teachers opinions on ofsted reports - our school had a bad one

[mistressmiggins]

I am slightly panicing because DS's school has had a "Satisfactory" Ofsted report.
All the other schools in the area are Good or Excellent.

Several people have moved their children since the report.

However, DS loves the school & is very settled. Until the report, I was happy with the school.

As teachers, please can you answer my questions?

1. Would you move schools - surely the school will endeavour to improve?
2. Can I do anything at home to help DS?
3. Does the Ofsted report REALLY matter?

The Ofsted report is at least unbiased. You should read it (download from the Ofsted website) and find out what was less than glowing about it. Could be it was aspects that don't affect your own child too much. You might also ask what's going to be done to improve it. I would be loth to uproot a child who is settled and happy if you don't absolutely have to.

I have just re-read it and the areas with a 3 (satisfactory) are:-

Quality of provision - Teaching and learning
Achievement and standards

it basically said the school was good but the teachers teachers need to help pupils to make faster progress by making sure that lessons are more exciting and that they always have work to do that challenges the pupils.

However, DS loves the school & is very settled.

This is ALL that matters!

The teachers will be gutted at the poor report and will have lots of training and be desperate to improve standards - things do changes after 'satisfactory' grading IME because they are desperate to improve their grading.

I really wouldn't worry one tiny bit. I would just feel sympathy for the teachers, who are probably gutted!

If your DS is happy, that is really 100% all that matters IMO.

Did it indicate that there were a problem with certain teachers? If it is one of these last minute inspections then they won't necessarily have inspected every teacher, and they may have caught the teachers on an off day. Some things are easier to make exciting than others. I think it would be reasonable to go and talk to the head and see what he/she thinks of the report and what they plan to do as a result. Tbh if they hadn't arrnaged some communication with parents then I think I would be more worried about that than the actual OFSTED report.

thanks MP - I must admit I do feel sympathy for the teachers & the head who is a lovely man. Must be awful to get a report like that & then have children moved.
I think it doesnt help that our school is so big compared with the others in the area & people always look at me with "sympathy" when I say my DS goes to this school

the school did get a good for other areas so not all bad news
I guess we all worry so much that we're doing the right thing for our children and after a conversation with some mums from other schools on Monday, I felt worried that I wasnt doing enough for DS.

as you said, he loves the school and I dont really want to move him.

LadyMuck - we all knew about the Ofsted report (although I dont think they were given much notice) and it did also say the school had had to deal with a lot of TEACHER absences during the year (maternity leave for one, mentoring at OTHER schools, long term sickness)

But has the head communicated what, if anything, they pan to do on the back of it? If so, and you're happy with the action, then I would definitely stay. If they haven't communicated, then I would ask the question.

I'd go with gut instinct tbh. If your dc is happy and progressing well (you don't feel he could be doing better) then I'd stick with it. One change of head at another school can make it deteriorate really fast.

I think Ofsted inspections are only a guide. Our nearest schgool got an outstanding for all areas, but we hated it and many of the children there are struggling to settle. Teachers are leaving and its all down to the head. Was quite they did so well tbh. Dds school must be due an inspection soon and I would expect them to do really well (I'm an ex teacher so should have a vague idea lol) but who knows???

Golly, if your child is happy there, sing in the streets for joy. The teachers could probably do with being reminded how happy your son is there and with receiving some moral support.

However if you deep down want to move your child then have a look at the other schools and collect more information. Only you know what really matters to you re the schooling.

I have one son who is happy with his secondary and one who is unhappy with his primary, hence my comment at the start.

I dont want to move DS at all and DD starts there in Sept so it would be a nightmare!

Thanks for advice - my gut instinct is to leave him there and as some of you have said, surely his happiness is a priority as he will enjoy learning.
His teachers have actually told me he's a joy to have in the class because he is so knowledgeable and willing to learn

I will stop worrying now.

Good, you sound a lot happier.

My teacher training tutor was an ofsead inspector. Frankly I wouldn't trust her to sit the right way on a toilet seat, let alone teach a classroom of kids.

Her ideas about classroom management and lesson planning wouldn't have survived 10 seconds with a disruptive year 10 class. But she trotted out the bullshit with the best of them

My dc's former head was ex-Offsted. He got them an outstanding Offsted Music report by shoving all the children into the hall and coaching them into what to tell the inspector. A boy who proposed to tell the truth got told off. Nice!

