DD's only option is 'inadequate' school. Please help.

[Lemonsqueezeit]

Moved to a new area, and all the good/outstanding schools can't take dd. (oversubscribed). My last (and only) choice of school have offered her a place. Last ofsted report deemed the school 'inadequate'. I read the report and my eyes stung. The most awful, dreadful reviews. Bullying is said to be rife, in fact they received inadequate across the board for everything. This was in 2019.The school has since been moved to an academy. I cannot get any report on this school because they haven't been inspected yet.

Please tell me moving to an academy will help the school to improve? I genuinely feel sick.

Is this primary or secondary?

Is there a local facebook page where you can ask parents of current pupils for their opinions?

My DS's primary was last rated Inadequate in 2018, and then moved to an academy. Haven't been reassessed (or whatever it's called), but I must say they've been excellent since he started reception in Sept. Have a look at the other schools in the academy, maybe it'll be a good indication as they all use the same lesson plans/timelines etc, I think... Teachers may correct me here.

Secondary

I'm not sure. I'm trying to do as much research as possible.

I'd be inclined to take the place and get on waiting lists for everywhere else

Can you go and visit the school?

hopefully it has improved a lot x

search on Facebook for the first part of your postcode/area name/the school name.
also join Nextdoor.
post anywhere you can find asking for opinions/recent experience of the school.

not sure anybody here can give you an answer, you really need local knowledge.

at least as it’s secondary your daughter would be old enough to tell you if there’s any issues.

Schools can go up or down the Ofsted rating system. I find a lot of secondaries become lazy after a positive rating. they sit back and cruise on the strength of their reputation whereas worse rated schools get support and drive to improve particularly if they change hands.
Go and visit the school with your child and see how it is. Keep an open mind. A lot can change in 3 years. It's under new leadership, that's a positive.

My son started a high school whose most recent ofsted had been Requires Improvement. He thrived. After he joined they got Good at the next inspection. They went from having very low numbers to having twice as many applications than spaces. Nothing changed in that year, the school was the same one he had joined. Ofsted reports are not something I put any faith in, especially after the first year so I wouldn't have any concerns (clearly, as we did exactly what you've got to do!)

You should be able to see the ks4 results for 2022. How do they compare to the local authority average
www.find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk/#SearchSchools

My daughter had 4 schools.
One outstanding, 1 prestigious boarding, 1 good but it was the school that 'required inprovement' that helped her. The teachers were old school dedicated to education and leveling up. My dd didn't need that but she welcomed the kindness.

That's great for your son and I'm really happy it worked out for him. This school is rated 'inadequate' however, and not just requiring improvement. I've found their Facebook page and there are two recent reviews on there and not good ones. A lot of local online papers and suggesting the school is continuing to 'evolve' but found a recent one that states that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done and things are still very unsatisfactory.

The children on their Fb page do not look happy - but might be a bit unfair as they are teenagers who probably don't want their photos taken!

I will go and visit the school and see what we think. The only other option is private, but it's a huge expense.

There are more drastic options - move, online school, home education - but yes, have a look at the school first.

I've worked in a secondary school that was "inadequate"- however, it was just inadequate in one area, and assessed as good in the areas that related to teaching and learning and the school experience for most students. Our exam results were generally good. We were taken over by a MAT, and at least initially there was a very rocky period for the school- it was not rapid improvement, and I would say there were times when things got worse.

It's obviously not the be all and end all, but if you can find out last year's GCSE results and progress 8, that could give you some indication as to whether the school is improving.

Even if there hasn't been another full inspection, there should also be interim inspection reports available for a school like this.

Things I would be concerned about and what to find out more about:

Does the school struggle to recruit teachers, particularly for core subjects?

What is behaviour like in lessons? Is there lots of low level disruption?

What is the behaviour policy like? Is it actually followed?

What options are available at GCSE?

What are the destinations for students at post-16 like?

What is the extra-curricular offering like?

Ideally, I'd want to have a look around during the school day. However, this is unlikely to be possible.

Are there really no other schools available that you could apply to? If they're under subscribed, it won't matter if you're not in catchment etc?

On mumsnet, you will get a lot of people who tell you a bright child will do well anywhere. But even a bright child will struggle if they don't have stable teachers, and every lesson is being disrupted by other students. I also think a lot of teens do change to fit in with the environment- if aspiration is low, it will have an impact.

There are really bad schools out there, and some I would not want my child in. Is moving house an option?

Sorry, just misread and seen that you've just moved areas.

Your first port of call is to appeal any other school you'd prefer your DD to go to. At secondary, you're very likely to get into somewhere on appeal.

There are some really good posters on mumsnet who can advise.

Teacher here 👋

View the school whilst the school day is happening. Most places will offer this so if they don't, I'd take that as a major red flag that they don't trust the pupils and/or staff enough to allow visitors in!

Becoming an academy doesn't necessarily mean it will improve quickly but being rated inadequate is usually followed by a huge push on improvement as it triggers many monitoring visits from the DfE and Ofsted. Sometimes this takes the form of a new headteacher, change of senior leadership staff, staff turnover etc.

Unfortunately, inadequate schools can find it harder to recruit experienced teachers and they have less money because their pupil numbers are usually lower. Ironically this then means they find it hard to move out of an inadequate rating. Go figure!

