I must be so out of touch. Gove now abolishing the Ofsted' satisfactory' rating

[OrmIrian]

Any school that doesn't get 'good' or 'outstanding' is going to be failing. Which presumably makes them ripe for academy-ing.

That means my DC secondary school - that was outstanding in 2010 - was rated as satisfactory this year. And DH's special school - slated for not putting enough children up for GCSEs (some of whom are pre-verbal and most of whom have passed a major milestone when they sit in a chair for a whole lesson).

Out of touch because I was shocked to hear this I mean

Oh no. Ds1's school was rated 'satisfactory' but is an academy.

I think that what grates is the knowledge that a lot of the schools that are now rated satisfactory were good or outstanding previously. So Ofsted have gathered more schools into the 'satisfactory' corale and are now damning them as actually 'unsatisfactory'. Double whammy.

DS1 primary is a satisfactory. Was assessed January 2011.

I read somewhere that satisfactories will get more frequent inspections now. Does anyone know how often for satisfactories?

Apologies for hijack!

If "satisfactory" were a score of 3 on a scale of 1 - 5, then it would be just that. However, it equates to 3 on a scale of 1-4, and therefore in OFSTED-speak it is perceived as "unsatisfactory". Strange how the very educational establishment itself has managed to distort a very basic word to mean the exact opposite.

I don't think it's particularly the stigma that's the problem.

It's more that is a school doesn't become 'good' or 'outstanding' within 2 years (though I might be wrong about this time-frame), it will be deemed to be in 'special measures' and then eligible to be handed over to one of the cabinet's friends and/or party donors to become a sponsored academy.

There's absolutely no evidence that sponsored academy status guarantees school improvement, btw, and it's an experiment at primary level. Many schools that have converted are faring worse than when they were maintained schools.

The new Ofsted framework is very, very difficult for schools with any sort of 'spiky' ie diverse intake. A cynic might think that the new Ofsted framework was designed to force schools in areas of social deprivation into categories so that the academy chains can get their hands on them.

Well rosebud, a cynic would indeed think that ......

Friend teaches at a 'satisfactory' school. (100% non white, large proportion have English as a 2nd language, slightly smaller proportion have SEN. Adorable children with lovely parents, but the vast majority speak English so communication difficult. They've had 2 yearly re-inspections and although they are improving, it seems not enough for Ofsted (who Gove is holding by the gonads).

On the plus side, the school has been given a support partner school who were once considered failing and are now deemed as outstanding. The authority has thrown further support, however the staff are demoralised and consider themselves as failures. The staff room atmosphere is tense with teachers looking at alternative schools and TAs on temporary contracts who constantly feel their jobs are on the line. The school are due for another inspection any time. The local authority have already indicated that not enough improvement is being made and the HT is of the impression that a 100% turnaround would be acceptable as the decision is already made. The school had a visit last week from an academy sponsor who run a few local schools and the local authority has encouraged all of their schools to become academies. (oh i wonder why?) As you can see, the dark clouds are gathering for my friend's school. She loves her job and is brilliant at it and although there are a couple of teachers who are not as good as they should be, no new teachers want to consider a school which could be shut down/swallowed up as an academy. They've had a couple of temp teachers who they had to get rid of as they exacerbated the issues within their year groups.

It's such a sad situation and my friend phones me in tears at least once a week. Surely the kids are affected by how the staff feel and actually when a decision is made, it may be better for everyone even if that is for the school to be an academy?

Sorry to ramble. I absolutely detest what this government is doing to schools and detest the previous government for coming up with the academy idea in the first place! I honestly cannot see how any private company can change the deep issues which trouble the area the school is in?

I agree. The bullying being carried out by the DfE, Ofsted and the academy chains is grotesque and unprecedented.

Of course there isn't an academy magic wands. Academies don't perform any better than maintained schools with similar intakes, often less well.

The political agenda is to remove as many as possible from local authority control - when bribing 'outstanding' schools to convert wasn't as successful as Gove hoped (and the great majority of these are very open about the fact that they only converted for the cash, not because they thought a change of governance would improve their schools), he resorted to bullying.

A disgrace - as is the absolute lack of political opposition.

Gove will do whatever it takes to make us all academies, and take away our unity. We will become singular island, floating and possibly surviving. He won't have to monitor, and some business person will decide how much paper/ pritt stick / whiteboard pens we need.

Mutteroo, the sad thing is your friends situation is not unique as I too know teachers and T/A's in this position.
Halfway down your post I came to the same conclusion, what can this be doing to the children.
Personally, I can see an increase in friends and associates seeking advice and considering home education, and some wanting to set up free schools.
Who can blame them with such systems in place

All I can say is I doubt I will ever set foot in a classroom again, as Gove is on a mission to destroy our educational system. I feel awful for everyone involved, but I am so glad for myself that I am a SAHM now and not subject to that level of stress and anxiety on a daily basis.

Hope this isn't a hijack.
Can someone pitch the case for "good things about academy schools"? I know all the antis (it seems like).

Maybe start another thread on this?

Gove wants all schools to be "above average" - part of his justification for removing the "satisfactory" rating.

My 11 year old ds immediately said "but that's impossible" - but then, he understands maths .

The parliamentary select committee did ask Gove, on being told this, whether "he was better at literacy than numeracy at school"