He also bullied us for 3 years, suggesting that dd should leave the school - her medical problems weren't good for their attendance record. Well, I'm glad to say it's him that's left and not her. I was not having her driven out of a school where she was happy.

lolol mb.

Think about your child miggins. If he loves it and he is progressing, there is no need to panic.

The school will now be runningitself into the ground over the next year to improve on highlighted areas and put certain measures in place. As someone said, the staff will be gutted.

Cory, I don't see how leaving the school would help your dd's attendance problems. Was he suggesting his school had an unhealthy atmosphere and so she would flourish better elsewhere?

DS came out of school today and proudly showed me his sticker for good work today
I asked him if he liked school and he replied "I love it"

thats good enough for me

your comments have all made me feel reassured - its a minefield being a parent isnt it!

dd's school has satisfactory on a few areas mostly yr 2 literacy up - writing esp.
However the pastoral care is superb, the interaction and the desire to improve the school is amazing
No way would I take her out (she is reception)
My ds1 (now 13) also started his school life in a school in special measures - ok teaching was woeful, HT off on long term sick, low morale, poor discipline. low achievments, but ds1 was a gfited child from the start and he excelled there, albeit at a lower level than a better school admittedly...
when we moved after 2 years his new school was a very academic, outstanding school and he excelled there too.

I think parental influence can make or break a childs progress at school. I would not move if a child was otherwise happy - I would move if bullying or lack of desire was apparent from teachers.

Take your lead from your child
FWIW ds1 is now in an outstanding boys grammar and we currently have a formal complaint in against a teacher...
good ofsted guarantees nothing

Ask the school how they intend to address the issues raised in the report. If you're not convinced by their response, or actions, take it from there.

I agree that you shouldn't move a happy settled child; however, I would keep an eye on things.

Crikey, only on MN would a school receiving a "satisfactory" be viewed as scarey unacceptable and "bad news", sigh.
Pity the 39% of us parents who have to settle for such inferiority, eh?

i think that the mention of a lot of staff away is interesting and really goes along way to explain why they are satisfactory, rather than good or outstanding. At the end of the day, ofsted have said that the school is fine - not brilliant, but not failing either and given that they are dealing with staffing issues, I think that it sounds fine. Imagine what they will be able to do once the staffing sorts itself out. In your position, I wouldn't move my child.

Don't be mis-led by the word 'satisfactory.' There was much dissent from the teaching profession when this category label was first brought in, because it sounds so derogatory, but we were assured that it meant 'fine.' We have been OfSTED coming on Monday, but have already been told that however outstandingly excellent our lessons are or the school is, we cannot achieve more than 'satisfactory' because last year's SATs data put us in a certain band. Makes me fume!If your gut feel is that you like the school and your child is happy, then I wouldnt dream for a moment to abandon ship.

Ditto Clam- I work in a fab school far better than dds (even though they got over 50% level 5s in all three subjects last year and an outstandng ofsted. One area highly praised their extra curricular activities none of which are free!)

We were told that we could not get more than a satisfactory for the sats data too. We got about half 3s(satisf) and half 2s (good) in the end .

Much of our problems lie with the infant school who send us year 2s with highly elevated ks1 results. We always retest them when they join year 3 and they are never as good as their results suggest. SO when they do KS2 tests it looks like they haven't made enough progress.
Will ofsted look at our test data? No (GRRR.)

Why exactly is satisfactory considered to be bad? As you say satisfactory means fine or adequate.
All ofsted are interested in are results.

Agree with so much already said. We had OFSTED last year and our Good outcome was dependant on one lot of data which could show some specific progress. Like smartiejake, we have to rely on achievement as judged by the first schools ( we are a middle school) which is often well, a tad optimistic.

Am I right in thinking that practically all of the final outcome pretty much depends on achievements and standards ie if that's not good then teaching and learning can't be classed as good and if T&L isn't good then leadership can't be good?

Exactly. Achievements and Standards carries much more weight than anything else. The whole thing is a bloody farce, actually. We've been told all the things to say/do to tick the boxes. We're just jumping through hoops.... for what? Are the kids any better off? Last year, in a run-of-the-mill observation, I was told that my lesson was excellent, but I couldn't have 'excellent' ticked because I hadn't actually said the words 'success criteria' during the lesson, I'd only implied it! FFS!

So, I guess, MistressMiggins, what we're saying is that you don't need to be panicking!!