Grammar School goes from Outstanding to Inadequate. What next?

[Harrysutton]

My dd attends a grammar school in the north west which has just gone from outstanding to inadequate. The report is a terrible read, the report is on the school website with a letter from the Chair of Governors but no other comms. Would you expect a meeting for parents to allow an open discussion and would you be pushing for more communication?

I’d be wondering then if he is unwell or on gardening leave. I also now wonder if he had walked into the school not long before the 2016 report and got lucky then brought the place down.

Schools in special measures are not usually allowed to recruit ECTs.

Instead of talking with a group of pupils, they will have talked with many. This vastly increases the probability of:
(ii) encountering those students who have experienced something untoward, and who are not satisfied as to how it has been dealt with

Surely that's a good thing, increase the sample size and and in general increase the reliability of your findings?

Yes which is understandable however I’m thinking of the HT very suspicious he’s now absent after a terrible report when due to leave soon anyway.

Bugger me that’s a damning ofsted. Has the head and all of slt resigned yet? And the governors - that is bloody shocking

a school will fail any outstanding if it fails safeguarding and it failed multiple times. Sounds like a culture where abuse such as peer on peer is rife and everyone ignores it

@sunnydaytoday0

Absolutely - it paints an accurate picture of what is happening in the school. However, it doesn't mean that this isn't going on in the school up the road, which just received a good, too. As another poster comment, this is a national problem which in one way or another affects all secondary schools.
To be clear, I'm not saying the report is wrong, or even biased. I'm saying that the grade implies that this is more of a problem here than in other schools, when it may not be. Ofsted reports are meant to be comparable.

@Macaroni1924 It would be a given that the HT would go in these circumstances. The report contains many serious issues which are ultimately the HT's responsibility. There is no way the HT can carry on there (maybe not even teaching) after Ofsted made a finding like that. It doesn't add weight to the report - it's automatic.

Apologies, that was a response fail. I was responding to @Redcase’s query about ECTs. You are quite correct; the headteacher will have already gone and ‘sick leave’ is for appearances only.

Absolutely - it paints an accurate picture of what is happening in the school. However, it doesn't mean that this isn't going on in the school up the road, which just received a good,

In that case they should generally increase the sampling size of how many they speak to if it meant more consistency and comparability in how schools are judged. But ultimately the school should just focus on what it is doing (or rather what it isn't doing) rather than worry about other schools. Whether the same problems are found in another school or not is irrelevant to the fact that they have been found to have these problems that need fixing quickly.

For a school with historically such a good reputation, I can understand how it would come as a shock to many that it is now officially judged an inadequate school.

No I totally get that but it’s some fall from grace. What interests me is how long he was in the post before the first report. I would assume not long and he walked into a well established school and got lucky as I find it hard to believe a long standing HT who built that reputation could let it get that bad. As I have said previously a school thrives on great leadership which has clearly been missing in this instance. It’s highly concerning that sexual harassment seems to be a given here.

🤣 no problem, yeah I thought as much. I’d love to know how long he was in the position before the 2016 report. When scoring that highly sadly the only way is down however this is such a drastic change and very concerning information.

Mr Porteus joined the school in 2012 so 4 years before that previous ofsted. He had already announced his retirement before this ofsted inspection because it was being talked about by some pupils that evening. It is possible that it has been a slow long slide to get to this point.

The previous framework it was judged outstanding on is not the current focus for ofsted, it's possible if the framework hadn't changed it would still have got outstanding.

I'll wave to all the mumsnetters while dropping my child off tomorrow for the exam too. Are people there for the 1st or 2nd slot?

1st slot here <waves>. Apparently a lot of parents have pulled their kid out already

Thanks for that info. I find this even more sad then. An HT who clearly had a massive input on the original results being there for 4 years and now to leave his career on such a low. Must be absolutely gutted. Good luck to your kids for their exam tomo, hope they do well.

London serving heads almost always go on long term sick after a terrible OFSTED. TBF I think most people would be sick after that sort of stress.

Long serving...

Our DD has just joined this school in year 7. There is a parents information evening on Weds which we are attending but it's very likely we are going to pull her out of the school. The issues are clearly endemic.
The CoG is still in place, having been in the role for many years and I believe a culture like this would take years to cancel out. This is not just language, this is repeated "harmful sexual behaviour"
I full expect my DD to be exposed to modern day behaviour from teenagers but lines are crossed and it seems like this school is in denial and hasn't dealt with any issues. The lack of urgency and magnitude around the actions is appalling. Safeguarding is not a buzz word, it's everywhere and it's a basic that a school complies.

Yes. You can understand it dropping down from outstanding....but to inadequate ?

The parent view shows only 24 responses from 1291 children on roll ?

I’d honestly sit tight.

dd was at a secondary where this happened (and a primary). Resources, etc will be chucked at the school hard and fast and things will improve quickly. It is likely the head and possibly other members of the SLT will be out the door fairly fast. A new head can make a massive difference, alongside more training, more funding, etc.

plus all schools have issues. If you move to a different school it may be no better but either just have an old Ofsted report or have managed to cover things up better.

It's non fee paying so it's basically just a grammar school in name

not sure what you mean by this? Afaik all grammar schools are non fee paying state schools. Fee paying schools are private schools and while they may well have an entrance exam they’re different to grammars,.

It’s only showing the responses from this academic year, which were likely completed in response to the report. Fairly meaningless both in terms of sample size and timing.

I'd feel better if the Chair of Govs. and any member of the SLT had gone, but apart from the Head who was going anyway everyone still in place and the report was June, albeit not published until recently.
The communication from the school has been horrific. They are putting the emphasis on the pupils in assemblies and using terminology like "it won't change overnight"
Not radical enough so far...

My D is in Y13 at this school. It has been historically very arrogant with parents, communication very much on their terms, and bullying incidents not addressed well. I can't say I was surprised at the Ofsted based on stories D had said, and how the school had clearly panicked and tried to paper over the cracks (keen to engage with pride and diversity etc all of a sudden). Results and school image have been the main drivers for years, not children or well-being. TBH I am impressed that Ofsted showed no fear or favour here and said it as it is. It would have been very easy to focus on the results and not the safeguarding. That did shock me, the lack of a single central record is the most basic rule of safeguarding practice, to not have that in place is unbelievable and gets you direct inadequate. Those glossing over it on here or suggesting it is a minority are wrong. I know that kids at this school have for example split themselves along race lines to play football and staff didn't tackle it stating it was the children's decision! The CoG and GB should have gone, some have been in post since the 1980s! I am a Vice chair myself and had that report landed I would have immediately resigned. I am glad my D finishes there this time. However, this is a good time to send your child there as things can only improve and once the culture changes the education will be very good.

So 24 parental responses, some of which sound to have expressed serious concerns, aren’t statistically relevant and are meaningless.

This must be a grammar school maths question - how many children does it take to be the victim of sexual harassment and “harmful sexual behaviour” before parent views are “meaningful”?

Ime the survey of pupils and parents isn’t totally helpful because people are drawn into the “well I attend this school and don’t want it to be seen in a bad light” opinion.
Agree with this, which suggests things are actually even worse than they seem.

My DC's school was rated inadequate just as they started. I had just started as a governor as well, it was a baptism of fire. The OFSTED report was positively glowing compared to that one. It was a rural comp which was coasting and just not ambitious for the children.

As others have said this is a good time to start at a school. Help poured in, in the form of specialists supporting the leadership team and GB. By the next inspection they were rated Good and went on to be outstanding. The guard can never drop once there has been a poor OFSTED.