Ofsted consider binning 'Outstanding' rating

As a chair of an outstanding school I am convinced from our internal and external monitoring that the school would still be outstanding as it achieved in 2014. However I do agree completely with the view that the time period where no external inspection takes place is too long. I am aware of at least two local schools that are deemed outstanding but are anything but that. My thought would be to say if you are outstanding then you get 5 years grace before an inspection but if the figures are already going the wrong way it can be before then, as is the case now.
In terms of dropping the grade of outstanding my concern is that the "good" grade is already a very significant gap between a poor good and a good good. Removing the outstanding grade would just make the good grade meaningless as it would solely mean that the school does not require significant improvement or worse. That would mislead both staff and parents about the real capability of the school.

I agree about the length of time for outstanding schools to be reinspected. My DCs school has an outstanding rating but hasn't been inspected since 2011. I am happy with the education my DCs get there but there is no one currently in the school who was there when it was last inspected.

House prices were inflated around schools parents perceived as "excellent" way before Ofsted came along. I used to have admissions queries from parents of babies who wanted to live in certain catchment areas 30 years ago. Parents have always made judgements and the Outstanding from Ofsted just confirmed them, by and large.

I rather do think the "Good" rating needs to be nuanced and perhaps no rating at all might help. Just facts laid out and findings. Parents then have to read the reports and understand the P8 results etc. "Outstanding" has become shorthand for parents who do not really want to read the reports. Outstanding schools are left too long between inspections but that is so RI and the worst schools are inspected more often as they, normally, have more improving to do.

I would not avoid any Outstanding school or indeed any RI school. Both may suit a DC. An "Outstanding" classification is nothing to be avoided if that school offers an education that benefits your child. Children do not know what classification a school is so parents are making a decision purely on Ofsted without looking for themselves. That's a strange way to choose a school. Often an outstanding school is one where children have excellent teachers and make excellent progress; so why avoid that without even considering it?

because parents like it Is a truly shite reason to keep the outstanding grade.

It's an eminently sensible idea to remove it which means it will probably not happen under a conservative government.

Great idea. Next they can ban league tables. A long-overdue move in the direction of sanity imo.

I'd rather they re-inspected Outstanding schools. My DC's school hasn't been inspected for 9 years or so, and officially isn't even the same school (it became an academy). It has had two changes of Head in that time, and a lot of other staff changes, as well as the whole inspection regime changing massively.

If it's really down to whether or not parents "like" it, it clearly serves no other valid purpose . Why was it introduced in the first place?

Does this mean that Ofsted view themselves as 'requiring improvement'?

As a parent, personally I found the outstanding rating to be a good indicator of schools I wished to avoid as I disagree with Ofsted's idea of what an outstanding school is.

I think that's a brilliant idea. I can't believe how long between inspections the local outstanding schools have (especially the primary schools). One near us has not a single member of the senior leadership team that was there during the last inspection and barely any of the teachers.

It doesn't matter how much I know that my kids' inspected-this-year-good is probably as good or better than the local honeypots, prospective parents don't believe it. You see it on MN - 'private or outstanding state?' or 'area with lots of outstanding schools?'.

And with the outstanding badge goes lots of unsavoury behaviour, renting, lying etc and this ridiculous sense that you're 'failing' your child if they go to a merely good school. Kids would be far more likely to go to their nearest school and the involved (slash over-involved) parents would be spread more evenly instead of this clustering of middle-class parents and clustering of Pupil premium that goes on now.

In addition, there's been lots of research to show that schools with an able/affluent intake are disproportionately likely to be given an outstanding grade (this is particularly acute with grammars and secondary moderns).

Caveat: I'm in a densely populated part of London and I realise it's different outside of these bubbles.

One key element is the balance between “what is useful for parents and what is useful for providers”, she said

No one mention of students or learners.

I feel a bit conflicted about this.
I work in a school that moved from “good” to “outstanding” under the new framework. I do think the teaching at the school and the experience of our pupils is a world away from when I first started at the school and it was “good” with outstanding features. The students we teach now get a much better education than the ones that we taught 5 or more years ago. It’s nice for there to a way to recognise that.
On the other hand, I think we’d still be doing what we do now even without Ofsted coming to give us a gold star for it. In some schools the pressure to chase outstanding ratings is having a detrimental effect on teacher workload and the fact that outstanding school are inspected so infrequently means that many “outstanding” schools were judged against a completely different set of criteria to those that have been judged to be less than “good”. As a result it’s not exactly clear what “outstanding” means. As a PP said there are some “outstanding” schools who have had that rating for years and now have poor P8 scores but under the new framework only schools with “above average” or “well above average” P8 have been put into the top category.

On balance, I think scrapping the “outstanding” rating is probably a good idea.

Think it's a great idea.

All out local outstanding schools have raised house prices and those who've lived there are beginning to wish they didn't because the schools maintain their rating despite many of them having lowest progress 8 in area now and awful problems with I dealt with bullying.

The 'good' schools have remained good, are now very sought after and have had the most consistent results over the past 5 years.

Ime good schools have a solid foundation of teaching and pastoral care and remain more consistent in their approach. You are more garunteed to get what they sell (iyswim?!)