What exactly does it mean when a school is about to go into 'special measures'?

[SilveryMoon]

I received a letter from my ds's school before haf term saying that the entire board of Governors have stepped down to make way for a new board to be appointed.
Was a bit over this and have since found out that they did this to block the school becoming an academy.
The school is on the brink of going in to special measures.
Does anyone know exactly what this means? How it will affect the pupils? Should I be concerned now, or does it mean the school will vastly improve with extra support?

I think it means they class the school as failing and it is given more scrutiny and more inspections and more support for a couple of years.

Hmm. Tbh it doesn't suprise me. But now they'll be watched and supported more, I don't need to be overly concerned because they'll improve?

Can't answer that, sorry. The idea is they are supported to improve, certainly. Do you feel like the school is failing? Are they good in the ways that matter to you? Are the staff good?

Not really. I don't do the school run so have always felt a little detached from their education.
Ds1 is in Yr1 but is currently a year behind. His teacher is very negative and doesn't seem to challenge him. She tells me things he can't do that I know he can and have seen.
Everytime I've spoken to her she's been quite negative about his work and effort and I can't help but think that if the adults who are working with ds1 use language such as "he consistently reaches a very low level" that they aren't giving him the encouragement to improve, you know?
There's a new head teacher, she has implemented some changes.

Oh that's really sad. Your poor son.

Well, you will have plenty of opportunity, I hope, to describe this to the people who come in.

I know when there's an inspection there is a form for parents to give their views. There must be some way for parents to contact the team that's going to be working with the school. Maybe find out?

I will. We have parents evening in the week, so I might tey to grab the head teacher.
I think I'll call on Tuesday and see if I can schedule a quick chat with her.

Replacing the governors won't necessarily stop the school being converted to an academy. That option must be considered for any school in special measures or on notice to improve.

The vast majority of schools that go into special measures improve and come out again. How much actual support they will get varies - many LAs delegate their school improvement budget to schools which means they aren't in a position to provide significant extra resources for failing schools. There may not be a team that will come in and work with the school as such. But they will certainly get more attention from the LA, DfE and Ofsted. Ofsted will be visiting regularly to make sure the school is improving and both the LA and the DfE have powers to intervene if progress is unsatisfactory.

One of the common comments from Ofsted regarding failing schools is that teachers are not challenging pupils. I hope one of the outcomes will be that your son is challenged properly.

Thank you prh I am sooooo confused!
I hope he is challenged appropriately too. I obviously don't want him pushed completely above his capabilities, and I am in agreement with his teacher, he will never be top of the class, but being an August born child, he is one of the youngest in the class, and of course would be below average for a 5 year old and below his peers. His peers were coming on 6 when they started yr1, ds was just 5.

DC's school went into Special Measures last Christmas. A new head had started that Sept (so 2011), was heading in right direction but hadn't had enough time to sort things out.
It was absolutely the best thing for the children though very hard for staff I think. Lots of changes, staff leaving, lots of observations, Ofsted coming in 3 times in under a year, raising of expectations, etc. We were paired with a local 'Outstanding' school and staff came in to support our staff. Governing body were also 'sidelined' in favour of an 'Interim Executive Board'.

DD (Yr 5 now) has REALLY benefited as her year group are an 'interesting one'. DS (now Yr2) hasn't been affected as much as he has a lovely year group and has had fabulous teachers.
Education standards have risen A LOT and lots of interesting things are happening to make learning fun.

They came out of Special Measures just before this Christmas (very quick I have been lead to believe) and are still heading upwards

Best thing to have happened to the school in my opinion though having a very driven head has helped.

Definitely speak to the new head and express your concerns and, as Hecate says, you will have amble opportunity if the school does go into Special Measures as each inspection comes with a parental questionnaire - I filled 3 sides of A4 for DD and 2 paragraphs for DS on the first one as their experiences were so different :)

If you have any questions I'm more than happy to try and answer them from a parent's point of view.

Thanks for that feet Good to hear that it was so beneficial for your dc's school and that they are doing well.
I'm starting to understand it all a bit better now too which is helping me to relax a bit