Private school Inspection - Can I tell the truth??

[SqueezyDiva]

My child's private school is up for inspection soon. I want to honestly, but anonymously, raise some concerns that have been botherng me greatly for a while now.

Are the inspector in cahoots with the school Head? After all, the inspectors are all former IAP's Heads themselves. Can I raise my concerns without the school finding out?

My major concern is the very high number of children who are advised, at parents' expense, to seek help from Speech therapists, occupational therapists & Ed Psychs.

I feel that children, like my child, should be better accommodated within the normal classroom setting instead of being treated as failures and misfits if their behaviour / attainment is a little outside a very narrow definition of 'normal'

Please advise anyone.

well you may find its all too normal in the private school system...it is only advice. you can after all access NHs funded SALTS etc through your GP.

I would be surprised if the inspectors were interested in this. But by all means raise it...its just knowing a few private schools it seems to be common practise.

Slightly irrelevent to this thread, but I think private schools should have inspections at very short notice like state schools now do. I know at least two private schools round here that rehearse their inspections sometimes starting as much as a year in advance. I feel that spot visits would provide a truer picture.

To the OP, I would share your worries about anonymity and post my concerns anonymously to the inspectors in advance.

snorkle - I may be wrong, but I imagine that private schools are paying for their own inspection (directly or indirectly) and inspection body, hence the difficulty in doing spot checks.

You are right Anna they do pay for their own inspections, but I don't see why they need to know the date of the inspection more than a year in advance because of that. Knowing that someone will turn up at some time in a broadish timeframe isn't the same as knowing exactly when they will show.

Snorkle, starting from next January, ISI inspections will have 5 days notice and will last for 3.5 days. At the moment, it is one year's notice and 4.5 days.

I don't think anyone quite knows the logistics yet, as this ruling came out just two weeks ago. At the moment, the school does and pays for the hotel bookings for the inspectors, and provides a lot of advance information. It is hard to imagine how this can be done covertly. It sounds like a small detail, but something that will be quite a culture shock to overcome. Inspectors are also provided free of charge from other schools, with every school putting a team of inspectors into the pot.

There will continue to be a great deal of scrutiny put onto children's work, as well as interviews with children and lesson observations. This is something that is not done to such an extent in short notice, short duration Ofsted inspections.

As much as no one really wants to be inspected, the ISI system is a brilliant way of sharing good practice across schools. We have 4 inspectors in our school and when they come back from inspections, they are always bursting with ideas based on what they have seen in distant schools.

interesting science teacher, thanks. I guess there's advantages and disadvantages to short notice inspections.

re short notice inspections, my two children recently had their ofsted state school inspections - one primary and the other secondary..for the record, both had less than 5 days notice, both had insepectors in their classrooms observing lessons, they spoke to both sets of children and both sought parental feedback questionnaires

2 or 3 days notice has been the norm for a while in state schools I think. Certainly was in my last one.

touchee violethill.
My dd's secondary inspection cooincided with the Year 7 parent teacher consultation evening...not something a school would consciously plan!

touchee violethill.
My dd's secondary inspection cooincided with the Year 7 parent teacher consultation evening...not something a school would consciously plan!

DDs school found out they were being inspected on the Tuesday (by letter), due to commence the following Tuesday.

Twas Easter and no school on Friday or Monday! Felt so sorry for the staff - must have been terribly stress-inducing.

but state schools know approximately when they are going to be inspected - rumours abound of "OFSTED in the area" and "we are due an inspection" so we all tidy up our displays, check our paperwork, when we are teaching in poor schools who don't nomrally do thie - prep our pupils as to what level they are on and how to improve - I jest not, last school i was at(not current one) - OFSTED in the offing and three times a week at staff briefing it was basically - never mind what you teach them today - make sure they know their level (write it on the front of their books) and what they need to do to improve (one/two word answers) worst of all OFSTED fall for it. dread to think what it would be like working in a failing or grade 2 school.

Going back to the concern that the school may be over-referring to outside agencies.

I would say that it would be appropriate for the outside professionals to have a chat with the school to see if there is a need for more information about when to refer.

When working as an slt(NHS) in schools, this would happen occasionally and we would offer in-school training on the issues.

I know it is a bit more difficult when dealing with the private sector but I do think it is up to the Harley St company to deal with this.

I would still mention it to the inspection team.

I am sure the school is making this large number of referrals with the best of intentions. However referrals to outside agencies can dent a child's confidence. Ie. They think they are far worst at something than they really are.

What you could say/ write to the inspectors is that you feel the school has not quite got the right balance of deciding when to refer a child to an outside agency. Every child in the land has strengths and weaknesses and very few children have no problems.

I think its important to make any comments objective rather than personal. Certainly a state school OFSTED inspector would like a comment like this seriously, provided you don't come across as a loooney parent. I am sure the private sector must be the same.

I have to admit that I don't know much about inspections in the private sector.