Our School is steadily declining in LEAGUE TABLES.. What to ask????

[drosophila]

When DS joined the school over two years ago it was in line and better than other schools in the area. It had a good ofsted report and was twice in the top 300 schools in the country.

For the past two years the results have been pretty bad and much worse than surrounding schools. My own direct experience in YR2 is fine and DS is doing well but I worry about the future years. He has had the same teacher for two years and she is probably one of the best in the school.

I spoke to a freind (Parent Gov) who has brought it up with the head and he is defensive and recent OFsted report is apparenly pretty good. Not published yet so I can't check.

What kind of questions would you ask the head?

One subject in particular is doing really badly and this is DS's fav subject.

Is this a small primary school? Often results can change wildly depending on the average IQ of a class. A tiny village school with say 15 year 6 children might have 3 children with SEN one year and no children with SEN another year. This can cause result to vary wildly.

I'd ask about the monitoring of the children's progress. Did they see that result coming, or was it a shock? What do they do to help children who look set for a poor result - most schools would run booster classes. Have there been any major changes at the school, either in terms of staff or in the teaching of Maths? (Usually a subject inner-city schools do better with than literacy - something odd is going on there). Are all children who are entitled to a reader actually getting one?

Hall apparently the issue is Mobility but according to DFES other schools in the area have similar issues although we don't have the details. It's a big school - more than 500. Apparently there were a significant number of children who arived in the school in the year of the tests. This could easily be an issue for surrounding schools though.
I suspect mobility is only one issue. Maths is the sticking point and was last year as well.

Did it worry you? What worries me is the trend - downwards. It rose a little this year but only a fraction and not in the problem subject.

I'd not be too surprised about the large number of children joining the school in the year of the test - before the secondary school deadline in October, by any chance? I'd ask for an analysis of the result in order to find out to what extent mobility is really responsible. Are children new to the school and worse taught elsewhere bringing the figures down, or is the disruption of having a lot of new arrivals affecting the children who have been in the school throughout, or is the school just hiding behind that factor? Is there streaming in Maths? DS1 was in Year 6 last year, and his school streamed for Maths and literacy. Would it be an idea for you to talk to some Year 6 parents to get their perspective on the matter?

Thanks. Good idea re talking to parents. My fear is that the school may well be hiding behind one big factor.

Well I saw the Ofsted report and it is generally very good. It does highlight the problem with maths but gives it some 'outstanding' comments in other areas. It did mention the decline last year and that it is being addressed.

Think a big influx of children would account for it. Maybe some have English as a second language too?

Are you happy with the school as a whole? Is ds happy there, do they address bullying, encourage self-esteem etc?

I would want to know if my child was happy and progressing as expected and whether they were being educated. Personally I wouldn't worry about SAT's results. How big a drop is it?

it might just mean they are not teaching to the test and the other local schools are. which would be a good thing. agree that talking to parents is prob more usefukl than talking to the head.

I agree, SATS mean nothing.

SATs mean nothing except when your school is below the national average and the LEA average in Maths you can't help but be worried. A LOT of kids have english as second language and many of the last minute intake will not have been to any school. MAny will be refugees. Our school was praised highly for it's inclusiveness and I know our head acts as an advisor to te LEA on how to deal with difficult cases.

Test results can lead you down blind alleys I think.

It's confusing isn't it? The school I work at is considered 'failing' by OFSTED yet the Sat's results were the best ever this year, putting them in the top 3rd of schools in the area. And this is a school with a number of refugee children and children with EAL.