How much weight do you put on school OFSTED?

[Window1]

How much interest do you take in your child's school Ofsted reports?

What are / were your key considerations when deciding which secondary school your child will go to?

I’d avoid inadequate but for everything else I’m more interested in what OFSTED says then the judgement.

A school might be outstanding but it doesn’t mean it’s outstanding for my children.

Depends on the child. I look at the dates of Ofsted. Eg Outstanding in 2013 is meaningless.
I look at GCSE, value added, and then talking to the teachers and look around.

My daughter went to an indie grammar school (single sex) and when we relocated we had the choice of two schools -local one has spaces (10 min walk ) and brand new buildings and requires improvement, the other is falling down buildings but outstanding and a 15 minute walk away. There were no spaces and we had to go on the waiting list and then appeal. There was absolutely no contest between the two. It was the outstanding one -I knew about 20 teachers and both and all said go to B the outstanding school -we didn't think about it twice.

@SpicyJalfrezi

I’d avoid inadequate but for everything else I’m more interested in what OFSTED says then the judgement.

A school might be outstanding but it doesn’t mean it’s outstanding for my children.

Agreed with this to some extent as well. Read the reports thoroughly but look at the dates. My eldest settled and is happy at B. My youngest will be going to an indie as he is SEN and I don't think he will thrive in A/B as they are huge with over 1800 students in each. A small indie will be better.

I like to read the reports... but only if written in the last few years. I ignore any written more than four years ago (it used to be 2-3, I've extended my relevance period for Covid). I'm not to bothered about good vs outstanding though. Requires Improvement i examine the reasons why.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

I like to read the reports... but only if written in the last few years. I ignore any written more than four years ago (it used to be 2-3, I've extended my relevance period for Covid). I'm not to bothered about good vs outstanding though. Requires Improvement i examine the reasons why.

A couple of our options are requires improvement.

I visit lots of schools (specialist teacher so am obviously focussed on children who might need a little support or at the very least staff who are prepared to make fairly simple adjustments for access) Quite a few are graded as outstanding but to be honest only one of these judgements I really agree with.

The good and even requires improvement schools are usually far more on board and inclusive from my pupils' point of view.

My DDs went to an "outstanding" junior school. It was not a patch on the school where I worked at the time (that teetered between RI / Good.)

My school was wonderfully inclusive and seemed to offer a more well rounded education, valuing music and the arts. (My DDs didn't lay hands on so much as a tambourine during their time at junior school although they had a wonderful school orchestra that was populated by pupils who had private lessons- of course OFSTED were impressed...🙄)

If my school had been in the town where I lived I would have swapped my DDs to my school in a heart beat.

@KnottyKnitting

I visit lots of schools (specialist teacher so am obviously focussed on children who might need a little support or at the very least staff who are prepared to make fairly simple adjustments for access) Quite a few are graded as outstanding but to be honest only one of these judgements I really agree with.

The good and even requires improvement schools are usually far more on board and inclusive from my pupils' point of view.

My DDs went to an "outstanding" junior school. It was not a patch on the school where I worked at the time (that teetered between RI / Good.)

My school was wonderfully inclusive and seemed to offer a more well rounded education, valuing music and the arts. (My DDs didn't lay hands on so much as a tambourine during their time at junior school although they had a wonderful school orchestra that was populated by pupils who had private lessons- of course OFSTED were impressed...🙄)

If my school had been in the town where I lived I would have swapped my DDs to my school in a heart beat.

Thank you for this insight and I think this is the kind of reassurance I was hoping for.

If I am choosing between two requires improvement schools I guess it's how I will be able to determine which may be the diamond in the rough.

Have looked at Ofsted, read prospectus and will visit them, but not sure if there is any more I can do to hopefully make the right decision.

None.
OFSTED judgements are based on data, data and more data.
Their reports bear no resemblance to reality in my experience.
Go and visit the schools and get a feel for the place. Trust your own instincts.

I would absolutely visit- you can usually get a feel for those that have that nice feel about them. Where I worked had it oozing out of the walls- it just felt like such a lovely happy place.

My DC attended an outstanding primary but DC 1 had a pretty awful experience. We chose the school largely based upon the Ofsted.

Now in secondary school, which requires improvement but on visiting the school, teachers were engaging and passionate about teaching. They seem to have to work much harder to make improvements and DC is very happy. I completely ignored the Ofsted report when selecting the secondary education!

I didn’t put any. I went with the school that we liked and felt right and it had a lower ofsted than the other option. Interestingly all the primary teachers I know in my town chose to send their kids there too so that did give me some reassurance that I wasn’t making a silly choice. As it happens the year after our dc started they were ‘upgraded’ to a good school.

I actively avoid 'outstanding'.

My kids have been in outstanding, good and RI. The good and RI were fat better schools.

My perspective if the outstanding school spend so much time trying to produce perfect data, they forget about the kids.

The one thing that would really put me off is if there were concerns about safeguarding. Otherwise I think you need to visit and see what feels right. I have worked in outstanding, good and RI schools and all have had their own strengths and weaknesses. A lot of what Ofsted go on is data. Outstanding schools are often not inspected for many years so may not be as amazing as you would expect.

