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?

DCs go to an outstanding school. It's very good - fantastically nurturing and friendly, and they seem to do some academic stuff too, although the reading books are ancient. I'm very happy with it.

Sorry - meant to say that although DS's school is 'outstanding' I'm not sure that the factors that we love about it would be any different if it was 'good' or 'satisfactory', as they are not the ofsted factors, afaik.

I wonder if perhaps a school that gets a bad Ofsted report is actually in a good position because it forces the school to do something, to act, to improve whereas a school that gets consistently good Ofsted reports, ticking all the right boxes, might not feel the same motivation? Just a thought. I would say that certainly applies to my DSs' previously classed 'special measures' school which is creeping up a bit.

Yes my dd does go to an outstanding school and no i don't think it is.
I won't say too much or i will end up doing a full scale rant!
They basically have great sats results but then the catchment area and parental input also plays a part in that i believe, communication is poor as is pastoral care.
I strongly believe that you should choose a school which suits your child and not pay too much attention to sats results and ofsted reports.
I believe outstanding schools can become very complacent and believe their own hype. >>tries in vain to avoid ranting

DS1 does, is it outstanding? Possibly, comparing it to other local state schools its good, but not to most of the other local fee paying schools.
But its probably been the best choice for him

My 4 year old DS goes to an Outstanding OFSTED school in Cambrisgeshire and it has been outstanding for last three inspections. I had a good look at the school to decide if this was really the case and actually despite trying I can't argue. He settled in very quickly as he had about 6 months of attending the school 1 morning a week to get him used to it. The thing I like is that the older primary kids take time to speak to the little ones and they are encouraged to be inclusive. Now my DS is on first name basis with most of year 6!
Also freaked by how well he is coming on with reading despite being a lazy little "X$%^".
Glad we went there, I am guessing by previous postings, choosing an "Outstanding School" was more by luck than judgement.

DD's went/go to an outstanding Preschool and it is fantastic - amazing staff and the kids love it.

DD1 is now at the school which is 'satisfactory'. However it has a new head and everything i have had experience of seems great. DD1 loves it and is happy.

I am very pro sending DC to their 'local' school though and guess i have nothing to compare it against, so it might only be satisfactory, but we are all happ

Good thread MrsJA

Yes and yes, I think. It is a school with a great reputation, produces outstanding results, expects a lot of the children (and the parents) and seems to handle bullying well. The cynical side of me thinks that it is kind of easy for them to achieve this, given how well-heeled the area is. BUT to be fair they also have challenges to contend with, including the fact that it is an enormous school (four form entry in my dd's year) and yet I think they are highly successful at creating a nurturing community environment.

DS goes to an outstanding school and I work at one. Both VERY different. I have some minor concerns re DS's school but on the whole, I think it is fine. I wouldn't ever chose a school solely on it's OFSTED rating though.

DCs used to go to an 'outstanding' primary, but I don't think it was. Rating seemed to be mainly due to very good Sats results, but that was as a result of way too much emphasis on preparing for Sats, at the expense of actually learning anything in yr6. DS was bored witless. I moved DD before she got to that stage.

Dd1 is at an outstanding grammar school it's amazing. Dd2 and ds are at an outstanding primary, they were previously at a good primary before we moved here. We were happy with the previous primary, but the last couple of years at our outstanding primary have been really very good. Ds's dyslexia was picked up within a few weeks whereas the previous school made me feel that it was just me being ott.

Not sure if this is relevant but there is a greater social mix in the outstanding school whereas the good one was very middle class.

Our school has just been regraded from good to outstanding. It is excellent for us and I'm pleased the staff's efforts have been recognised, but I was happy with it before Ofsted visited IYSWIM. There are so many other aspects of school life though other than Ofsted's 2 days every 3 years. Hopefully their efforts are in educating the children rather than impressing the inspectors.

What I liked is they are so welcoming. Before DS started, I rang up and was invited to come to the school, was personally shown round by the Head and everything spoke of care and interest in the children.

