Does Ofsted reports really reflect how 'good' a school is?

[Fuppy]

I'm curious of your experience. I know teachers who prepare especially for ofsted, so when a school gets an 'outstanding' report, how does this compare with normal day to day school life and does it accurately reflect a schools worth?

Illeana
How long ago was that Ofsted?
The whole show lessons hasn't been a real thing for ages in schools I've worked in. Sure people want to show their best, but I've not seen shipping kids out the way in ages.

One of the things our SLT tell us is that one of the Ofsted threads will be whether what they see is a typical lesson, and that will come out through the deep dives, talks with staff, asking students, books etc

I haven’t taught for the past three years, so maybe four years ago? Ofsted was a great week, we had loads of resources available that we didn’t normally have because we couldn’t afford them!

My school is, on paper, shite. We have poor results at year 2 and 6. The level of our results mean we can never get an outstanding.

But, many of our children come from troubled households. Many children have complex emotional needs. Most of our children are behind with their spoken English despite being native English speakers. None of our pastoral care, relationship with parents or the emotional care we give our children is taken into account.
Yes they look at the progress made by children and how much they have improved but we still can’t get outstanding.

Some of what is written here is totally out of date. If you get notice of Ofsted coming the day before, in the afternoon, you really won’t be shipping DC anywhere! Or doing different lessons! Or importing extra resources. Some of these anecdotes belong in the previous decade - almost! As if Ofsted couldn’t spot all of that anyway. Just look at the books, look at Trip planning and risk assessments, then look at lesson plans! They are not judging teaching that way any longer. As I said earlier they know a great deal about a school before they arrive. They are looking for evidence to corroborate this data on the ground.

Op: the best advice is to look at the most recent Ofsted Framework for Inspection. It appears few people here have read it.

Also there is a big problem where Outstanding schools were not inspected for years. It is important not to read much into reports that are over 3 years old. A lot can have changed since then. The criteria have also changed so fewer schools are outstanding. This is why in many cases Good is perfectly good enough! Some might have been Outstanding previously. The updating of the Framework periodically invariably means inspections and outcomes change and cannot necessarily be compared down the years. The best advice is to believe a recent report but definitely do not rely on one over 5 years old.

The Ofsted framework has just changed (in Sept), mostly for the better IMO. It's much harder to get an "Outstanding" now anyway than it was 10 years ago when so many schools were exempted from inspection because of their Outstanding rating. An Ofsted report is just one piece of evidence to use when considering schools, alongside progress scores, attainment up to a point, cohort and finance info, and most of all personal visit(s).

The exemption thing really pisses me off, there's a school I pass regularly that trumpets its "Outstanding" rating on a banner outside the gates yet their last inspection was not only 11 years ago (before any current pupils were even born) but also before it converted to an academy, so in Ofsted terms a completely different school! God knows why they haven't been inspected in the 6 years since then .

My child's previous school hasn't been inspected since January 2009.... Since then there's been a new head, shit loads of new staff.... Outstanding for 11 years?!

In my experience, not at all. I worked as a supply teacher in London for a while. The best school I worked in was “satisfactory” and the worst was “outstanding”.

A friend of mine has two jobs.
One working in a state school in a deprived area, one working in a prep school.
Same teacher is satisfactory in one school and outstanding in another according to Ofsted.

IMHO it is ridiculous to have a single system of both education and of assessing that education.

The kind of things that can make or break education for many children are not things Ofsted inspect. There was a thread recently about what happens if a child isn't picked up from school, one teacher gave an example of staying until 11pm, cooking a meal for the children and finding them sleeping bags. That is above and beyond what a teacher should be doing but don't you want your child's teacher to be like that?

When it comes to faith schools Ofsted brings in inspectors of the same faith as the school to observe the RE being taught, this worries me as some of the more extreme schools may be teaching things at odds with general British life.

