Terrible ofsted since we applied

[moaningminniewhingesagain]

I applied for a place at our nearby catchment school for DD. It is just 4 mins walk and I have also considered myself not pushy/not too worried about ofsted/think a lot of it is about what happens at home etc, I was happy to go for it because it is so close and seemed fine.

But, last ofsted was good overall. Just looked at the recent one, which was done after I applied for her place, and it is now a 4/special measures I am feeling a bit fed up now.

On the plus side, does it mean they will be throwing money/resources at the school to improve it?

I know ofsted is just a snapshot, and we do live in a pretty erm, interesting, area. Am I daft to feel a bit concerned?

I expect you are feeling annoyed/upset/angry about being put into 'special measures' but the following is true:-

1. The worst is over; the school is now getting better,
2. The County Education Dept. know the problems and will be pouring extra money/time/resources into the school to take it out of special measures
3. The Staff and Governors know the probs and are sorting them out now.
4. Do not to dwell on the Past, that?s all finished with
5. Think about the future
6. Make a big effort to be supportive (It's all too easy to criticise and whine).

The school will be getting regular inspections (roughly 2 or 3 per year) from Ofsted to check progress

Remember:- Because of the extra money, time and effort, when the school comes out of ?special measures? it will arguably be the best school for miles around.

Try not to be disheartened - keep smiling

Ofted is a bit rubbish. They see a snap shot. Just coninue supporting your child and helping her at home and I'm sure she will be fine.

My sons school has just come out of special measures and it's a bit rubbish but he has friends there and is settled.

Keep tabs on progress and dont worry too much

Thanks for your replies. DD is my pfb eldest and starts at school for the first time in September, so I haven't been involved in all this before.

As it is so close to our house, I was happy to use the nearby school as long as it wasn't terrible , I just feel a bit swizzed TBH as I wouldn't have put it as our first choice had we known.

Am hopeful she will do well wherever she goes, as we will be supporting her and she is very keen to learn. Will just have to see how it goes I suppose.

Same happened to us. You just have to hope things will turn around. It does seem that seeing round a school tells one very little, and even talking to the staff - by the time we started every single person we had met a few months earlier had left. The first year might be a bit rough but with luck you will end up with a better school in the end. And round our way lots of the previously good schools are now down to satisfactory; arguably special measures is better for a school with the extra help. What are the main things ofsted picked out? It might also be a good time for you to get involved as parent governor or just volunteering. Hope it works out.

I would go in and ask the head what measures they are putting in place to improve the issues raised by ofsted. They will be closely monitored and the staff will know exactly the issues they have to focus on. If it has been good before it can again!!

There are lots of stories flying around about how schools send away troublesome pupils when Ofsted are around and other ways that schools try and get a good Ofsted report despite being crap. What I'm trying to say is that Ofsted reports aren't always worth the paper they're written on.

There are real potential benefits for the future.
I know a school that went into special measures over the standard of teaching and all sorts of other reasons. Two years later it is now out of special measures, getting a good rating with some excellent practise and real praise for what it can achieve in the future.
OK not very school will do this, but i would go and see the school, talk to the head and express your concerns. See what they say and what your gut feeling is about the school. Is it actually the same head or have they been replaced?
Don't think you will be the only one asking, I am sure that many of the prospective parents and plenty that are already parents at the school will be asking what is going on

It seems it is basically the quality of the teaching TBH, children start off with poor skills and don't improve as quickly as they should/as quickly as expected.

Attainment is low and has deteriorated since last inspection, generally literacy and numeracy is poor. Pastoral side pretty good.

From noseying at the newsletters, it seems basic attendance/absence is an issue, it is a fairly deprived area. The children have been put in draws to win (fancy expensive) prizes if they get to read to an adult 5 times a week I find it a bit depressing that they have to bribe them to do a bit of reading at home- I suppose I grew up in a very different era and area

yep if the intake is low-attainment then this can skew the Ofsted report

attendance/abscence is tricky because disillusioned/disengaged parents kind of don't see the point of school, any school [sweeping generalisation]

and what Dan said

Well, if pastoral care is described as pretty good by an inspection team who put the school into special measures, that means it's very good indeed.

SATS results and 'value added' between KS1 and KS2 are very influential in an Ofsted report. If there is a lot of movement in the school - as there tends to be in 'interesting areas' - there will have been different population of kids sitting the KS1 tests and the KS2 tests, so analysing the difference and attributing this to what has/hasn't happened in the school is bonkers.

As others have said, the school will have a lot of support aimed at improving the teaching, marking etc - it actually sounds like they're doing very well with other stuff.

