Do your children go to an Ofsted 'Outstanding' school? Is it?

[MrsJAlfredPrufrock]

My children go to an Ofsted 'Outstanding' primary school but it isn't even nearly as good as the their brother's old Ofsted 'Satisfactory' primary school.

How accurate is your children's school Ofsted rating?

the

hard to judge.

DS1 and DD's secondary school was outstanding for 3 years until it was re-rated last month. Now it's satisfactory. Same teachers, same ethos, same kids, better results. Go figure! I still love it. So do they.

Mine used to go to an Outstanding school. We moved and now they go to a Good one. For them I think the school they are at now is better for them. They went to the Outstanding one as it was the school in our village whereas when we moved I looked at lots of schools and discounted some Outstanding ones.

My dd was at an Outstanding School, but I am not sure why it was outstanding. There were a couple of really good teachers, but because one of them in Reception was poor, a result of which was the year was well behind.

Up until Year 2, there was reading only once a week, no handwriting practice, so letter formation was poor, spelling phonetically only, no spellings to learn. PE just once a week, which was in the hall and seemed to consist of being a bean!!! (jumping, runner etc!!), but hardly ever outside on their great big field and then mostly cancelled. Maths was OK (the Year 1 teacher specalised in this), but a lot done on worksheets. 28 in the class with only one assistant, who helped the three children who had extra needs.

However, they had a healthy eating award, schools art mark(?) award, they did Wake up and Shake Up and had lots of 'caring' SEAL assemblies, that ticked all the boxes towards the Ofstead ranking.

They won't be having an Ofstead this year, as they were outstanding on the last one, so they have a year's grace before the next one.

It wasn't awful, just not what I expected if I am honest. We moved to an Indpendent school this September, I know a lot is written about the private sector, but I never thought there would be such a gap in the differences.

I too would be interested as to what goes to marking a school 'Outstanding', as like us, most parents have not much else to go on.

Yes Yes! (Actually both Primary and Seniors)
BUT it depends on your child, some might do better in a different school.

Ds goes to a "good" school. It isn't.

Yes, dd goes to an outstanding school and ds an outstanding pre-school (he will join dd at school next year).
Yes I believe that both deserve the grade and are indeed outstanding.
The school has good results without it being some kind of hothouse SATS factory, non of the constant SATS practice in Y6 I read about here. The school. is inclusive and caring, they have been fantastic and very supporting through a situation I am going through that is very difficult and sensitive.
The school is a real community, helped by the fact it is a small village school no doubt. All the children know each other and look out for each other, when there has been an issue in regards to bullying (never trust a school that says bullying never happens at their school!) it has been dealt with quickly and sensitively and never seems to be an on going problem (I have never had to deal with it myself). The only thing the school could improve on is communication with new parents who have their first child starting in reception, school have a bad habit of assuming that these parents already know all the ins and outs of how things work and one glaring one from when dd started was that they didn't tell new parents the day term started or if there was to be anything like a half day for the new reception starters, I found out the first day of term by looking through old copies of the newsletter on the website (the school calender hadn't been updated, this is now sorted through) and when it came to if the reception class were going straight into full days they just thought because they hadn't said there would be any half days of anything then we would know they were doing full days from day one.
Talking to those who have started in the 2 years since most of the communication problems have been sorted though.
That's the thing and one of the reasons why I love the school so much, if there is a problem, talk to them, they will do there best, last year allot of people were very disenchanted with the reports being a bit 'woolly' and not giving any real info as to where your child was at, school took the parents comments on board and have changed they way they do reports and parents evenings to ensure parents are told if their child is below, on or above national expectations.

Yes, and yes.
But I think your opinion would it really would be coloured by your own and your children's outlook and experiences. One man's meat...

DS used to go to an outstanding primary school - we concluded it wasn't. The pastoral care was lousy. Communication within the school was awful. The HT has recently taken early retirement.

He is now at another outstanding primary school and it is certainly better than the other.

Mine were at an Outstanding Infant school, and it was.

They are now at a Satisfactory junior school and you can tell the difference. However, the school is improving all the time (new head).

It largely depends what dictated the rating.

DSs' school is just about satisfactory and used to be poor and on special measures. They love it, so do I. Communication is rubbish but the teachers are lovely, they do wake and shake, have a healthy eating reward, etc. Ofsted reports are better than they used to be so perhaps it is a sign that progress is slow coming (new head three years ago). But it is a lovely school. Ofsted reports shouldn't be taken as gospel I don't think.

DS1 went to an 'outstanding' school. It was dreadful, but ofsted reinspected and said it was outstanding again. The school really failed my DS. It destroyed his confidence, the teachers not only ignored him being bullied but actually supported his bullies in bullying him, they didn't teach him any maths at all for a year because I complained about his bullying maths teacher ripping up his work in front of the whole class because it wasn't neat enough (he's dyspraxic and the school were supposed to be helping him with this), etc, etc.

However, they're clearly very good at filling out the right paperwork.

