Would you send your child to a “requires improvement” school?

[NotUmbongoUnchained]

Looking like it might be our only option

But because they’re being monitored does that mean they will be working harder to make the school better?

Wwyd?

Yes, we did.
We liked the good pastoral care which our DDs needed.
Some of the issues were around not pushing the most able on, which didn't matter to us as ours weren't in that group.

Went through 2 permanent and 3 temp HT before a decent one appointed who stayed and made the school good+.

Requires improvement used to be "satisfactory".

DD has just left a RI school (she left because she got too old). She did well, the school were working hard to improve and I had no particular issues with the school.

Have you actually been to see the school and talk about any particular concerns? Ofsted is far from being the be all and end all.

Yep. They will be under a lot of pressure to pull their socks up, same reason lots of outstanding schools drop down after their outstanding review because they often stop trying so hard. requires improvement schools will also get extra funding to get them to where they should be.

If possible get hold of the ofsted report to get a better idea of why they require improvement, teaching, results, pastoral? Could be lots of factors and some are easier to “fix” than others!

I did. Our local primary school was improvement req when my dd started school.
However it’s a small village school and I knew that the old headmaster had just left/booted out and the new head mistress had a really good reputation. The school went to ‘good’ within about 18 months.

I haven’t been to view any yet. She’s currently due to start an outstanding school in September, but there have been a few issues that they’ve been really crap at dealing with and I’m feeling like I don’t want to send her there anymore. I’m in panic mode I guess, but all the other schools around where we live are requires improvement.

I absolutely would! Have a look at their Ofsted report as often they're failing on something that would not impact the children per se. They're also being super watched, being given the best teachers, a super head and more money! It does depend on the reason for the rating but I wouldn't write it off automatically

It would depend a lot on the past history of the school.some schools seem to go on and endless cycle of going into special measures, being given resources to pull themselves up, doing okay for a while then slipping back down again. If that was the case then no, I wouldn’t send my child there as there’s probably some kind of underlying issue which is never going to go away.

However if it’s a school which has historically been okay, but has slipped a bit recently then the chances are it’ll be okay again with some help. If that’s the case then I would go for it.

Yes, we did. The school has had issues, but has a new head who is committed to improving things. At the end of reception, DD is at or exceeding expectations in all areas, happy and has friends. We're not looking to move her.

They get money thrown at them (relatively speaking) and often do massive turn arounds. My niece teaches at one and the change from when she joined about 5 years ago is astonishing. The one local to us is doing brilliantly. The head teacher is wonderful.

Tough one op. I may have to send my daughter to one in September if her appeal fails. I have mixed feelings as it could be 'outstanding' by the time she leaves.

I have worked at a RI school and now work at an outstanding one so one thing I will say is that the staff of the RI school were just as talented , capable and caring as the outstanding staff. The pressure was the same at both as all schools are striving to improve constantly.

My current stance is that if my daughter is unhappy at the RI school she will be sitting on the waiting list of an outstanding school as fall-back.

I think I might have to have a phone around and go and see a few different schools. I hope it’s not going to be too difficult to do a move!

I did although not intentionally! It was just the school DD was given. A year later it got an outstanding rating and stayed that way ever since (she left 2 years ago and DS is about to leave).

I’d consider it, depending on the specifics.

I’m just as suspicious of “outstanding” schools now as I am of schools “requiring improvement”.

Outstanding schools often achieve that ranking by putting a lot of effort into the things that will impress OFSTED at the expense of other concerns. This can present as lack of sensitivity and flexibility, disregard for SN & able students and in a host of other ways.

I wonder if that tendency might explain the issues you’ve been having.

About a year or so before our DD was due to go to secondary, the school we expected her to go to - the one her primary was a feeder for - had a crap OFSTED (shock to everyone) and got put in to special measures.

The head immediately resigned and a new interim one was appointed to sort things out. By the time we had to make a decision they had appointed a new permanent head and seemed to be doing all the right things. We did send our DD there and, in fact, by the time she got there it was out of special measures and within a year was classed as outstanding.

So sometimes the poor report can be a good thing as it can be a catalyst to change.

I turned down an outstanding school for an RI school as it met my son's needs better. Best decision ever. It's now good officially but I think it's amazing.

My dc are at a RI school. They are doing well, a couple of challenging cohorts will skew figures badly.

We are planning to move dd2. for yr2.but that is because we are moving house. I will cry though.

It depends on why they need improvement. So much of ofsted is box ticking and doesn’t reflect what a good school really should be because that’s not easy to measure.
Read the report and see why they need improvement. Are the areas that need improvement important to you. For example I would never send my DD to a school that was failing to make children feel safe but I might send my DD to a school which had management failings if I thought that those were being addressed.

Yes I have. It’s an amazing school, especially early years. Read the ifsted report and see if the things it failed on are important to you. Ours was mainly to do with underprivileged children and controlling absenteeism. The teaching was actually highly praised throughout the school.

Yes my DC are at an RI school it has been tough but, they are heading up. The new head is amazing, my DC are really happy and seem to be doing ok.

It depends. Read the report carefully and when you visit the school, ask them what they have done/are doing to address the weaknesses. If it was a year ago, they could be moving close to good or even outstanding.

Also have a close look at the outstanding school. If it’s last report was, say 5 years ago, where is it now? It could be reinspected tomorrow and be rated RI or even special measures.

The reports alone tell you little.

We didn’t have a great deal of choice here - our DC school went from “outstanding” to “requires improvement” when they hit Y7!

They are happy for the most part and the pastoral care and discipline is good, but there’s a high turnover of teachers, a constant stream of poor supply teachers and your child is very much treated just as a number.

So no, if I had the choice, I wouldn’t - but there are few parents that would do so by choice!

I just want to echo what BluthsFrozenBananas said. My DC school went from RI to Inadequate and has a history of a not great pattern. Staff turnover can be a useful indicator but can be tricky to find out about.

My DC school also recruited an amazing Head after the Inadequate Ofsted but the Head is leaving at the end of this term. I think the school will squeak a good at reinspection but I won't be surprised if it all starts to slip again.

Yes I would because they will be more on the ball.
I can see excellent schools slacking more because they will get so set in their ways and be less likely to have that drive to improve/change because they think they don’t need to. So I’d always be sceptical about whether they really are actually “excellent”.

You need to bear in mind that an outstanding school might not have been inspected for ten years.

I agree with previous posters - read OFSTED reports for all the schools you are considering so that you identify weaknesses to ask the headteacher about. You can then look around the school, find out what the school is doing to address issues, and see how the priorities of each school would fit your child.

I’d be wary of the suggestion that all RI schools receive bonus funding to boost ratings- a quick google seems to suggest that the vast majority of emergency bonus funding has been used to prop up failing academies and trusts.