You could go and see the head and ask her/him to talk through the report/what measures are in place etc. A friend of mine did this in a similar situation, and discovered that the pupils who stayed in the school all the way through actually progressed more than average - their SATS and VA looked poor on paper because there was so much movement in the school.

You're not daft to be concerned, but an Ofsted report needs unpicking a bit!

From my own experience as a parent governor, once weaknesses are exposed, the road to improvement is steep and sustained. We're waiting for Ofsted and still expect to be special measures or notice to improve - similar thing, children coming in with low attainement (none of the children who started in September were at age-related levels) and then not making enough progress, previously the children were "blamed" for this "its a deprived area, what can you expect?" - it's schools like this which have to work twice as hard to get those children achieving, so they can have a brighter future. Our pastoral care and safe guarding are very good and children behave well and feel safe and are happy.

Better to join a school on this journey than join one that doesn't realise it's got that journey to make! Could be quite exciting and if you really want to help, join the governing body and get involved!

I did paraphrase a bit with the pastoral care thing - but is said that children are well supported, good structures for dealing with challenging behaviour. Not sure if headship has changed, it certainly gave lack of leadership as a big concern.

Pastoral care is 'very effective' and safeguarding is robust...so just the teaching the children to read and write well that seems to be the issue

So yes, it certainly is not all bad. I am due to get invited to an open day/induction thing some time later in the summer.

Hi, your school sounds very similar to our local down the road where DS will be starting September. It was our third choice, and nearest and I was a bit disappointed to get it initially, but am reassured that there have been changes to the school and they are still making changes so things should improve. When i talked to the head she also said that attendance and attainment skew an ofsted report, such that if those are only satisfactory, its unlikely that anything else will be rated above that. Sounds like in your case things will be on the up too. And - as others have said - support at home mkaes a huge difference

Is an "unsatisfactory" school good enough for your child? I wouldn't do it. you can say that Ofsted is a snapshot, but to watch several teachers and then decided that the quality of teaching at the school is unsatisfactory is pretty bloody worrying...

The actual teaching IN the lessons can be good but, if the school can't show sufficient progress for whatever means ( because turnover is very high, attendance is low, etc) then teaching can only be graded as satisfactory AT BEST, no matter what OFSTED actually see!

Well it's where she has a place, Cordova and no, if it had that rating when we were applying, I would have chosen somewhere else but that would be a lot further away and we have a DS at the preschool on the school site.

And TBH she has a better chance of doing ok there compared to some of her peer group, we go to the library, she 'reads' books with us every day, and she is keen to practice starting to write. She doesn't need bribing to win a bloody games console(a Wii FFS!) by doing her reading

Not sure you can appeal on the basis that the school now appears to be worse than we thought?? I will be a PITA trying to get into the PTA/governors etc instead, make myself useful.

No appeal is allowed to take into consideration that it is not considered a good school or it is now worse than an appealant thought. It carries no weighting in the appeal process

My DS1 (pfb as well!) will be entering a school this September that came out of special measures this time last year. The families I know in the area whose DCs started as it was emerging from said measures are really happy with it. Every comment/issue they had was really really listened to and acted upon, where necessary. The quality of the new teaching staff (all on permanent contracts) was high, and remains so.

Just see how it goes. That's what we're doing. DS is at the preschool at the moment; he's made friends (something he's never done before ) and has come on loads. Surely, as long as our kids are happy, learning and well socialised, what more could we want?

We've all taken the same view as you (me, my friends and neighbours with DCs either there or going.) We are the PITAsses! And it actually feels quite good.

Good luck. I'd love to hear how you get on, as we're in such a similar boat. I've been reading a bit of Fiona Millar's writing about local schooling, and how she's stuck by her local primary (where her DCs went) through thick and thin. Our decision to send DS to his prospective school was not a political or moral one. We genuinely believed, and still do that it would be the best school for him . We could be wrong. If we are, we'll deal with it when it becomes apparent.

If it was me I would put my DD on the waiting list for another school. Most parents would do the same - so the number of engaged parents is going to fall.

But if you do send your DD to the school, she will probably be fine. The school my DD ended up in was Satisfactory (having been in special measures). It is now Outstanding. Things can change very quickly. And if you are willing to get involved you can do a lot to help (plus teachers and head will love you!)

My DD is doing very well academically - attendance and attainment has improved massively at her school and results are actually higher than my preferred school. Friendship issues are a bugbear, but maybe she would get that at any school.

cordova, it actually doesn't seem to be the case that the Ofsted report has said that the teaching is unsatisfactory. Teaching can be adequate, but if attendance/attainment/VA not deemed sufficient - very often for issues other than teaching eg high mobility in the school, deprived area - the school can be declared to be failing.

This is one of the problems with Ofsted as I see it; it appears to be in 'lay person's' terms eg we all know what 'outstanding' or 'unsatisfactory' mean, but the framework of an Ofsted inspection is much more complex than that.

