First headteacher refuses to be Ofsteded in boycott

[noblegiraffe]

There has been talk on twitter over the weekend of a boycott of Ofsted in protest at its ridiculous system of stressful high-stakes inspections and public shaming, following the suicide of a headteacher in January after her outstanding primary was downgraded to inadequate.

This morning the first brave headteacher has put her head above the parapet. Ofsted called to notify of an inspection tomorrow and the head said no.

twitter.com/florascooper/status/1637760884243066881?s=46&t=vKGM6xpoeW3wdlaVVVagQA

She is calling for people to come to the school tomorrow morning to support the boycott (details on twitter).

I hope this becomes the catalyst for a serious review and reform of the inspection system.

Vast, vast majority of safeguarding work in schools is dealing with parents who aren't keeping their own children safe. Just so you know.

@ShimmeringShirts Finland abolished their inspection system and unit hasn’t harmed their education system. What we have at the moment isn’t about accountability. It makes our education system worse because it’s all about box ticking.

Hopefully she's fired - she knew what the job entailed and needs to be accountable to make sure the kids in her school are kept safe and actually educated.

The 13 year wait was because they’d previously been rated outstanding.

If they’re rated inadequate they are inspected again within 18 months.

they don’t leave failing schools for 13 years ffs

I think it would have been proportionate for them to be told to tighten checks in future and for there to have been a return visit to make sure that this is being done. I think ranking the entire school as inadequate, knowing the ramifications of this, is not proportionate especially when the school is seen to be performing well in every other respect. Nobody is saying that there weren't issues and that inspections shouldn't happen. People are saying that constructive, supportive feedback and follow-up would be much more productive.

No wonder there's a recruitment crisis in teaching.

The attached link above is really interesting.

Leaders have not ensured that all required employment checks are complete for some staff employed at the school

Employment checks are literally references, DBS and identity checks. I feel really sorry for the HT, but that’s a pretty shocking oversight.

Would it make sense for the safeguarding to be monitored and have regular interaction with a professional body specifically set up for that in each local authority and then that LA be audited and monitored by a national body?
It seems crazy to potentially have poor safeguarding practices for years until they get noticed by OFSTED.
I know the DfE also do their own inspections on safeguarding but maybe schools should have more consistent and regular monitoring and support rather than “inspections”

Of course I know that. I was an at risk child myself, just so know.

Did you read the report? One for failings of was that staff didn’t know how to report and escalate safeguarding concerns. That would be children at risk at home.

Just so you know.

Yes - I realise that. I'm not sure why you're being so aggressive. It's still a ridiculous hiatus. There can be enormous changes and turnover in thirteen years.

@blackpearwhitelilies it really isn’t just a cheerful wink and ‘dot that i a bit more carefully in future’ situation though.

A member of staff could have been employed at that school with a criminal record for violence or sexual offences, or claiming to be someone that they are not.

It is really serious and as Soham showed, the ramifications can be deadly.

Part of it is how the assessments are carried out.
Schools have no control over how, for example, reading is assessed.
In my school they chose three children and heard them individually, and they read to a TA with an inspector sitting quietly in the background.
In a neighbouring school they asked for 1 child from each year group and made them read in a group, one after the other, in front of each other. The really shy Year 2 clammed up at having to speak in front of not only strange men but some of the ‘big children’ and didn’t read very well, and the school were told their reading was not good enough.

It’s not a level playing field and it’s not fair in the children involved.
Those sorts of decisions cause stress for everyone, including the teachers because they can see a child being stressed and can’t do anything about it. They don’t actually reflect what the child can read, and there’s a lot riding on it. It’s stress for everyone that is totally avoidable.

Because Im angry that this women’s suicide is being weaponised.

I’m an abuse victim who was massively, dramatically failed by my schools safeguarding (then called child protection) procedures.

Sorry if I’m being aggressive, it’s obviously very upsetting for me.

She's dead. She committed suicide as a result of the inspection.

I said on another thread the other day, that safeguarding checks should be entirely separate from the main OFSTED inspection. If it's serious enough an area for a school that's outstanding in every other area, to be deemed inadequate, then it should be being checked on annually.

Safeguarding is very much a paperwork issue, and could be done with far less fuss, and and with immediate advice and action taken. One person coming in, checking the paperwork, talking to the safeguarding lead (usually the head) and a couple more staff, is manageable enough to be done yearly, and in a supportive manner with any action needed taken straight away.

Thank you for saying this.

Exactly this.

They are not reinspected within 18 months unless they are academies

Yes, I can see it would be. I'm sorry that you were let down so badly.

I do think this woman's been treated horribly, but I can see why you would see things differently.

Welcome to the real world. Auditors of all kinds work in this way. It is not the auditor's job to tell you to improve. In most cases they are barred from offering advice.

Headteachers are paid a lot of money because with that job comes responsibility. In this case the respnsibility to lead the school to improvements.

It is. It's a fuck up. The initial media reporting wasn't helpful either - mentioned flossing and so on, when that wasn't really relevant. Shouldn't have been 13 years since inspection, should have more regular safeguarding checks in schools - separate from curriculum, teaching and learning inspection.

No-one in teaching thinks that there shouldn't be inspections, it's just the nature of the current inspections that are the problem.
Ofsted really is not doing a good job.

This is exactly what does happen though. They are rated inadequate so that they can be re inspected in 18 months time.

I‘m not sure what the alternative is.

It’s an absolute tragedy it has happened, but it’s also absolutely right that a school employing members of staff with access to young, young children who haven’t had a DBS check and/or references is held to account.

This is largely what I mean about HTs being held to account. Otherwise, you just have to trust that your child’s teacher has been employed with a DBS and with previous references verified.

Our DS is at the local primary in tiny village - 2 class intake, reception to Y2.

We are in a rural, low-income area and there are a % of traveller kids and families with generations of "home education" as a lifestyle choice (i.e. a strategy to get UC without working - no educating going on).

The school used to allow any child who wasn't enrolled elsewhere in the county to join the roll if there was space - so that if e.g. a traveller child was in the area for 3 months, they could come to school if they wanted. Same for the "home ed" kids, if they had a chance to access the school, they could take it. Uniform was optional to allow even more flex.

It's a really great school from what I've seen - child-centred, plays a role in the community, very broadly aiming for the best access to education for every child.

At the last Ofsted they got a lot of outstanding, a couple of goods, and then "inadequate" for attendance (due to the flexi kids places). The inspector also noted that the flexibility on uniform was bad for the children.

Overall the school was rated "inadequate".

So now the school has changed its policies, no longer gives out those flexible places and uniform is required. The end result is some children are now totally excluded from any contact with a mainstream school, when they could previously access it. Which I believe is a bad outcome when viewed from the perspective of 'what's best for the kids'.

We also know of a child with SN who was off-rolled after the parents were dragged into the 7th meeting about his excessive absences - the stress of the school meetings was negatively impacting him and it was easier to take him out of school. Again, this wouldn't have happened pre-Ofsted scolding the school over attendance.

@withgraceinmyheart The 'not knowing' how to report isn't necessarily what it looks like. I can't go into it on here, as it would take too long. If any teachers can please explain it more briefly than me, go ahead, as I don't know how to without launching into an essay.