Is it possible for a school to fall off Ofsted’s rota?

[Yuiopl]

Obviously most people on here won’t know the answer for definite and I get that it’s not a rota as such but I am wondering if anyone knows of schools that have somehow just accidentally dropped off the radar?

It will be 5 years in March since my DC’s secondary was last inspected and there has been nothing at all from Ofsted since. Other local secondaries seem to have had a least two inspections in that period and I can’t see an older report online for an academy that is still open that received RI as they did. Their results are poor, below average for progress 8, with one of the lower scores within that category, and around 30% receiving grade 5 in English and maths, with less than 50% getting a 4, so it wouldn’t seem that they are being deprioritised due to getting good results.

If they were RI then they should have had at least 1 monitoring visit in that time?

5 years is nothing! Some school haven’t been seen for 10 years plus. If they’re previously Ofsted was outstanding then the policy was not to review them again for a huge period of time, I can’t remember how long. It’s changed but due to that and covid many schools are very over due. Ofsted also don’t visit within 2 years of a new head teacher.

I get that 5 years is nothing for an outstanding rating but RI, with not even a monitoring visit?

Maybe it’s getting a new head teacher then, as they will have had four in that period, presuming that the current one stays until March!

We weren't ofsted inspected for about 8 years

Has your school become an academy in the past 5 years , because that gives a years grace. And no inspections during Covid created a backlog too.

It’s been an academy for a long time, so it’s not that. The next oldest RI report on Ofsted for an academy seems to be over a year newer, which is why I was wondering if they have somehow been missed.

What's the proportion of low achievers on entering the school? (SAT results.) I wouldn't expect low achievers to get grade 5 GCSE in both English and Maths as that's a good pass. If everyone passes it wouldn't mean much.

I think new head teachers get a year's grace too?

Although actually it specifically says this doesn't count on their blog.

You can look at the timescales they're meant to use here:
educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/2023/06/12/when-will-my-school-be-inspected/

If you have concerns you could always report them?

No, they don't drop off a list. They still exist, they're still on Get Information About Schools, still complete termly census returns, still complete other returns, still receive funding.

About a quarter were low achievers in SATS.

I have heard that the GCSE results this year were worse than 2023 but the school has not released any information on them and the government hasn’t published any for 2024 yet.

My children's school ended up being 12 years. They had a telephone call inspection during Covid

It will be the new head teacher? If there is an over due school Ofsted monitor job adverts and if the head teachers job is advertised they will inspect before the old head teacher leaves - assuming they’ve been there at least 2 years.

@Yuiopl even when an inspection takes place it can take several weeks to publish a report, especially if it is disputed by the school.

A headteacher once gave me a good tip for knowing when a school is actively being inspected. Sign up for alerts on their Ofsted Parent View results, because the numbers will suddenly shoot up when parents get Ofsted's pre-inspection letter inviting them to do the survey.

They have had four heads during less than 5 years, so if they continue like that they may never get an inspection then.

I have DC at the school and so presume that the school would notify us that it’s happening/happened. If not, DC likely would notice and tell us too.

So much instability. No wonder they have poor results, every headteacher will be coming in, working out what is happening, getting the staff to focus on a couple of things and then along comes another head with different focuses.

Our local senior school was last subject to an Ofsted inspection in 2015. It was rated outstanding, but since then the headteacher has changed and it has absolutely deteriorated. It’s just terrible they haven’t been back - even many of the current staff are desperate for them to come in and see what has changed. Ofsted really isn’t fit for purpose at all any more.

It's statutory that they should be available on the website and updated every year.

If they are that slack with something so basic it doesn't look good for when they do get round to inspecting.

Most schools fulfill this obligation by posting a link to their page on the Government's national performance tables website. It is the DfE's fault that the verified results are late to be published this year.

This is why they are delayed:

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/secondary/far-more-errors-dfe-exam-results-data

Have they really had 4 substantive heads, or were some of them interim? It's very common for schools to have one or more "acting" or "executive" heads to tide them over until a substantive head can be appointed.

One interim for a term, three substantive.

Just filtered Ofsted reports to see who this could be. Unless it’s the MediaCity UTC, it looks like it must be independent? Have they had an ISS inspection since the Ofsted?

Not publishing this year’s GCSEs is not shoddy though. The final data is not yet published by DfE so the school literally won’t have it.

I don’t want to name them so that they are searchable outside of here, as that could just add to their troubles.

I get that the delay in posting this year’s data online by the government is beyond their control but there’s been no information about how they did at all, in school news letters, etc.

We went 13 years

@Yuiopl with two children attending you probably know more than any inspector or inspection would pick up.
With so many ht unless a huge local demographic change it’s unlikely the report will improve.