How accurate are ofsted ratings?

[Jesusgirl]

There's a school I really like, the kids are very well behaved and it looks like a nice school. But the last OFSTED rating was satisfactory.

I'm just wondering if the kids were just 'coached' to act really happy on the open day or the OFTED inspection was just done on a bad day.

I'd really like my dd to go there but I'm quite concerned about the OFSTED thing.

Thanks in advance for your response.

I would definitely go with your reaction to visiting the school. TBH a greatly respected colleague of mine (who is quite high up in education) said after the last Ofsted framework that Ofsted was 'going to war on schools'. I think they have a political agenda.

Incidentally, my DD's college was visited by Ofsted last week and she was chosen to talk to them. It's a very good college, best in the area, fantastic results, and she has loved it from day one. They have also given her enormous support. She said she was really proud to be chosen, gave them an honest account of her experience (giving up her lunchtime to do so) and the inspector accused her of being 'scripted'.

We were told our children were too happy and well behaved!

to be honest I would take OFSTED ratings with a pinch of salt! I used to work in a school in special measures; we were far better for the 80% very disadvantaged kids that attended than the selective grammar school up the road who always gets good or better (but I would question how good they are if even though they are very selective creamed the decent kids from our intake they can only get 90% of kids through 5 A*-C GCSEs.....)

My DDs school is a 'failed ofsted' school, but they and I LOVE it. Really love it.
The teachers work hard, my daughters are achieving over the national average and ofsted and go and shove it up their arse as far as I'm concerned.

I would personally go with gut feeling.

I have experience of five Ofsteds as a teacher, which have received ratings from unsatisfactory to outstanding, and in my view each time Ofsted has got it right. Of course that doesnt mean they never get it wrong. What I would say though is that schoos are very good at hiding things and can come across in a way that looks good when in fact the teaching and behaviour are not good- the most important things in my view and two things that can be hidden.

my dc's school has got outstanding at ofsted for the last few assessments, and while i agree it is a good school, there are aspects i don't like. it's great for dc's who are g&t or need extra support, but those who fall into the middle ground do get somewhat overlooked.

so yes, don't go purely on ofsted

Ofsted isn't just grading schools on how happy and well behaved the children are and how nice the school is - I would read the report and see exactly what areas were judged as good and what was lacking. The grade will depend on exam results, attendance figures, the quality of teaching, how well managed and organised it is as well.

Personally I do think Ofsted generally get it right. But you might decide that satisfactory by their criteria is actually great by yours.

Having endured OFSTEDs as a teacher, and then reading them over many years for schools I know well (incl my dcs schools) I would say the grading is to be ignored. I'd take a bit more notice of the words they have written, but they are under orders to focus on a particular thing when they come into a school, and, whatever they find about how fabulous a school is when they come in, they can't rate them as Outstanding (or even Good) if the specific 'focus of the moment' doesn't tick their box.

So, for example, a few years ago it was all about Safeguarding - if you'd not got the right fence in the right place or there was a piece of paper missing, it was automatic fail. Recently, my dd's school just got a satisfactory overall grade, simply because they can't show sufficient progress from entry at Yr3, to leaving in Yr6 - this is despite the inspectors seeing proof (and talking about it in the text) that the separate Infant school are sending the children up with wildly overinflated grades. The text actually acknowledges this, but their hands are tied by the fact this is the focus this particular month. They list the superb management, the 80% good and excellent teaching, the praise form the parents, the happiness and confidence of the children, the learning and progess in lessons, but have to ignore all that in the grade as they can't show the "right" progress sustained over 3 years because of something that is not of their making (and it's acknowledged that the HT was aware of and has been tackling over recent months).

Go with your gut instinct, and, if you can, chatting to other parents with children there.

Dcs school has gone from good to outstanding since they have been there. It is an outstanding school which is well run and gone from a failing school 10 years ago to one of the most improved schools in the country.
The dc s are happy and feel safe as bullying is not tolerated. The teachers are mostly excellent with the odd exception, but both dcs have positively thrived there both academically and emotionally.

Have you had a really good look at the league table for the school?

This year they've published o much info, you can tell more than ever before.

There's a lot more to school than babysitting happy kids.

If they are happy in the first place they are more likely to learn.

I have worked in a number of schools and Somtimes Ofsted is right and other times wrong. So you need to do a visit. Have worked somewhere that was rated good and it was IMO satisfactory. Worked somewhere that was rated satisfactory and it should have failed. However I have also worked somewhere that was rated outstanding which was IMO right.

