To ask for tips on how to get through Ofsted

[Sunnyjac]

For those of you in primary schools who have recently been through an Ofsted inspection, any tips for governors? This will be my first as chair and I want that good outcome! I’m thinking obviously strengths and weaknesses, SEND provision, school improvement and how far along we are with that. What else please?

Our village school got an outstanding and this was the part that concerned governors. Maybe it will give you some ideas...

The governance of the school:
Governance has significantly improved since the previous inspection and is outstanding. Governors bring with them a wide range of experiences from within and beyond education. There is a regular audit of their skills to ensure that they can support and challenge all aspects of the school’s life and performanceeffectively. Those who spoke to the inspector had an accurate view of the strengths of the school and areas for further improvement. They have a thorough understanding of data showing pupils’achievement and how this compares with other schools. They check carefully on the impact of initiatives to develop pupils’ personal development and academic achievement.
Governors have a very accurate
overview of the quality of teaching and how it is directly linked to the salary structure of staff. They
understand how any underperformance would be tackled.
Governors are highly conscientious in the way they undertake all their statutory duties. They make sure safeguarding arrangements meet requirements so that pupils and staff are extremely safe.

Thanks! Definitely won’t be that great ! That’s useful though thank you

There's lots of helpful tips on the School Governance Network UK Facebook group. This one is very recent (not my post):

We had a Section 8 OFSTED inspection today. Here are the questions we were asked:

• How well do you think this school is doing? How effective is this school?
• How do you know what you’re being told by the staff is accurate?
• How do you know that this school has effective safeguarding in place?
• How do you ensure your school is addressing it’s public Equality duties?
• High levels of FSM and PP. How do you know your curriculum is supporting the needs of those children? How do you monitor outcomes? How do you know the whole curriculum is meeting the needs of those children?
• What do you think is the priority for this school? What is the next thing they need to address?
• How do you get your view of the school? Have you seen the SEF? Are you supportive that it’s an accurate view?

Hope that helps! Good luck from another Chair

Safeguarding. Governors need to have been involved in an audit, trained, checked single central record etc, safer recruitment etc

Also well-being - how do you support well being of staff and head teacher.

Money - what has been prioritised for spending and why?

I am a governor and recently had some brilliant Ofsted training! If your inspection isn’t imminent you should think about arranging some for your governing body, it was so useful. The biggest message was that they will be looking for you to explain HOW you know something. Eg - are children making sufficient progress? It’s not enough to say yes we’re are happy that children are making good progress, you need to explain HOW you know that and justify everything by reference to data, the SEF, governing body minutes etc. So you can show that you as governors are not just blindly accepting everything the head tells you but can see that it is objectively backed up by something.

Safeguarding is the number one priority - understanding how and why and what is in place, who are the designated safeguarding lead staff and governor.

Having a crib sheet ready and up to date with key data and messaging, for all governors.

Know which governors are likely to be available and identifying subs who can fill in for key roles (safeguarding, SEN) if they are not available on the day.

Have a plan of action for when the school 'get the call' eg convene a zoom briefing that evening, check who can attend in person, updates on data etc.

@ShaunaTheSheep

Safeguarding is the number one priority - understanding how and why and what is in place, who are the designated safeguarding lead staff and governor.

Having a crib sheet ready and up to date with key data and messaging, for all governors.

Know which governors are likely to be available and identifying subs who can fill in for key roles (safeguarding, SEN) if they are not available on the day.

Have a plan of action for when the school 'get the call' eg convene a zoom briefing that evening, check who can attend in person, updates on data etc.

What do you mean by get the call

@user97533676 ‘The call’ is when Tribal/ other Ofsted coordinator company call a school to notify them that they will be inspected the next day. At least I think it’s the next day. Then after that, the lead inspector will schedule a longer call with the head teacher which happens that same day.

@user97533676 to add to @SageYourResoluteOracle 's post, 'The Call' generally arrives by lunchtime on the day before they're planning to visit .

And to add to @Delphinium90 ‘s post, adding to @SageYourResoluteOracle ‘s post (ye gods: I’m now Mumsnetting about myself in the third person…), if a school haven’t had ‘the call’ by Wednesday lunchtime, then they are generally considered to be ‘safe’ as standard inspections last two days and wouldn’t have a weekend in between.

@SageYourResoluteOracle
You guys are great. We got the call yesterday lunchtime and the inspection is happening right now. I was hoping to feel more prepared but it is what it is. I will review your comments tonight when I'm going through my paperwork and just do my best tomorrow. Could really do without it, especially since we had short inspections in February and May!

Thank you for the responses. 😊