Very little to none.

Didn't take long through my teacher training to realise that the reports we looked at when we were given our practise schools bore very little resemblance to the schools we walked into.

I'm just as suspicious of outstanding schools as I am RI schools. Too many are focused on the plaques on the door not the children.

If go as far as to say that trying to use ofsted reports to work out if a school will suit your particular child will give you no better success than pulling a name out of a hat.

Visit the school if you can. Get a feel for it. Ask around. Read school newsletters from the school website, check the tone.

Far better indicators of suitability for your child.

I'd look at the reasons for low marking. It can be not stretching the super brainy ones enough, which isn't a problem if you don't have one. Our primary was complained about for not teaching handwriting well enough. They were spot on. They didn't. But it's one aspect of many that can be overcome.

All really helpful input thank you.

The school we are leaning towards is not the one that most of DC's friends will be going to. Did anyone factor friendship groups into their decision? Do you have any further insight into this?

I'm thinking that DC will likely end up with a new group of friends once settled regardless of which school, but not sure if that is naive of me?

@Window1

All really helpful input thank you.

The school we are leaning towards is not the one that most of DC's friends will be going to. Did anyone factor friendship groups into their decision? Do you have any further insight into this?

I'm thinking that DC will likely end up with a new group of friends once settled regardless of which school, but not sure if that is naive of me?

I would say you are right. Even the kids who come up to secondary with lots of friends form primary often make completely different friends in the first term. In fact many struggle with the changing friendship groups and there can be lots of falling out. It usually settles down after Christmas. Many kids go to secondary on their own and cope really well. It might feel tough for them at first and they will probably be upset about it but they will make new friends. I went to a different secondary to all my primary friends and it was fine.

The most important thing is firstly talking to other parents, but most important of all is talking to the children who go there.
Indie's pay for a ton of marketing/PR/advertising, state schools only have their pupils to market them.

It would depend when the rating occured. Schools that have one off inadequate ratings more than 2 years old often get huge amounts of funding to fix issues compared to those with one off o/s ratings the same age.

I would also be reading the reports in detail and looking at parent reviews. For example in immigrant or wealthy areas a lot of schools are outstanding because parents are heavily involved in their kids educations so schools can really focus on the paperwork aspect of ofsted. If you can’t be then instantly your child may be at a disadvantage.

All things being equal I personally would prefer schools that have received o/s or good ratings over many years (across many different headteachers) but I wouldn’t discount a needs improvement school if they had a clear plan to improve.

I used to work for Ofsted - I’d look at long-term trends and key stage results more than individual inspections.

We have 3 generally Outstanding primary schools in our area but it’s very hard to keep that rating, and they’ve all been Good or even RI at some point over the last 10 years (one had leadership and management issues as the old headteacher sadly went through chemo then died). However they’re known locally as excellent schools, people move here because of them and they have standards to maintain so they’re pretty safe bets

100% what @KnottyKnitting said.
I too know a LOT of educational institutions where the OFSTED report is unfathomable.

Yes, read the report, but read the text and don't just take and headline rating. Also check the date. Then ask the school about the aspects that were of concern.

Best thing we ever did for DS was to change our mind at the very last minute and send him to a RI school five miles away rather than the Good or Outstanding schools on our doorstep.

Initially we were influenced by the reports, but my gut feeling was always that the RI school was the most nurturing. Not really sure why I let the report initially sway me! It wasn’t until I was chatting to a supply teacher who really rated the RI school that we applied to transfer that day.

What I can now see is that the reason our chosen school was RI was that, where appropriate, it priorities students’ well being and pastoral care over academic performance. It also isn’t as obsessed with 100% attendance as some schools, which also didn’t go down well with Ofsted.

I am absolutely certain DS wouldn't have settled as well as he did in either of the Good or Outstanding schools we looked at. They are very corporate MATs who wouldn't offer the flexibility that our chosen school enables him (he has additional needs and is very anxious). Another positive is that, being RI, it’s less popular than the other schools so DS is in a Year 1 class of 21 rather than 32. He’s really benefitted from this.

I’m wondering this too. We’re looking at schools for Y6 DS, and the school he’s most likely to be offered a place at is RI. That doesn’t bother me as much as the frequency with which the latest report mentions bullying and pupils reporting feeling “unsafe”. Also mentioned are constant disruptive behaviour in lessons and more able students not being stretched, all of which the school are unlikely to admit to at the open day in a few weeks time. It doesn’t look an ideal environment an emotionally immature but very bright child with ASD like mine, but I will go and look for myself.

The head makes all the difference. Listen to them talk. If you like what you hear then the ethos of the school will probably suit you.

DD went to primary when it was good. By the time DS went, is was outstanding...

On paper only. It was dreadful. They stopped caring about the children, it was all "for Ofsted", to get the grade.

I moved him by Y4 to a requires improvement and it was the nicest school I've ever been in, and DS achieved well.