To be crying at the Ofsted report just published for my DS school?

[babyno5]

I opposed the conversion to academy status for this very reason. The pressure of that opposition made me many enemies and resulted in me having a breakdown and exactly as I feared they have now been graded “requires improvement”
Feel absolutely heartbroken 😢

glintandglide a charity with an executive head paid in excess of £200k a year. Yes I know “captains of industry” are paid way more than that but teaching should be a vocation not a get rich quick scheme

I meant charity as in to specify they’re non profit, not to claim they’re cheap or efficient.

Sadly I’ve governed an orphaned school and it’s hideous

I know glintandglide I was just pointing out yet another hideous fact about this MAT.

I can imagine how awful it must be when no one takes responsibility

Well done for fighting OP. No many people do. I hope it turns out well for your DS.

OP do you work, have hobbies? I think you’re way too invested. This could not be good for you or your family.

Yes belly I work full time, have hobbies and still manage to find time to be involved in all of my children’s education.
More people should take an interest in their child’s school and maybe education would be in better shape

Dd was in Year 10 when her school was put in special measures. You can’t move a child at that stage, different schools have different exam boards, etc.

She came out with As, Bs and Lvl 7s. Yes I think if she hadn’t gone to such a crap school she might have got straight A’s and Lvl 8s but she still came out with good results. So it doesn’t mean academic failure and her school ofsted was all about poor teaching and lack of progress.

Yes there was an issue with staff retention but I don’t think that’s always down to academy status but maybe more the individual school? If a school has a good atmosphere, supportive SLT, good discipline I think they’re more likely to keep their staff. Dd has gone to a different academy now and their staff retention is better than previous school.

Bloody hell people!

OP led a campaign to oppose academy.
That campaign led to her being a target not a victim of abuse and harassment.

She took some time off to recover herself mentally. Quite rightly so. And she's in a healthy state now, years later.

I applaud your conviction OP and your balls, frankly, for putting yourself in the firing line for the sake of your own and other children's education.

As horrible as it is, I wonder if it now feels even more 'worth it' as your fears prove correct. A little hyperbole (heartbroken) is understandable in the circumstances.

So, what to do now? A new school is the most logical next step. Any person who stands up and tells children "requires improvement" means excellent is a bare-faced liar, trying to gaslight kids, and is using their position of authority to try to override facts they don't like. And they cannot be trusted to be responsible your for child's education & future.

I have no idea if you'll be able to move at such short notice but it's worth a try.

...and the dog is lying licking where his balls used to be!!

That is slightly gross but actually hilarious!

[I have nothing to offer the thread]

Thanks witty we will take some time to consider options as would hate to end up in a worse situation school wise.
Wholeheartedly agree about the gaslighting-but that’s the way this MAT operates.
One of our fears at the outset was that this was a “land grab” deal as they went for foundation first to get the land. They own an area which provides access to some land a developer purchased but failed to get permission for access. I think that they may try to excuse selling school land to raise capital to “make the improvements”

a lot of seemingly good schools have had their ofsted status downgraded as a result of the new rating system. It caused a lot of schools to look like they are failing, whilst they are not.

I don’t think it’s the academy status as such that has caused the problem, but how the school is run. A good head teacher and management team will make a school,succeed, in whatever format.

Haha grumpy was just trying to reassure those that thought I was ready to throw myself off a bridge!! But yes he was although he still looks shocked when he realised they’ve gone 😂😂

This all sounds so familiar. When our school was turned into an academy it was blood on the carpet time for years - some questionable, if not downright illegal, practices went on. Anyone who could walk, walked. Then lots of excellent (read expensive) teachers got managed out. Disgraceful. The Principal was the highest paid head in the county, who definitely was not worth his salary.

Thanks glintandglide

I too think I know which school you are referring too. I’m 99% sure it’s the one one of my DDs attends. All I can say is I was pretty ignorant when it all started to happen, I literally had no idea at all what it meant and how this would effect my daughter. There were problems before certainly but the good teachers leaving in droves had a huge impact. (Along with many other incidents) It’s so sad and devastating. The consequences of which will be very apparent shortly, I fear. I’d like to thank you op for all of your hard work and wish you well

I know petal and had they continued with the original HT I’m fairly certain the outcome would be different. He respected and had respect of staff, pupils and parents

A good OFSTED has nothing to do with respect from staff.
I've known schools where the HT was liked as they didn't rock the boat, expect too much from staff or put pressure on those doing a shit job.
If the changeover happened recently then much of the OFTED will be based on the results and procedures put in place by the old guard.

Thanks money I really wanted to be proved wrong. I saw on the local FB page another mum said “I told you so”. I’ve never wanted to say that-I certainly don’t feel it.
I guess we will have to see what comes out over next few weeks. Hope your DD doing well xx

wolfie no it was 3 years ago. The school was Good under last head.
I was simply pointing out that previous HT was very very well regarded by all he came in to contact with. The MAT nearly broke him too

Schools don't magically become "bad" because one person leaves or they become an academy. Why the push for it to become one?

I've recently seen our beloved primary school completely destroyed, and think that 'heartbroken' is the correct term.

The school previously had an international reputation for outdoor learning, with many visitors from around the world, it then went through some turbulent years (revolving door for heads), eventually it went into special measures, several teachers had already left and 14 more resigned just before this was announced.

When the school went into special measures we moved our child to a private school (remortgaged to do this).

I recently read a news article about the school - hard to describe without being too outing, but some very precious wonderful spaces and features have been flattened. Everything that made the school internationally renowned and very special has been removed, the soul and character of the school have been destroyed. Heartbreaking.

What karigan said.

Ofsted reports are, at best, a snapshot in time formed from a very specific angle.

They need to be viewed with a critical eye.

Moving schools based solely on an Ofsted rating is a little ridiculous.

And academies aren't "for profit" as has been suggested. They are all registered charities, any surplus stays within the charity to be used for its charitable purposes - it can't be distributed to "shareholders" or anybody else because charities do not have shareholders. There would be no benefit to generating a surplus other than for the school.

And yeh, being a headteacher is not a "get rich quick scheme". Head teachers statistically have shorter lives because it's such a stressful, demanding job. It carries huge responsibilities. If you actually believe that I think you need to check yourself.

Wolfie do you have experience of academies? You’re looking at it backwards- local authority schools being rated RI or SM so they become academies (which is the automatic route for a SM schools)

Local authority washes the hands of the school and hands it over to an academy chain. There is ebournous political pressure to do this. It’s not about one person being bad it’s about schools intentionally being run into the ground so they become academies

So the old Head intentionally ran the school into the ground so as to make it an academy?
Off to get my tin foil hat!
This was a good school apparently so your logic doesn't apply here.

Erynguim not sure if you’re referring to me as I’m the only one who has mentioned it before but you’ve misunderstood- I specifically said they were not for profits with charitable status.