So if a school (primary) has been special measures for the past 12 months

[IorekByrnison]

Do you think:

a) "there's no way my child is going there"

or

b) "no doubt they will be putting lots of strategies for improvement in place - in a year's time it will be great."

Our primary school was on the brink of Special Measures 3 years ago - we've just been classed as "good with outstanding features". The change is amazing.

But you have to know what measures are being put in place to make the difference. Get a copy of the Ofsted and take it to the Head and ask exactly what is being done to address each point. And ask how any improvement is being measured.

I'd think why? Were the Ofsted people having a bad day? Chat to parents who's children attend there now and see what's going on first.

I'd also think a then b.

Thanks. Seeker, that's very encouraging.

I'm looking at the Ofsted report and the reports of subsequent monitoring visits (and I must say I would like to put the inspector in special measures for spelling and grammar, but that's another issue).

The school seems to have got a "satisfactory" for the way in which they have implemented improvements so far, and standards have gone from "exceptionally low" to "below average". It's not great, but it's something.

What Scrooged says, plus find out if a new Head is being installed, and any refreshing of the governors.
A good new Head could make improvements very quickly indeed.
Reputations take a long time to challenge, though.

I think that the head is staying. I believe he has been there a long time but the problems with the school are relatively recent.

Our primary was in special measures the January before dd1 started in 2007 but came out again in just over a year so it worked out well really.

It helped that the foundation stage wasn't where the concerns lay so I reasoned by the time she reached ks2 in year 3 things ought to have improved.

Oh, no change of head btw. Admired her for stepping up and driving the changes, particularly in the face of the hostility there was from parents when it first went into special measures.

Thanks Zoe, that's good to know too. The foundation stage of this school is classed as good too.

I would certainly find out more before making a decision. From personal experience I would find out:

• how long has the head been there. Was the head put in place to sort things out after the school was put into special measures or were they already there. If they were already there for a while before or had taken the post just before going into special measures it would ring alarm bells for me.
• what was/is the staff turnover like just before and during special measures
• how many people have already moved their children from the school and what has happened to the intake since going into special measures
• who are the governors, how long have they been there, who is new since going into special measures
• what were the key issues from the initial report and how quickly are they rectify them. Have any new areas been found in the monitoring visits
• has the structure of the school changed. Look specifically about how SATs years are structured e.g. mixed year groups
• talk to a cross section of parents if you can and if you know who to talk to. Some parents will be pro/negative whatever the case, but some will be constructive and honest

Lastly before deciding look at what the effect will be if you have to move your DCs if you find you really don't like the school. If there are better options around it may just be better to start them there.

thanks aintnomountain - that's really helpful. The head has been there a long time but the problems seem to be recent (2003 inspection was good). Not sure why it has gone downhill so fast, but there seem to be a few inherent problems like an unusually high number of children coming into the school in yrs 2, 3 etc.

Is your personal experience of this as a teacher or parent?

Sorry for the delay in replying. My experience is that of a parent. The other thing I would look at actually is the catchment of the school. If the school is in a good area with above average intake it would really ring alarm bells with me if it was in special measures.

Another thing perhaps I should add is that I wouldn't pay too much attention to the fact that Reception doesn't have any problems. Reception is about playing what can actually go wrong here!

b

Thanks both. Intake not above average apparently - over 50% have English as a second language (although this is not much higher than the other schools in the area), and they have to deal with a lot of new kids arriving further up the school.

Interesting about random nature of inspections cat, thanks.

Thanks cadelaide, too. Have you had experience with a school in this situation?

Anyone else had experience with special measures schools?

One local school went into SM 5 years ago. I didn't know anything about SMeasures then, BUT I did read the Ofsted report. Which was damning, and particularly slated the school leadership. I couldn't chance sending DC to a school with an Ofsted report like that.

The school was out of SM after about 2 years and recently managed some of the best local KS2 SAT results. I haven't heard anybody slate the school for a long while now, even though they have the same head as they did when Ofsted put them in SM. Their most recent Ofsted was Satisfactory.

I would wait to see what the follow up report says. Our catchment school was in special measures. The follow up report stated that there was still a lot of work to be done. The school also struggled to attract good quality candidates to take over the headship. A shame as it used to be a very good school but still has a long way to go to recover that position. I wasn't willing to take the risk for my ds's education.

Should add that our school went downhill very fast (within 2 years) following the retirement of an excellent head and the appointment of her successor who couldn't cope and didn't command respect amongst the parents and staff.

Thanks MollieO. Have read the first two reports following the inspection (they're up to "below average" from "exceptionally low" so going in the right direction). Not due to start until Sept 2010 so still quite a bit of time.