How did I miss this?

[BingandFlop2019]

Can't believe I've been so stupid...

This primary admissions process has been rollercoaster for me. What was my first choice became not even a choice at all and then she got offered third choice which had since become my first choice....
Then I saw the Ofsted report from 2017. 'Needs improvement' in all areas. How the hell did I miss this????????

I'm a huge believer in good schools and was hell bent on trying to send my daughter to the school with the best results. I haven't come on here to discuss whether this is right or not. We're all entitled to make our own decisions for our own children.

What I need to know is how often are Ofsted reports done?
What should I do now? My DD can be hard work! She needs a good school. I can't send her to one that needs improvement can I?

I could cry. I'm so angry at myself for missing this. I'm not going to sleep tonight

Of stead every 3 years
Reports are inline
Depends what the improvements are
Depends if the school go extra money to help with improvements
Some schools are more nurturing than others,

Everyone wants a good school -

I know everyone wants a good school. I don't think I articulated my point very well.

I think I'm going to appeal for our second choice. Only thing is, that's also a village school and I doubt a place will become available but I can hope!

Now to find out how to appeal...... 🤷🏼‍♀️

I know it’s really hard but try not to stress, do the children at the school she has been offered a place at seem happy, what do other parents with kids there say? Schools change all the time and the Ofstead was 2017 so there will be some strategies in place by now to address the findings. When we lived in the UK DS ended up at a school that had had a poor reputation but I liked the new head teacher who was actively looking for enrolments and took a gamble. Within a few years it was one of the most popular schools around. What you provide at home is also so important so appeal if you want to but no matter what happens you can make this ok.

@SnowsInWater Thankyou so so much you really have put my mind at rest there!

To give context to how my anxious mind works - I've just read on their website about how they take the kids over the road to the village town hall for lunch every day and over to the field for PE and I'm now worried she'll be run over. PND and PN Anxiety has destroyed me :(

The first thing to do is to make sure that you’re on the waiting list for your second choice school, and also the waiting list of any other school you like better than your allocated school.

Appeals are hard to win for Reception places as infant class sizes are limited by legislation to a maximum of 30 children in a class. They can only go above that limit in a few very specific circumstances, such as the last admitted child being one of twins or the council having made a mistake processing your application. So check that the council has used all your details correctly before appealing.

As for the needs improvement status... how much I would worry about that would depend on a few things.
What exactly is classed as needing improvement?
How is the school working to address these things?
Are they getting extra money or other help?
How did I feel about the school when I went to look around the school?

And also, as I understand it, schools classed as needing improvement are usually put under pressure to work their way out of that category, so a “needing improvement” rating 2 years ago doesn’t necessarily mean the school is terrible now.

I've just read on their website about how they take the kids over the road to the village town hall for lunch every day and over to the field for PE and I'm now worried she'll be run over.

My DC’s old school had a similar arrangement to this, and to the best of my knowledge, they never had any kids run over. I saw them crossing from one site to the other a number of times, and the staff had a very practiced routine for getting the children across the road safely.

I imagine any school that does this will have procedures worked out to make it as safe as possible.

If the Ofsted was in 2017 they have had two years to work on improvements, and look carefully at the issues, some things are very easily fixed, others need embedding but may not actually affect what happens in the classroom.

If the alternative to being walked over to the hall for lunch is a packed lunch eaten in the classroom then I would take the walk! I imagine they have it down to a fine art and haven't lost any yet. And they are lucky to have a field, to run round in and enjoy, too many schools only have hard surfaces to play on and skin your knees on!

@NewSchoolNewName All areas need improvement!

I have t looked round the school (long story)

Might be worth seeing if you can make an appointment to go look around the school and talk to the headteacher?

That way you’d be able to get a better feel for how things are - i.e. whether they’re tackling the issues raised and improving things, or whether nothing’s changed?

@NewSchoolNewName Yeah I'm going to do that after Easter. We're not back until May in this area 😒

I just spoke to admissions and apparently she's 7th on waiting list for the school I'd really like her to attend and 2nd on a different one I didn't particularly want her to attend but put it down as she goes to the Pre-school there.

😕😢

I’m confused-what do you mean when you say this:-

What was my first choice became not even a choice at all and then she got offered third choice which had since become my first choice...

If this makes you feel any better, just before my DS started at his junior school (y3) they got inadequate Ofsted and were placed in special measures. I was extremely nervous. The school had a forced conversion in to an academy and were put under a microscope because of their poor Ofsted. Which meant they got a lot of extra help and resources to get it to where it needed to be. He is now in year 6 and it is one of the best schools in the area. He has thrived there.
So don't always take Ofsted reports as the be all and end all.

Holiday I think OP means at the time she made the application she had different schools listed as 1,2,3 and by the time the offers came out number 3 was her preferred choice and is what they have been offered.

OP - as others have said quite often schools the require improvement have all sorts of resources/cash thrown at them and end up being better than other good/outstanding schools.

Try not to stress.

This isn't Primary level - I'm a Governor for my dcs Secondary School. It's a school with a great reputation. It's OFSTED is currently good. Not been inspected since 2015.

In the past 2 years we have had a new headmaster. He has already changed a huge amount. In the last few months he engaged a company that would do a 'dummy' school report (as if they were OFSTED). The report came in as RI. This was no shock to us.

