What does your school do well?

[ehb102]

Following a righteous Ofsted kicking our village primary school has a new head teacher. All the things that need addressing are being tackled - you know, all the easy wins like arrival times and attendance and so on. I'm not concerned with that kind of thing. We're now doing what everyone else is doing (next stop: forest school) and everyone is feeling hopeful.

What I would like to know is: does your school do anything that is extra good? What do they do that is unusual or special or has a huge impact? Or just anything that is great fun.

Mine are at a prep school but DH is
a teacher - focusing on the well being of the teachers always seems to flow down to the benefit of the kids. If you beast the teachers, treat them like they're to blame for everything, the shit rolls downhill. If they feel valued, trusted, given the space and resources they need, they'll absolutely go above and beyond.

Good point. Should we be looking to do anything specific for teacher well being?

Same, my children are in a prep but the reason why I chose it was because everyone (teachers and children) appeared genuinely happy to be there. We’ve had fantastic teachers throughout and they all care about the children and clearly want to do their best for them. I assume that is at least in part because they feel valued. I also have a child in a state primary and again, the teachers give their all, and seem to love their jobs and the school.

We’re looking at senior schools now and it’s surprising how many of the teachers just seem to be going through the motions and personally I find that off putting.

Being a UN Rights Respecting school. www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/

I didn’t realise how pervasive and good it was until they left, and I realised that a lot of what the school did wasn’t standard and was driven by their monthly focus on different rights. My then 8 yo understood about her right to play and asked me about it during lockdown, for example. And it helps them understand the world and other people, in age appropriate ways.

I have no idea what ofsted value in particular but I think our school is good at communicating. It’s quite a small school but usually get a weekly photo on class dojo (sometimes more), letters, emails etc. They always say email/speak to us if you have any queries and (I think!) they mean it. Bad things are hardly any trips / extra curriculars.

Also lots of opportunities to go in and look at work- weekly and if you want to at another time they will facilitate! I remember just the 5 mins at parents evening when I was growing up.

Who's 'we'?

Our school (primary) has done lots of good work on promoting positive mental health. I would hope all schools are doing that at the moment.

@ehb102
Assuming you might be a governor, you are completely on the wrong track if you think getting good attendance is easy and gimmicks will get you a better rating. What you must surely know is that you address the shortcomings in the report. You have a coherent and achievable action plan and you monitor how effective it is, very regularly. You evaluate accurate data and you make sure every child gets decent high quality teaching.

What no school should do is think anything is an easy win or that copying other schools stops Ofsted coming back and being honest with you again. You need to understand far more about school improvement. You are a unique school. You have your own issues and improvements to make. It’s not a cut and paste job. So, if you are a giver if, might I suggest further training?

@Tinkywinkywoo
Yoh can read exactly what Ofsted want. It’s on their web site. Their Handbook is also clear. In a nutshell, great teaching, great pupil progress, first class leadership, knowledge of strengths and weaknesses, working on the weaknesses, a string sequences curriculum, good teacher subject knowledge, , watertight safeguarding, that children feel safe in the school, behaviour, and engagement with parents, SEND provision and outcomes, etc etc. What they don’t need to see are Forrest schools with no monitored improvement to progress and learning. Anything that’s put in place must have a positive learning outcome for the children.

“Giver if” -governor.

Oh - and first class leadership includes governance.

@TizerorFizz I am not a governor. There have been some changes there and I know they have been working very hard. The Trust have been throwing resources and expertise into the school and are addressing all its listed failings,.all of which were to do with management and leadership. Right now I have to trust that they are all doing what can be done.

What I am interested in specifically now is the extras, the things that can be made to happen by raising extra funding or in partnership with other organisations including the charity that is essentially the PTA. At a time like this people need beacons of hope.

@ehb102 Oh I see. I retract the comments about governance.

It is important to realise though that the school must concentrate on its ofsted shortcomings. It really must deal with leadership. Then everything else will follow.,In my view the school doesn’t need more complications right now and should concentrate on leadership. Also spending or raising money for a project must be done with the heads blessing. PTA and leadership should work together.

I would let the dust settle. See how it improves when ofsted come back and then go forward together. Finding a beacon now a missing the point. Most parents want a school with good leadership and great education for DC. A few extras are not what’s needed. A lot of hard work on leadership is.