My school was inspected in Feb 2011. OFSTED had already graded the school as 'SM' or 'Notice to Improve' based upon past data before they even arrived!. We did have a poor Head for the previous three years and our last SAT results were around 60% despite 45% of the year group having SEN or statements. In fact, our results have always been between 60% and 75% during the past 8 years.
We have a high proportion of children who are FSM, from low income/poverty backgrounds, in LA care and a BIG turnover in numbers. For example in 2007, our results were around 63%. When we took only the results of those children who had been with us from Reception, the results were 92%!! We loose children after Y2 (they go to a Junior school due to parental gossip/pressure as it is deemed 'the best') and due to our surplus places we receive 'the incomers' - usually children in care from outside the LA and from families who are putting their 9/10 year olds in their 4th or 5th school!!!
Also parental support at the school is dire. At one parents evening I had 11 parents turn up out of a class of 28. We've started a new home reading scheme and letters home said that children must bring their books in everyday. Looking at my list, only 8 bring their books in everyday. of that 5 read everyday. I have 7 children who took their book home and have never brought it back!!! We also had a launch evening to coincide with 'World book Day' The night was about writing. Of the 300 children in the school, the parents of only 19 of them turned up!!
Schools in these situations actually do a harder (and in my opinion) BETTER job at trying to raise attainment and aspirations.
We eventually came out with a grade of 'Satisfactory'. The grade was NOT ALLOWED to be higher because of past SAT results. This is DESPITE a new Head, new interventions, teaching being graded as 'GOOD', children already surpassing end of year expectations and parental support from the 59 questionnaires we got back. Our OFSTED team were being inspected by HMI and HAD to stick to the rules. The lead inspector apologised for not being able to give us the grade warranted but it was because HMI do not like schools being graded as 'GOOD' or above unless their data shows this. OFSTED ONLY CARE ABOUT RESULTS.
My point is, trust your OWN judgements about a school. Speak to parents who have children currently attending the school, make visits, and do NOT trust an OFTSED report as being the ultimate guide to the worthiness of a school.

On a last note, I lost a child from my class because her father looked at the grade 'SATISFACTORY' and immediately took his daughter out. Despite her being happy, achieving above expectations and her mother wanting her to stay (he's a bully apparently). He wanted his child to go to an excellent school like 'MG or BI'. Sadly for him, he didn't read their reports properly either as neither school got such OFSTED grades. 'BI' got 'Good' and 'MG' got 'Satisfactory'. He didn't think that when his daughter goes to the junior school they too have the same grade as us. This was pointed out when he met the head at 'BI' the day his daughter started. From what parent gossip is now saying, he has egg on his face as he has wished his daughter stayed where she was. He's too proud to move her back.

Get a copy of the report and look at exactly why they failed.
That will give you a much clearer idea of what to be concerned about.

I've come to the point where ofsted means nothing to me, I've recently pulled my 14yr old DD out of an 'outstanding' school, both of my DDs went there and I personally think its the worst school in the area, the pastoral care is dire, the standards of teaching IMO are poor to say the least, the school does not give a damn about the students, they are allowed to walk the corridors with music blaring, phones on, get away with swearing and allsorts, i've been in the school so many times I have seen it for myself, aswell as the horrible experiences my 14yr old has been through. She now goes to another 'outstanding' school in a deprived area of the city, its a school thats had to come from special measures and has worked damn hard to get where it is today, my husband works there and has seen first hand on a day to day basis what the school does, and how it genuinely cares for the students and thank god my dd is so much happier. Also I was struggling to get my 4yr old DS a primary school place, i've now opted for the local one on the estate, and yes I looked at the ofstead and wish I didnt, its a 'satisfactory' school, (back in 2007, they havent had one since) but having spoke to friends and neighbours, they couldn't praise it up enough. I know i've babbled on a bit with no proper advice, but I know what your going through and i guess all i'm saying along with a few others is dont take the ofsted as gospel, and if a child is destined to well, they will where ever they are, and as long as the child is happy, thats all that matters. Good luck with whatever you decide. :)

mum2be79 My point is, trust your OWN judgements about a school. Speak to parents who have children currently attending the school, make visits, and do NOT trust an OFTSED report as being the ultimate guide to the worthiness of a school. couldnt put it better myself, thats the top and bottom of it really isnt it?

I moved my children from an 'outstanding' school to a school that had been given 'notice to improve' last November. This was mainly due to moving house and at the time I really worried about my kids failing as a consequence.

I have to say that it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made- this new school has a headteacher that is 'alive' and dynamic- not hanging off the coat tails of an 'outstanding' Oftsed report.