Use a combination of lots of things; league tables, OFSTED and, of course your own gut instinct and getting to know the school as well as you can. I was able to volunteer to hear kids read at our local primary school. I knew the DCs would go there; it had been failing and was being 'turned around'. Week in, week out I generally liked what I saw in the younger years. We went to fetes and other events whenever we could there and it seemed like a happy ship with high expectations of its pupils. A couple of years down the line and I'd say my judgment was pretty accurate; I have my gripes but nothing serious.

Thanks everyone. I'm really inclined to go with the school despite the OFSTED rating. I'm hoping they've made improvements since then! I'm just trying to be objective and not too 'emotional' about it. I really like it and just wondering if that's good enough reason!

I'll bring up my concerns about the rating and get their explanation and what has been done so far.

ignore, I've been unhappy to have had my school awarded " notice to improve", and a lot MORE unhappy to have a different one awarded "outstanding". The school gr4aded " outstanding " was "outstanding " in one area only, PR, including the memoriable occasion when the head ordered a poor, nervous young constable to remove his scene of crime tape IMMEDIATLY because it was giving the wrong impression of the school

My children's school is "satisfactory" and I firmly believe they are getting a great education. DD1 is in Year 5. We were a bit nervous about the school when she started, but decided to give it a chance, as it is by far our nearest school and, like you, we loved the feel of it. Haven't had any reason to change our minds yet.

I would, however, say that it would be sensible to arrange a visit where you can ask questions about why they are "satisfactory" and suss out whether things are on an upwards curve.

In our case, the major reason for the satisfactory rating was an issue with poor attendance. That is a limiting judgement - no matter how good everything else was, they couldn't do better than satisfactory. They have introduced all sorts of measures to get attendance up, with great success, and there is every indication that the next Ofsted will be "good".

How long ago was the Ofsted? If it as a few years it might not have much relevance now.

Where did it fall down (or equally, do well)? If you look at the report in detail you might see positives that impress (teaching, behaviour and pastoral care are the important ones to me) or negatives that don't matter to you (or the opposite, obviously!).

FWIW all three of my DC go to "satisfactory" schools - and both schools were downgraded from good at their most recent inspections. I am fine with both schools tho. Ofsted has a place, without a doubt, but if you like a school and it is local and other things are in its favour, then I would look beyond the Ofsted tbh.

Aside from anything else, the Ofsted framework changes at an alarming rate.

The new one had only been in 2 weeks this January before Wilshaw announced his intention to change it again.

The 'grades' depend in part when the inspection was done - what was 'good' in December may now be 'satisfactory' and then 'requires improvement' in a few months.

It rather gives the impression of Ofsted making it up as they go along, I tend to think.

As rosebud says they move the goal posts.
DDs schools gone from good to satisfactory because of the focus on Y3 to Y6 progress (Small classes a couple of DC miss their L6 by the odd mark).
Now looks bad compared to other local schools which haven't had an inspection for years.

If your daughter is happy, don't worry about it 'looking bad', really.

A parent in my dd's school moved her children from the local 'outstanding' school to one on a 'notice to improve' as she was so sick of her children being unhappy as they spent the whole of KS2 doing SATS practice papers. Her children now enjoy a broad curriculum of history, science, art, learn a musical instrument etc as well as English and Maths and are much happier.

FWIW the school my DCs are at is the subject of a 'how to avoid' strategy on another thread. They are alive and well ( ) happy and learning with good friends. So I agree with Rosebud05 , do try not to worry and just watch your own child to see how they get on.

OFSTED care about accuracy of data more than anything else. Do you?

OFSTED can get things wrong, but tbh they are in a better position to judge than a parent who's just seen the open day (not quite clear from your OP what your experience is of the school in question). NB that almost any primary school will probably be a lively happy place to be, but that does not mean they can teach your children long multiplication.

Read the OFSTED report in a lot of detail and compare it with other reports in the local area - that will give you a sense of what the things are that are letting it down, and then you can judge whether they matter to you. A local school got marked down for poor spiritual awareness within RE - as an atheist I couldn't give a monkeys, another got slated for poor attendance - that's not really their fault, and won't particularly affect my children who'll be going to school every day unless actually bedridden, ditto safeguarding procedures (in the sense of recognising abuse at home) - it's important but not a factor in my personal school choice.

I disagree completely.

I honestly don't recognise my children's school in its Ofsted report, and I can say with certainty that I've spend many, many more hours there than an inspector.

The first impression I got when I looked round tallies with my subsequent experience, not what Ofsted says.

In my experience as a parent, they usually get it about right. It matches my gut feeling too.