I've mentioned on here before, I taught a student in college, she arrived in the UK age 14 not speaking English, she left at 16 with 10 GCSE passes, but because she failed English it marked her school down in the league tables.

I know she was a bright and hard working student but she didn't get those grades without the support of her school.

You call social services if a child is uncollected. Not make up camp in the flippin school. What a moron!

You call social services if a child is uncollected. Not make up camp in the flippin school. What a moron!

They did.

The only accomodation available was a police cell.

Still think she's a moron? Or would you be OK with primary age children in a cell?

DB used to work as an Ofsted inspector - he said it's all a load of shite and told me not to take much notice of it when considering schools for DC. He was right as far as our experience went - the Outstanding school was so poor we removed DC after 18 months, they remained happily at a school which was first 'needs improvement' then 'good' until the end of primary.

I think there are quite a few outdated views here. You cannot spend hours preparing for Ofsted the week before. Data is frozen before they visit. That's irrelevant if everything is done 'for Ofsted' and teachers can still be pressured into putting in extra hours the day before.

It is a box ticking exercise, it's all about paperwork. Teachers lower down the school can be pressured to keep recorded results low (but not too low) so the progress looks better later on. This happened to me.

I worked at a school where the parents all gave favourable reports to Ofsted, the children interviewed said there was no bullying but if there was they would know what to do, children with SEN said they were included and had lots of friends, staff were happy and went the extra mile etc. etc. but the school failed on the basis of one Year 6 cohort that achieved less than the previous year. The school became an Academy so the slate was swept clean and it miraculously became Outstanding only to be awarded Requires Improvement status on the next inspection despite various dubious practices.

If you get notice of Ofsted coming the day before, in the afternoon, you really won’t be shipping DC anywhere! Or doing different lessons! Or importing extra resources.
I know of a school that kept special meticulously planned Osfted lessons in the cupboard to be brought out on the day. They failed anyway though. I know of an Academy that drafted in extra staff from another of their schools for the duration. They got Requires Improvement. It does happen, whether it works or not is another thing.

I'm in Scotland, and my kids are now adults, but in my experience (DM was a teacher and I also trained as a teacher, although I have never taught) most schools are told they are having an inspection and everything is geared to that day, so schools often get a better pass than their day to day results would suggest. I personally think that inspectors should drop in unannounced to see the chaos of a real school day.

I am also very cynical about school inspectors, as an acquaintance of mine was bullied by the school inspectors to the point where she took her own life. The inquest insisted that the inspectors did no wrong, but threatening someone with losing their job because their tiny school in a deprived area did not have all the bells and whistles that were demanded by a couple of very young inspectors with no teaching background is just wrong. I would ignore the ofsted report and judge by visiting the school and chatting to parents who already have children there.

Not at all!
My son has severe autism and believe me we've been through a lot of schools(all outstanding) .
One of them I just had a gut feeling something wasn't right and nobody believed me when I said things didn't add up! Sure enough when the next ofsted was sure it went from outstanding to being put into special measures for every reason they inspect!
So for four years the place could have been sinking.
He's at another school now and everyone gushes about how wonderful it is but one sign of you questioning anything they do and they close ranks and intimidate you horribly!
My daughters outstanding school is amazing and it really is but I've had three children attend over the years and I can see it changing for the worse.the staff and facilities are still the best but the pressure on the teachers to deliver such a demanding curriculum is too much.

Surely it also depends alot on the actual child you have. Some schools do amazing work with children with complex emotional needs and difficult home lives, they deserve to be praised for it but it wouldn't necessarily be the best school for a very bright student who needs a challenge and would benefit from interaction with similar peers. Likewise a school which gets excellent results and a wonderful ofsted might be a much too pressured environment for a child who lacks confidence.

Obviously ideally a school would be able to adapt to each child and provide challwbfe/support where needed but the reality is that with stretched resources it isn't always possible. You also need to take into account the size of school - will they be lost in a huge playground or be board by a small cohort in a tiny school?