On the total flip side, I started working at an outstanding school and within a week I knew there was no way it should be rated outstanding. Ofsted came in the same term and I was completely right- downgraded to inadequate.

Go visit and see how you feel. Ofsted reports are only one small snippet and as per my last example, they can be completely wrong about what the school is like on a daily basis.

Thank you for everyone's input. I've been in tears this evening and feel I have let dd down. She's a hard worker and has the potential to do really well, but does get easily distracted and has the tenancy to be lazy if not actively encouraged.

Some things I have noted thus far :

• There is no sixth form. Not a massive issue personally, but not sure if this is a red flag?
• GCSE results were poor, but said to be improving
• There are actively recruiting for a few subject teachers (quite a few mentions of cover staff in place).
• High number of SEN(D) children
• High number of children receiving pupil premium.
• They have recently introduced a new reward system in classes to celebrate positive contributions and behaviour in class.
• They seem to be addressing lots of issues with positive statements on Facebook - including behaviour, attendance and teamwork.
• The academics seems quite low (please don't flame me for this) but a teacher showed a picture on FB of a child's art work along with an English piece next to it. (Was a homework piece). Teacher said she was very impressed with it. To me, it was just very average.Of course that one child could have done really well, so not dissing their efforts in any way. DD writes for fun and has a very high standard of English and art. I just want her to be encouraged and really motivated to a high standard. This was repeatedly mentioned in the 2019 Ofsted report. The school was said to be severely lacking in setting high expectations, and are too accepting of poor quality of pupils' work.
• Communication and transparency seems weak between parents and staff.

Of course, we will go and visit and have a look around. It's difficult because the report was really quite shocking. I wouldn't be fussed if it was just the one inadequate, but it was in all areas. Then there were issues in particular with behaviour. Lots of exclusions mentioned, and quite a low attendance rate overall.

I have found another school in my efforts this evening. I don't know much about it. It joined an academy as well. I have asked the council to see if they have a place available there too. I think the more options we have the better.

I don't think I will win an appeal will I? The response I received today went something like this :

"Unfortunately, it has not been possible to offer a place at your preferred school(s). The number of applications for admission to the school(s) exceeded the admission number(s) and to have offered a place to your child would be prejudicial to efficient education and the efficient use of resources".

Has anyone won ground for an appeal? And what were your reasons? x

Crikey, that was a very long post. Sorry about that!

Please don't appeal just for the sake of it. You can either send her to the inadequate school, look at schools further away, home ed and get on the waiting lists, or move again. But you will struggle to get into a decent school if you move and apply outside of the normal admissions time in most areas.

If you appeal, your appeal must be based on the school you want having something on the curriculum or some particular specialism that the school you’ve been offered doesn’t have and that it would be more detrimental to DD not having a place, than it would be by going over numbers.

If she was a talented violinist and the school offered violin tuition for example, or a sport she excels in and that isn’t available at the offered school. Just wanting a place because you don’t like the offer won’t be enough.

Like others have said, I’d go and see what you think of the school on a normal day.

As well as the things already mentioned to look for, I’d be looking at the safeguarding arrangements.

If you really don’t like what you see, the options are
Get on waiting lists for the school(s) you prefer
See if there’s a school with spaces further afield that you could reasonably get her to. The LA won’t provide transport though, because there is space at a nearer school, even though you may not like it.
Home educate whilst staying on waiting lists
Look at private education.

Some or all of these might not be possible, but they’re worth exploring.

I completely understand where you're coming from - our catchment schools are shit, frankly, so I went through a lot to choose one out of catchment and had to do a lot of research.

So - yes, to me not having a sixth form is a red flag for academic potential. But tbh the Ofsted report from 2019 maybe wouldn't be; that's quite a long time ago in school life. I'd ask to visit, as others have said, and be armed with plenty of questions, including how many staff remain, how the school has responded to Ofsted etc. Being made an academy doesn't have to be a terrible thing - academies are run different ways and many bring a lot of positives.

I'd also ask about GCSE subject options, and anything extra curricular that your child may be interested in. Ask if you can see their latest attendance and attainment figures. Or destination of leavers, that'd be interesting but without a sixth form might not tell you too much.

I wouldn't honestly go on Facebook reviews or comments from parents there either tbh. Mostly people who are happy with something don't tend to respond to consultation like that so you'll get a one sided picture. And you don't know that those people have the same aims as you for your child.

So yes, go and see them. It's such a stressful, important decision and I really feel for you but I really hope you'll be reassured by going to visit. Depending on your LA I think you can run an appeal at the same time but as others have said you need to demonstrate why the other school would be better, not why your 2019 report one isn't good enough.

The lack of sixth form isn’t necessarily a red flag. Have you moved areas? Where we live none of the secondary schools have sixth forms. It’s all sixth form colleges.

I would avoid an inadequate school. She won't learn much as it will be crowd control, nothing else. I'd rather home educate or get personal tutors.

For me it would depend on why OfSted rated the school so poorly. It sounds as though behaviour and bullying were major factors here - I would be more concerned about that than poor academic results.

MATs and academy status are meaningless - it is just a way for "slick" corporate guys to make money out of education at the expense of the school budgets.