To ask about ofstead reports

[loveacry]

We are looking to move house but I'm unsure about moving into a different catchment area. Eldest dc will be going to school next year. School where we currently live is rated "outstanding" for both infant and junior. School where we are looking to move is rated "good" for both infant and junior that are within a mile of new house.

Would this put you off moving? I know that they can change as the years go on etc and I would rather them be in the better school but then I'm not sure how seriously I should take the current ofstead rating.

My kids attended a school that was at the time rated 'require improvement', later reassessed as good. Later, my eldest moved to another school with staying of excellent. The first school was miles better all around then the other.

The second school got excellent because the Head at the time used to be involved in work with Ofsted and knew exactly how to tick the right boxes on the day. Every other days were another matter.

I was advised to visit schools and go with my gut feelings. I'd agree with that.

Don’t just look at the headline ratings - read the reports. DS goes to a good secondary but the actual Ofsted report was streets ahead of the outstanding schools report (it actually referenced the bullying seen by inspectors). DS is v happy at his good school and the outstanding one is now downgraded to good and is failing further.

Ofsted is a point in time.

Go to see the schools, talk to parents, do your own research. Ofsted should be one of many tools to use to pick the school.

Mine both went to a "good" primary school, which was perfectly fine! As they didn't have the facilities and space, I can't see them every getting an "outstanding" rating. Go and see the school and get a feel for it, or go on local social media and find out what parents think

Nope. Wouldn't put me off at all. OFSTED is a very blunt instrument for assessing a school and, even if you do base your opinions of a school on the rating alone a "good" school will still be a school that has high standards and is supportive etc.

Have you looked round both schools (it might be difficult at the moment)? Our nearest primary school is outstanding-rated, everyone we met after moving here raves about it. When we moved to this town we were just outside its catchment but thought initially we would put it first and hoped to get in. Then we went to see it and thought it was cramped, overly academic and didn't have much of a grasp of child development. We saw another, good-rated school, and thought that one was fantastic, spacious, designed with small children in mind, friendly....the Ofsted really isn't the be all and end all. I am so pleased we did not move into the catchment area of the outstanding school because we would most likely have sent the kids there as the obvious choice.

What @Boom45 said.
Absolutely pointless. I’ve been registered for decades and even I think they’re useless.

I’ve heard a story about a setting where injections were given and needles were left out at collection-time, another time an exposed poo-filled nappy was left in a walkway and on a different occasion a medical ID bracelet belonging to a child was lost yet all 3 incidents mentioned to Ofsted weren’t enough for them to even have a meeting about attending the setting to have a chat with the staff.

Yet equally, the AMAZING school close-by where the Head goes in daily in the Summer hols and does maintenance work herself to enable the funds to be spent on the kids, doesn’t get considered in a rating.

Ofsted aren’t worth the paper they’re writing on.

We used the Ofsted report, league tables alongside visiting the schools to get an overall picture. A visit gives you the feel but the reports show the academic progress and other factors that you don’t get from just seeing the school.

I would go and look and speak to people.

I removed my dd from an outstanding school and can’t think of anything positive to say about it

It depends on several things. OFSTED reports are only worth paying attention to if they're very recent (under two years) and if they flagged anything that really concerns you. Most are not an accurate representation of the school and that's especially true for those who haven't been inspected for a long time. It's also worth noting that inspections are as independent or open-minded as one would assume: the team always find exactly what they set out to find before they arrived at the school.

I'd visit the school, in the first instance, but if that isn't possible then I'd focus the published data for both attainment and progress rather than OFSTED.

I’d put very little stock in an Ofsted rating. That’s coming from a parent of 2, who has worked in 3 different schools over the course of a decade and is also a school governor. It’s worth reading the full report, but I would want to look round and trust my gut feeling over an inspectors opinion after a few hours in the place.

Here's my thoughts - not very scientific (and probably not very popular) but my experience. All schools in leafy wealthy suburbs rely on parents to carry the school, Outstanding schools have learned how to play the Ofsted game - they were last assesed about 10 years ago, dcs are not their focus, numbers and optics are and of course strict school uniform - appearances will be everything - they do an excellent job of hiding the middle class drugs problem too. The parents make-up for poor teaching by employing tutors, most of the GCSE Maths class will have a tutor - even the kids aiming for a 9. Teachers do not go the extra mile - they have no need, the parents will employ tutors (hands up I did too). The schools that are satisfactory in a wealthy area will be working their butts off and will have amazing child centered teachers but they won't have won the kudos of the wealthy set who like to have the Outstanding badge like a designer trophy.
If you are buying a house in a less affluent area and they get an Outstanding - they probably are outstanding and you should snap them up otherwise approach with caution - it could indicate a box ticking culture.
My kids attend an outstanding secondary in a wealthy area - advantages - most of the kids have a good work ethic, so working hard is expected but their provision has been poor during the lockdown - the neighbouring school that is also Outstanding and has won amazing awards for being best school etc (how the parents laughed at this in disbelief) and the annual top of the league tables has been even worse - parents of course have employed tutors through-out lockdown to make up for the school's slack approach.

I know this is just my opinion but Outstanding ofsted in a middle class area - is not a thing to celebrate getting into as one child told me on open evening - "this school is great..a top tip if your dcs struggle you can just get a tutor and then you can help you figure out how to do the work again...it works really well." It was too late we had already fallen for the Outstanding school fallacy - we deserved everything we got!

Ofsted reports are like an MOT - it's just a snapshot of the situation on that particular day. Take them with a big pinch of salt. The best indicator of a school is the opinion of the parents/kids & most importantly your own gut feel when you look around & talk to the staff/kids.

I say this as a parent and a teacher!

We had 2 local Primary Schools in the running for our oldest- on paper, 1 appeared much better than the other but after looking round & chatting to the staff/kids, it was overwhelmingly clear to us that the other was a much nicer environment & better fit for our son - he absolutely thrived there & passed his grammar school test!