What school would a bright child with a difficult home life go to if there had to be schools for bright kids and separate schools for children with emotional problems? Lots of schools cater for both.

@BerriesAndPineCones

There isn't a perfect school for every child but it can be disheartening for a child to be in a results focused school with many bright children who they feel they can never live up to. I'm sure many children with difficult home lives are very bright but their learning is likely to be affected by their issues at home and a very bright child who is in a situation where they're ready to learn may be better off in a classroom with lots of other similar children.

My friend taught in a very challenging school (lots of the kids falling asleep at their desks because they hadn't been to bed before midnight, many challenging behaviour issues, parents physically fighting in the playground). From my friend's description the school did exceptionally well with this environment but it wouldn't be a school she'd choose for her own kids because there were relatively few kids who were high achievers and her kids enjoy the challenge of class interactions which are challenging and a quiet classroom in general.

I agree that not all schools are good for all students. Even simple things like how big the school is - a single entry might be perfect for a shy child and stifling for an extroverted, confident kid. Likewise some schools have excellent support for kids who are struggling but are not as great at challenging the kids who excel in a particular area.

In almost every school there'll be parents/kids who are very happy and others who aren't.

a very bright child who is in a situation where they're ready to learn may be better off in a classroom with lots of other similar children
That's what setting is for

My children's school (Surrey comp) has got lots of bright kids. It's also good at supporting children with difficulties. Eg. They were great with the dc when my dh died

I do think the biggest problem with Ofsted at the moment is that Outstanding schools can go so long without an inspection. One of my PGCE placements was in an outstanding school that was last inspected in 2010 - and whilst I wouldn't say it was a bad school, I also wouldn't say the ofsted report reflects the school in 2019.

There is more to Ofsted than a one word judgement - if the report is recent I do think it's worth reading, as it will give you some insight into the school that you won't get on an open evening etc. Ofsted equally isn't the full picture, but it is part of what's available.

Schools now only get warned the lunchtime before Ofsted come, so there's definitely less chance to prepare than there was in the past. However I'm sure there are schools that manage to hide some things from Ofsted.

I am certainly very sceptical of Ofsted ratings. Our village primary was Outstanding and yet they managed to not notice that one of my sons is severely autistic (I was lying and paranoid, apparently) and that the other was bored rigid rather than the child from hell. Their arrogance was actually breathtaking.

I've always worried about Ofsted results because I've seen how much more effort teachers have put into their work during a review, and the change can be significant compared to the average day.

@Fuppy, I'm a school governor. Good school leaders generally know what grade their school is before the inspection, based on their own self evaluation and their own data. Teachers can't really influence things much on the day of the inspection unless their school is "cuspy", by which I mean borderline between two grades. Our school was on the cusp of being outstanding and our self evaluation was Good+ so the inspection could have gone either way. Our staff understandably put in every effort they could to edge it in the right direction. A different inspector on a different day might have given us outstanding, but the one we got didn't. He focused on the one negative that we self-identified, found one teacher (an NQT) whose lesson required improvement, and then, after a bit of rooting around, added a third development point (there needed to be at least 3 to edge it down) that felt like it was an "off the shelf" negative that could be applied to any school if you needed it to. Nobody at the school agreed with the third point, but there wasn't much we could do about it, despite lots of evidence to the contrary being produced. So we got a Good, but it still reads like an outstanding report with a few relatively minor negatives. We got outstanding in 2 of the categories, but not all.

So my advice would be to read the report in full, read between the lines, decide whether the negatives matter to you. If they do matter, talk to the staff about what is being done to improve in those areas - the School Development Plan will need to address them before the next inspection to get a better grade.

If the report was Requires Improvement, bear in mind that sometimes triggers an exodus of good staff and difficulties recruiting new staff, leading to a downward spiral. The opposite can also be true - the schools with the shiniest Ofsted reports can find it easier to recruit better staff as they get more applications.