I would let the dust settle. See how it improves when ofsted come back and then go forward together. Finding a beacon now a missing the point. Most parents want a school with good leadership and great education for DC. A few extras are not what’s needed. A lot of hard work on leadership is.

I tend to agree with this. Forest school is great, offering Mandarin or circus skills as extracurricular activities is great, having class allotments and poetry slams and a live peacock as the school mascot are all great, but you want to focus on the fundamentals. Pupils and staff need to feel happy and secure, and parents need to know that their children are where they should be in terms of learning. Anything else is gravy.

True. I quite agree with you and so does the Parent Governor. What is important now is hope. I'd personally hope that there is a plan - or even a dream - to bring to school up to acceptable ( there from the interim Ofsted reports) and then look about take it on further.

My dc's secondary school was similar in that it did badly in ofsted about 5 years ago and then got a new head who turned things around. One thing I love now is how enthusiastic and welcoming the staff are to the children, parents and other family members.

I took my now 11 year old to his older brother's school concert just before lockdown and the head teacher came over and chatted to him. When he proudly told her he would be coming to the school in a few years, the head teacher was genuinely delighted and told him she couldn't wait for him to start.

At the transition day last week he made a new friend. Later on, the senco told me that after meeting them separately at their primary schools she asked the school office to put them in the same tutor group as she thought they would end up being best friends.

I've got dc1 in year 11 so we've been to a lot of school leavers events recently. DC3 in year 6 likes to tag along and he is greeted enthusiastically by all the staff, who all remember his name.

That sounds lovely, @elliejjtiny . Name remembering is such a skill. Making people feel seen is so lovely.

School concerts, now there's a thing we haven't had in a while.

Celebrating each achievement with parents no matter how small etc

my Son did a nice sentence of handwriting (he struggled with writing) and the teacher IM Ed the Head and he immediately came to the classroom and was I heard x has done something special can I see - and my son was made up - I then got an IM from the Head

amazing welcome each morning

could the pta celebrate each birthday? Birthday card and cake for everyone?

it is all about the Head in my opinion.

same with staff they celebrate their birthdays etc

The leadership are very visible - often in the playground at start and end of day. Always smile and chat. Teachers friendly and approachable. Problems taken seriously and dealt with quickly. Eg my six year old suffered separation anxiety. Principal saw her the day I mentioned it, called me immediately after, told me to save his mobile number and call any time. Updated me later that week and the next.
Mental health and well-being is a focus.
junior primary years have lots of 'play breaks' where they'll take ten minutes to go out to the playground between desk based work.
Days off for rest / going away in term time is absolutely not a problem. Met with a 'have fun!'
adore our little local state school!

Forgot to add that at my dc's primary I love that the head teacher comes to sports day in his running kit and enthusiastically joins in any race where one child is left running on their own at the end.

The best schools I've had dealings with have had excellent communication between schools and parents, with everyone feeling like part of the school community.

These schools had outstanding OFSTED reports.

As above, treating the staff well and valuing them (including TAs and admin staff).

Also, little things like telling parents what the PTA money was being spent on.

Just great communication.

The Pta must tell the parents what they spend their money on. They should be a charity snd therefore accountable for expenditure. It’s useful if the school says thank you. Handing over money to add to the budget is not a good idea.

The other issue is that schools rarely fail ofsted because a head doesn’t appear in the morning. Again, this is a nice to have but not make or break with ofsted. It’s therefore vital for the school to share its Improvement Plan with parents and demonstrate they have improved. The rest will follow. Ofsted will be concerned about curriculum, quality of teaching and learning, training, bullying, behaviour, leadership and governance and it won’t be a quick fix. So by all means applaud a friendly head but ofsted want the school’s actions on the shortcomings to work. So this is the first big step. Meet and great doesn’t prove improvements have happened.

• Buddy system for all new starters (all years, not just Year R)
• Rights Respecting School status
• Teacher and TA visit all new starters before they join
• Head shares additional non school specific information with parents eg holiday clubs, special needs support groups, workshops , funding opportunities
• Head/Senco available at start and end of day
• Head mindful of teacher well being
• Sports Day etc. v inclusive

If the teachers are happy they make their pupils feel happy.