Would you expect a school to hold a parents meeeting if it had a bad ofsted report?

[Mercedes]

My dd's school's has just a bad ofsted report. The report was a bit of a surprise to most people. I am personally happy with the school and imo my dd is doing well.

The report came out a couple of weeks ago and aside from the letter sent out with the ofsted report there doesn't seem to be any indication or further information on what it plans to do. However I would like to know what the school's plans are to get out of this situation and contribute to a discussion about what we can all do.

Am I being naive to think that the school or the governors should meet with the parents. Not to shout or apportion blame but to keep us informed and allow us to contribute.

I would leave it a while myself if both you and your daughter are happy. The Head teacher is probably in discussion with the staff/governors and divising a plan. Bad ofsted reports demoralise everyone at a school but can unite everyone to improve.
"Good" ofsted reports mainly prove the ability to tick all the right boxes in the right place. From what I've seen in "good" schools though is what they say they do for children on paper doesn't necessarily translate into everyday practice.

I don't think it is normal to meet with all parents following an ofsted report.

But if you wished to arrange a meeting with the head because you are concerned, then they should be open to this.

When this happened to us, they issued a copy of the action plan and brought forward parents' evening. I think the teachers were dreading it TBH. Gave all the usual suspects plenty of ammunition to chuck at them

They need time to put together a plan to address the concerns raised in the Ofsted report. After that, they should look at communicating the detail of the plan to parents, either by letter or through a meeting. How bad an Ofsted was it? What sort of issues did it raise? TBH, as a parent governor, I would be more worried about some things than others. An Ofsted shouldn't contain too many surprises, if the issues raised are more than trivial I would worry if they were not things the school had already identified for improvement.

I would expect them to start by putting something in the newsletter, to let parents know what will be happening next.

I would ask if there is going to be a news letter about it.

And I would also tell them (governors/head) that you don't feel it reflects the school as you know it.

We had a similar report (satisfactory) for our school - the only good bit was the parents opinions (which obviously didn't count for much with ofsted).

Our primary was put into special measures by Ofsted and there was a parents meeting within 2 or 3 weeks or so. It was a very uncomfortable meeting though, some parents were very angry and the staff were obviously devastated about it all. Not nice but I suppose things have to be aired and then you can move on.

A year later they were back out of special measures.

Give it some time. I'm a teacher and sometimes the Ofsted inspectors literally pop into lessons for 15 minutes and assume they have a rounded picture of things. I wouldn't worry immediately.

I would expect them to have the meeting after they had produced an action plan.

What exactly were the problems raised by OFSTED? If it was poor standards of teaching observed in several say Maths classes, low achievement etc, I might be worried- but I can't help thinking you, as a parent would know about those issues already. If it's 'poor' for administrative purposes, I wouldn't worry as much- if at all!

OFSTED DO 'snap shot' schools and I feel often don't give a school a good fighting chance to 'put their case'. It's also a fact that schools who often seem to do really well at OFSTED cause raised eyebrows amongst the parents as they don't recognise the paragon of educational excellence laid out before them on paper! What it possibly REALLY reflects is a Head who knows the ropes and can talk the talk.

I wouldn't necessarily expect a meeting to be called but some sort of communication regarding the problem and solutions should be published to parents, I'd say.

Incidentally, I'm not a teacher! Just a mum who gets heartily tired of hearing all of societies ills blamed on our teachers and schools.

Ususally when a school gets a bad OFSTED the head gets the sack. Prehaps the governors are deciding what they should do before speaking with the parents.

Actually I disagree with you gaussgirl, OFSTED do give a damm and many inspectors are very good at their job. If they didn't give a damm then they would say wonderful things to everyone and worry more about hurting feelings than the children's education.

Sometimes schools in a very middle class area underachieve. They might be top of the league tables, but still have an underachieving cohort.

It is important to remember that a poor OFSTED report is not a critism of your child, but of your child's school. Your child only gets one shot at education and deserves the best.

I don't think I said "OFSTED don't give a damn"! I believe my points were that it all depends WHAT area a school is marked down on; that inevitably due to time and money restraints OFSTED can only remark on what they saw on the day (imagine, for a moment, your worst day's work performance over the last year- and THAT being the day you and your entire reputation was based on!). These mini-visits that OFSTED are now making may make the problem worse! And as for middle class schools 'underachieving'- ARE they or is it because we're now big on 'value adding' and most of such schools take well behaved, well achieving pupils and keep them working at that level- which by and large is fine by the parents! BUT that school won't get 'straight A's' at OFSTED due to their lack of value adding.

I think 'value adding' is a useful measure, incidentally, but I can also see why many consistently high achieving schools were angry when the league table goal posts were shifted to place 'value adding' so high up in the 'desirables list', perhaps higher than absolute attainment!

After any Ofsted (good or bad) the school has to produce an Action Plan which should be shared with parents - but it should be well thought out and takes a lot of planning and writing so won't be available instantly.

If you are concerned just speak to one of the parent governors and ask if they know when the Action Plan will be completed and available.

What do you mean by bad?