Parents' views on Ofsted

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I am editing a think-tank pamphlet on the inspection system and I would really like to hear parents' views on Ofsted. Has your child's school had an inspection recently? How did it affect the school and your child?

my dcs school just had an ofsted and was put in special measures. the whole school is in shock!! we moved our children to this school two years ago and it was the best decision we made. the staff have been excellent and my boys - both of whom are top of their class - are thriving in this school. the quality of teaching and the care for each individual child is second to none. so much better than where they were before - which is a school that ofsted praise! i know each parents experience in the schools is different, but how can ofsted get it so wrong? how can they judge a school on two days in a school year? what if the inspector is having a bad day - had an argument with the wife/husband that morning (as one parent said to me!!), surely that may influence their decision making? HMI inspectors said our school was doing well and had put in place all the recommendations from the previous ofsted inspection - yet ofsted dealt a killer blow!! it is good to see, though, that all the parents are behind the school and support the head and the teaching staff!

There certainly have been issues in the past with the way in which Ofsted standardises inspections -each inspection seems very different and seems to reflect the lead inspector a lot.

My boys' primary school had an Ofsted recently, which resulted in a fantastic report. As far as the children were concerned it was a very low-key affair (just one day) and no particular hype. The staff seemed to be more laidback about it than previously, and the minimal notice system seems to work well.

The secondary school was inspected and apparently but on a massive show for the inspectors: all leave cancelled - no supply/cover lessons for example, SMT continuously patrolling corridors etc., and they managed to scrape a 'satisfactory' ... I don't know how?!

I like the Ofsted reports. It gives me more information in helping to decide whether a school is suitable for my kids. DS' school was given a poor Ofsted report last year &, among other things, it reflected how I felt about their lack of support for brighter pupils. They never pushed or challenged him (& apparently that was the same for other kids like him). A lot of the parents also agreed that the teaching drastically needed improving throughout the school.

Just for schools - of childminding as well?

Forgot to say: the Ofsted report prompted the school into action with personalised targets for each child in numeracy & literacy, lots of teacher training, etc. The school had a historically good reputation, which was no longer deserved, so they needed to be awakened from their complacency. I think the report will bring massive improvements in the school, but I chose not to send my DDs there. DS has since moved on to middle school, so I can't say how the school is doing now.

Ofsted have an "average" for performance.

When you have an average, you are, by definition, going to get as many below that average as you are going to get above it.

This rather obvious fact always seems to surprise people. They effectively decide before they do the inspection how many schools will be above this average, and how many below.

It's like deciding that the average height of a schoolchild is 5'4" and putting all kids who fall below this in "special measures" to gain height.

I think Ofsted are a bunch of halfwit arsewipe wastes of space, in case you'd not surmised that much from the above.

The dcs' primary school had an inspection earlier this year. It did not seem to disrupt ds much but think it was a bit of a nightmare for the staff. The result was OK.

In terms of what it said, there was one comment which caused huge concern amongst parents but it was not in the action to be taken section of the report. This means that the result of the report has been to upset people but no action will be taken in relation to the comment that has caused the upset.

I also question the value of the reports in general. All of the primary schools near us are over-subscribed and therefore all select on proximity. What is the point of a report which provides fairly limited information in the face of no real parental choice?

These comments are really helpful - thank you! Does anyone have any views on how their CHILDREN felt about the inspection? Was it school as normal during the inspection? And after the inspection did they think things changed or stayed the same in the school?

For my boys (primary) they felt school was very much 'business as usual' on the inspection day. DS1's class (yr6) was doing class assembly (planned pre-phonecall) and he was not at all phased by the idea of an inspector being there.

They do not think the school has changed since the inspection (the report was 'outstanding').

Our school OFSTED was outstanding. It has been for the last few years. I love and am happy with the school and was glad to see the report. I think that the school works hard and isn't just show for the inspections.

When it came to the Playgroup inspection (separate place to school) I wasn't at all happy with the report. I felt that the inspector was a bit of a jobs worth and spent the days with her eyebrows raised. She wanted far more from 2 year olds than the parents themselves. She didn't take anything we said into consideration and gave the group satisfactory. The parents were all up in arms and wrote off to OFSTED.

Under the old system (with notice) the children found it a bit stressful. It doesn't seem to impact on them as much nowwe have one coming up and don't know when (obviously) and the children would have no idea. The poor head is worked to the bone keeping all the paperwork up to date, though. Some of the bureaucracy is absurdmy husband is a governor and he can't believe the form-filling. For very small primaries, this should be reduced. It takes up too much valuable headteacher time.

Our school got specially praised for inclusion the year my disabled dd had to crawl on her hands and knees to get into the toilet because the head wanted to keep the disabled toilet nice and clean for visitors. Oh, and wasn't given any maths tuition because they couldn't be bothered to switch the sets round so hers was on the ground floor.

Basically, before an Ofsted inspection, the children are told in assembly what they must say to the inspector. These are generally well-behaved children who have been brought up to respect people in authority, so I don't think anyone has ever let slip. But I find it really worrying. In the long run it can only teach the children cynicism.

The weird thing is, apart from the inclusion aspect (now resolved after change of head), it is actually a very good school that shouldn't need to fear children speaking the truth. But I never read an Ofsted report containing the words "children are generally happy at the school" without shaking my head at the inspectors' naivety. "Children have learnt their lines" is more like it.

(and in case you wonder why we as parents didn't complain- we were told our comments to the Ofsted inspector had to be handed in to the school. Dd already had a tough enough time)

Wow Cory! That confirms what I felt about the system but have not encountered personally. So for your dd.

We have. AFAIK my children were oblivious to it.

I have issues with school atm do had fun filling it in.

so had fun....

I should add that we were given to understand that the HT's desire for an Outstanding were a major cause behind the harrassment we had to undergo as parents of a child with chronic health. Basically, her medical absences stood between him and an Outstanding for attendance, so he thought it would be much better if she were to leave the school altogether.

I fucking hate ofsted

will come back later with a more reasoned response

When we first visited the local school were weren't impressed at all, when we visited again we still weren't impressed however ended up sending her there in the hope it would be ok at least for reception until we sorted out what we would do next. Two weeks after she started all my fears were confirmed, the school had the most shocking Ofsted report and was put in special measures. I can see why and actually think Ofsted reports are very useful indeed, although of course you need to go with your gut feel about a school too. It must be very difficult judging a school on a 1 or 2 day visit however the things that the report highlighted and the things uncovered by inspections since are so utterly basic that the school deserves the poor rating.

I simply don't believe OFSTED. I have never had any faith in govt inspectors. My cynicism was confirmed recently when an OFSTED inspection was carried out on my DD's excellent, brilliant school (and honestly, I am one of those people who doesn't have much faith in the school system) and the guy who carried it out was determined to find fault, it was so obvious. Apparantly he didn't even look at any children's work! And there is no point in appealing against OFSTED judgements, which afaic makes the whole exercise worthless.

And finally! Is there anyone out there whose children might be prepared to say what they thought about their Ofsted inspection, good or bad? Thank you!