My three are in an "outstanding" primary. They know how to play the OFSTED game and the Executive Head is a part time ofsted inspector. Theyre certainly quite good at some stuff, but much that they are also very poor at. I have considered many times moving them, esp ds1 with SEN, to the merely "good" school where I work which is IMHO far better.

Just think I have definition of Outstanding. My DS (4 years old) declared that he wanted to be school at weekends as he could be with all his friends all day. I did try to point out that he had lots of fun at the weekends, going places, cooking, painting, building things etc. I hope he is joking, otherwise im going to have hire to Disney or dress up as Ben 10. :o

Yes they did go to an outstanding Infant school and yes it was, and still is. yes they get amazing SATS results, with some of the best writing results on the country, but this is not at the expense of an extended curriculum. I could give a long list of reasons.

All 4 schools that my children attend are Ofsted 'outstanding' and have been for years.
The all round care and teaching is fantastic and the children really love going to them.
On the rare occasion that there has been a problem it was sorted straight away.

My older children went to an "outstanding" infant school when we lived in Surrey. It was fab- very well-organised, calm and high-aiming. But the clientele was selected on income due to the nature of the catchment area. I am very glad that my children were able to go there even though my son was in classes of 35-36 when he was 5 (the caps on infant class sizes went down to 30 for the year after his year).

Our current catchment primary school is also "Outstanding" but I have severe reservations about sending DD3 there beyond year 4 as I find the setup in years 5 & 6 just outlandish beyond description. Also not that impressed with their lack of focus on reading and writing. Ho-hum. Will cross that bridge when we get to it I suppose.

Both my sons are in an outstanding primary school and yes I think it is outstanding.

I also volunteer in the school (had to sit a course, a test and then the CRB to be allowed through the golden gates) so I see all the work that goes into making it as fantastic as possible.

The pastoral care is amazing, there are lots of teaching assistants and volunteers like myself some who are training to be teaching assistants themselves. We have the usual SENCO but also a trained counsellor who helps children with "barriers to learning" such as divorce, death of pet or relative or someone important. She also provides anger management courses for pupils.

The school offers many after school clubs, gardening, sports, eco warriors, and the option to learn many different musical instruments including drums!

The whole school works hard to sustain the outstanding grade.

I have no trust in Ofsted's findings - my dd used to attend a "Good" Sats Factory School - so Good in fact that Oftsed haven't felt the need to inspect it for 6 years because their Sats results have been outstanding and no one has lodged a major complaint with them. It was so awful I moved them to a "Satisfactory" school and the improvement has been enormous.

Not saying that all Ofsted outstanding/good schools are bad - just that you are very stupid if you believe your school is actually outstanding just because ofsted say so.

Dd has been to a number of schools, first was rated a 2 and it was in my opinion an oustanding school. She then went to an oustanding school which was awful to the extent that I was having to teach her in the evening. However it was downgraded to a satisfactory at the next visit.

Mine went to an 'outstanding' infant school. I thought it had a lovely caring atmosphere, very relaxed & happy. Never heard 'I don't want to go to school today' , which is probably all I really wanted from an infant school anyway.

My dc went to an Outstanding primary, then we moved (geographically) and they went to a Good primary, then we moved again and they go to a Satisfactory primary.

They have been happy, progressed, enjoyed themselves at all 3 schools, all 3 have similar SATS results (all above average), I think the dc have been happiest at the small cosy Satisfactory village primary.

So, really, I'm not very taken with the Ofsted ratings, I can see why our first school got Outstanding, and why our current school gets Satisfactory, but a lot of that is down to box-ticking and toeing the Ofsted line rather than anything that affects the children particularly.

DS goes to an 'outstanding' primary and I am distinctly underwhelmed by it.

His teachers are, individually, very nice and kind and friendly. BUT school-home communication is pathetically poor, the don't seem to do any numeracy, they do reading about once a week... There just doesn't seem to be much imagination put into what they do.

I assume the 'nice' catchment helps with their rating.