He's now at middle school in a different city (albeit in Y7). It had been in special measures, but has just been ofsteded and got 'outstanding'. I have to say, it is genuinely very good and has turned everything around for DS1. Over the course of Y6 (having left the awful school at the end of Y5), he went from NC levels 2 and 3, to 5s in his Y6 SATs and is now in the top sets. If he'd stayed where he was, things would be very, very different for him. Regardless what ofsted had come back with, I'd be confident that this school is a lot better than the last one.

My son's school is 'outstanding', but only really if you are very average or behind. In February of Yr 1 when my son's targets were set as 2a/2b, and I asked what can I do to help him, I was met with 'Oh, isn't he good' and the teacher walked away. I understand the school only goes through Yr2, but really if they are so 'outstanding would have thought they could have come up with something.

I hope this thread will be of comfort to those currently 'choosing' their schools as part of the primary admissions process.

I agree MrsJAP. When we moved house three years ago, in August, we had very little choice regarding schools. I rang up the local 'outstanding' school and they laughed at me down the phone 'you want to come here?? Well you'll have to appeal as we have a waiting list'. I was so cross! My two DSs are very happy at their 'satisfactory' school. DH and I went to visit it when it was still 'poor' and under special measures and the staff were so lovely, seemed so dedicated that we decided to go with it. It just had a nice feel. I suggest that parents go with an open mind, go visit the schools, and go with their gut feeling rather than Ofsted reports and statistics.

I think my 10.6 DD is outstanding, but I can't be sure.
I can be sure that they push them and their SATS, she came home terrified that she would have to go to a special school if she failed.
She has also been under the weather with fevers etc. Things that I would have kept her home with. She is scared of messing up their attendance.
Her teacher told 20 of the class last week that they were selfish.
Her teacher told the girls in the football team that they weren't much good.
All of the above will be being discussed with the head at my meeting on Friday.

I'm in the process of choosing a primary for my dd. I have a choice between an outstanding and good. I went to visit both, and my gut feeling tells me to go with the good.

my DS went to an outstanding school for 1/2 a term last year, it destroyed his confidence, trust in teachers, he was bullied by teachers and pupils and it all went horribly wrong. We moved him to a satisfactory school, he loved it did great things for him and DD is now loving it in reception. I would not take any ofsted report in to consideration when choosing again, gut feeling is always a good measure.

Yes my school is Outstanding according to Ofsted. And in general, it is. The teachers are 100% committed to providing the best teaching/nurturing atmosphere they can

DCs school is "outstanding" and yes I think they do a very good job with the challenging intake they get.
One of my DC has special needs and I'm happy with the way the school's coped (barring one teacher who was really floundering) and one DC is G&T and I think the school is doing their best, but perhaps another school would be in a position to do better.

Essentially second-rate schools with a high middle class intake will often do better (and provide better outcomes) than briliiant schools with a disadvantaged intake. OFSTED allow for that, but as a parent you might not want to.

DS's school is rated Outstanding.
I do think it is a very good school, because it is small (one class entry), has a very family-style ethos in which there is lots of mixing between age groups, with older children given some responsibility for looking after younger children (playground buddies when they are new, reading buddies, listening to reading etc) which means that the children know each other very well and feel some affection and pride for the younger ones - there is amost no bullying, and if it occurs it is dealt with immediately and effectively. Children who challenge bullying behaviour on behalf of others, stick up for children whoi are getting teased etc, are fulsomely praised by the Head.

Discipline is really good - very little disruption, they are clear, firm and consistent from the outset.

Bit of a SATS factory, but they get very good results with an intake that has a high level of factors aassociated with under achievement.

I love it because it has been such a very happy school for DS.

My friend's DS goes to an outstanding primary. I think it is good for her academic DS, but my young, immature DS (both 6 now) would not like it there. Last week she told me they have 17 spellings per week , all of them and that they rely very much on parents' support.

My DS goes to a 'good' school, with which I was happy with so far as they are very play orientated in R and Y1, however, as I maoned about in another thread I just found out that he is in a maths group below his ability and the next group up is a Y2 group with 37 children and not always a TA to support him. Now, I don't call that good! There seems nowhere to go for DS as he needs support to listen and stay on track and he won't be able to do that there.

DCs go to a 'good' small village school however I think it is outstanding. A parent whose children have attended a few different schools before this one recently said there was no comparison and she would expect to have to pay to attend a school like this, that says it all!

Also some 'good' schools do not get inspected quite so often so less chance to become 'outstanding'.

Our dd is at a "good" school, but I consider it to be outstanding. We looked at the "outstanding" school just down the road before we bought our current house, but liked the "good" school better so we bought in our current catchment area. I felt that the "outstanding" school was slightly too hung up on their ofsted rating at the expense of other things.

The teachers at dd's primary school are fantastic. We are very lucky!

There's so much good sense on this thread. We should write the Mumsnet Guide to Choosing an Outstanding Satisfactory School Without Resorting to Special Measures.