my area it is)

[auntevil]

Agree with Bochead. Ofsted is a couple of day view of a school. There is still a day's notice that they are coming. Every school would expect the staff to pull out all the stops - so every teacher on the visit would remember their 'inclusive' practises.
The rest is just management waffle backed up by the statistics that they have prepared. We all know how statistics can be interpreted. Ofsted are not there to look at individual performance, they only look at SEN/SN as a whole group, progress as a whole group. The statistics won't be given that they have massively failed x number of children. Ofsted won't ask for it.
I also know of 1 school locally where parent forms that criticised the school were 'lost'. I know a parent put in a complaint, but I don't know the outcome.
I know which report I would rather believe. 1 from 'educators' looking at 2 days in a prepared school, or a parent's view having spent several years week in week out dealing on a daily basis with the school.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

My friend is a primary teacher and she says that they have to prepare an 'Ofsted' lesson in case they are going to be observed (there's some flexibility re topic, but not wrt structure etc.) They don't always even teach their own class as teachers are moved around in order to 'hide' the weaker teachers.

My mum failed the Ofsted training 3 times because she was 'too challenging' and her inquiring was too detailed.

[hoxtonbabe]

Starlight, you must be kidding!!! The more I hear about the education system the more I feel like crying.

Turned down for being to challenging?!? That should be what they want!

[Veritate]

I was talking recently to a teacher in a school that Ofsted rated as outstanding. She said they have to spend an inordinate amount of time making the children do written tasks in lessons (as opposed to, say, jointly working through stuff on an interactive whiteboard) just so that they will have lots of concrete evidence for Ofsted, and that most of their focus has to be on what will keep Ofsted happy rather than what will actually benefit children.

I think it's worth giving a link to the Parents' View site - parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/. I've heard that if schools have a sufficiently high dissatisfaction rating it can trigger an Ofsted inspection, don't know if it's true.

[Handywoman]

When my dd's school had it's last inspection (subsequently found to be Outstanding) my dd's regular teacher was away on school trip. one of the parents who has a kid in a different year does some supply work for the school and taught dd's class on the day dd's class was observed. The following week i was in the playground and heard her say openly that when she heard Ofsted were coming she had to (in her own words): "rip up the original lesson plans and do something completely different". Either what Ofsted want to see is unrealistic, narrow and not a real reflection of good teaching, or teachers are often happy to plan mediocre lessons. I suspect that the truth is a bit of both! Not sure what the answer is, i think more emphasis should be placed on the 'value added' measure in the school league tables. Far too much emphasis placed on the Ofsted inspection. Since my kids' SEN were diagnosed I have a completely different view of my dd's school.
HW x

[inappropriatelyemployed]

I think one of the big problems is the variability in the assessments schools get and inconsistency of the quality of inspection.

There are not many proper HMI - Her Majesty's Inspectors. There are lots of freelance contract inspectors (the report will indicate if it has been undertaken by an HMI or not). The difference in quality can be massive as there is rigorous recruitment and training on HMI's who are often specialists in particular areas of education.

Most schools get some freelancer who is not going to cause waves by questioning an aggressive or assertive head.

On top of this, some inspectors haven't a bloody clue about what SEN is or how you can tell if a child is making good progress.

Until you pay good money to get good educationalists who are specialists in the whole framework and who properly understand SEN, things won't change.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

inappropriately, my mum wasn't expecting 'good money'. In fact she'd have probably done it for free knowing her.

As it happens she did make very good money as a freelancer using her 'challenge' skills, usually as a critical friend than a judge. There is just no way she would have suspended her principles simply to get that job.

[Ineedalife]

hoxton I was also made to feel that I was causing my dd3's issues or making them up.

When she used to vomit at school due to anxiety she used to be sent home and when she used to get home she would eat her lunch and be absolutely fine.
The anxiety was caused by school.
She has never, ever vomitted due to anxiety at home!

HT, once phoned me and said "Mrs xxxxx, Your Dd3 has just vomitted on my new carpet!"

When I questioned why she was so anxious I was told she just did it to come home.

I agree that what OFSTED say is not worth the paper it is written on.

Leonie thanks for the hugs, am feeling a bit sorry for myself ATM.

Dd3 is doing ok but struggling with literacy in yr5. Just had a phone call to say she is finally going to get some SALT input. Yay, only 14 months after diagnosis.
New school is fab but the wheels do still turn slowly.