The reason being the last headmaster has been coasting a lot. The standard of teaching wasn't amazing across the board. Our Progress 8 is below average. We have very high attaining pupils that enter Y7 with high results. A lot of their benchmarks are 9's across the board (which is ridiculous). Therefore if some of the pupils get 7's and 8's it shows up as not progressing.

Since our new head came on board the P8 monitoring has internal measurements show it already improved for the positive. The head has carefully 'moved on' staff that weren't up to scratch, has totally rebuilt the SEN provision, has a whole new Maths dept etc.

The point is, that imo the school is doing well and improving rapidly in areas overlooked, but if an OFSTED inspector turned up tomorrow the result would be RI.

My dcs are doing brilliantly there and love the school, as do I.

Please don't write the school off because of this. Look at the report and read and digest it.

Have a look at the ofstead report. Ofsted can be quite arbitrary and the areas which need improvement might not be important to you.

Do you know anyone with children at the school you get some inside info from.

My nearest school had a terrible reputation (I worked in early years and colleagues where horrified that I had put it down as my first choice) but a few of my neighbour had children at the school, they could see all the work going on behind the scenes and loved it.

When we visited it, it was perfect for my dd. Focusing on softer skills rather than academic (dd can be a bit out there and we were worried about anything too rigid).

The school is now good / outstanding and massively over subscribed.

Ofsted isn't everything

I've just read on their website about how they take the kids over the road to the village town hall for lunch every day and over to the field for PE

My first comment was going to be, this is the bit I can't believe you missed ('Isn't there a field?' 'Where do they do games?'' 'How does everyone fit into that tiny hall for lunch?' etc), but then I saw that you hadn't actually visited the school. Has the information only just appeared on the website, or didn't you look there, either, before you named the school on your CAF?

So how did it go from being your de jure third preference (not choice) to your de facto first preference? Perhaps concentrate on the features which caused this change of preference? If it's a genuine logistical issue (?the only thing which explains not visiting this school, as it wouldn't chamge where it is), then will that change anyway?

Children's actual lived experiences of schools don't necessarily reflect what OFSTED say about the aspects the inspectors have to report on.

I thought "needs improvement" schools were revisited within the 3 years. What you also need to look at and ask is what steps have been taken to address the weaknesses highlighted. Ofsted is not the be all and end all though. What had put you off your original first choice and even second if you actually wanted the third but now wish to change again?

Do you think your anxiety is making all this much worse than it is?

You say you changed your preferences (not officially) once the form had been submitted, but have never even visited the new '1st' school nor taken a look at its Ofsted or its website properly. How did it become your new 1st choice?

How did you choose the schools? Did you visit any?

I think you need to try and calm down and think rationally about a plan of action.

Go and visit the allocated school. Ask questions. If you're still unsure, see if you can visit the schools you are on the waiting list for. Then cross your fingers that a place comes up.

Swapping and changes preferences based on such little information and no visits is chaotic and won't help with your anxiety.

I took over as manager in a nursery that required improvement from Ofsted. After less than 2 months in the role i was revisited by Ofsted and i had turned it round to a good. Things can be changed very quickly.

Sorry for the confusion it is a complicated mess!!!!

I've just written a massive reply explaining everything and it's not posted! Just disappeared!!! :( Please bear with me I'll type it again.....

Try not to stress.

Put your child on the wait list for every other school you would prefer.

In the meantime read the report carefully and see what are the areas for improvement. I'd also get hold of the Full Governing Body minutes to see if there is any sense of these issues being addressed and the children/learning committee if there is one and these are publicly available.

Ofsted measures certain things, it's not the only thing to think about and can be quite 'tick boxy'. If you felt good about the school it will probably all turn out just fine, just keep on top of it and try to be involved do that you know your child is progressing and happy.

Ofsted reports mean nada!

Thanks to MG many schools that were rated outstanding 10 years ago haven't had an inspection since.

The 2 local primary schools to me have relied on this for many a year and are over subscribed - alongside the vis feeder (academy) school that has had an outstanding rating for nearly 9 years.

1 of the primary's has since been inspected. It was good. Parents were on the war path.
The other still hasn't been inspected.

The secondary is dire. A HUGE bullying problem they deny exists. Systematic exclusion of any child with a need - send or pastoral. Sole reliance on image and results.
Results this year were lower than ALL the good secondaries locally.
They've had 7 managed moves since January - that I know of!

These kids have all come from the 3 outstanding primaries nearby. (One isn't local to me as it's other side of secondary).

Outstanding means nothing. It means it's not been inspected.
Needs improvement means they have a strategic plan in place to improve and I think that means they provide more.

Also you'd very unlikely have grounds for appeal to village school. Put name down on waiting list though just in case.

Schools change. My girl is Yr 6 so at the end of primary. When she began it was an over subscribed 'isn't it amazing' school. So popular that a few years ago it was rebuilt as a new school in order to triple the intake. Due to various issues that have gone on since it is now not that popular, a lot of folks don't like it, a lot of Year 5 and 6 parents are counting down the days until they are 'out of there'.
For me what has been an important thing is to be very involved with the school - PTA, going on the trips as a volunteer, helping in certain activities in the class etc. It means I have a fairly OK relationship with the staff, the other parents, the children. I have found the community parts of primary school life very important. Ofsted and SAT results are just one thing. What is the school 'community' like? Look at that. Talk to other parents who have children there (local Facebook groups are good for this).