Ofsted report - how bad can it be?

[dinkystinkyandveryverybored]

DS1's school had its ofsted inspection a couple of weeks ago - still not published. The school and governors have called an emergency meeting with parents to discuss it - all they have said to date that it did not go as well as might be hoped. Anyone have any idea what the delay, and the calling of an emergency meeting, might mean? The last ofsted report was satisfactory with room for improvement - could this one maybe mean special measures?

My Sister in law recently attended one such meeting at her DS's school and the school was put in special measures. Inspection was January but was not published until last week (after the meeting).

Don't know if this is always the case though.

Thanks Ilelo - I rather suspect that's whats going to happen here too..

have you checked on the ofsted website

From what I have heard the new ofsted inspection is tougher, with more of a focus on teaching + learning, and harder to do really well on, so do bear that in mind. The school itself might not be worse than last time. Doesn't mean though that there won't need to be changes.

The report should be out before the meeting because how otherwise are parents going to be able to ask sensible questions if they only get limited highlights of what the report says.
If it was satisfactory last time, I would suspect that "not as well as expected" means some kind of category. The fact that the school are calling the meeting suggests to me that it is not going into special measures but is going to be in notice to improve. If it is then that indicates that the inspection team believe that the current leadership have the capacity to resolve the issues. Is it possible that the head is reasonably recent appointment?

Yes TalkingPeace2 - not on there yet. Head has been there for years but deputy head recentychanged I guess.

Local schools near us are saying Ofsted are getting much tougher - the stuff they are looking for has changed but they also seem to be on a mission to downgrade schools. Cynics think this is so schools look bad now but can be assessed as improving just in time for the next election...

They are really focusing on progress, which is tough for schools either with a very challenging intake or with a highly achieving intake. Unless you mark all the high achievers down at the end of KS1 so they look miraculously improved by the end of KS2...

Apparently an inspector made a child burst into tears at a school near us.

Our primary just got inspected and didn't do as well as hoped. The inspection was rigorous but, having read it and read between the lines, they have some fair points. It had been failing, then 'satisfactory' with good 'features' and this time it was hoped for an all round 'good'. The SMT were told by the lead inspector (off the record, I am friends with the school keeper) that if the inspection had taken place before the new framework came in they would have rated the school 'good'.

The years they picked out as being average fitted that bill in their opinion because there was not enough differentiation in the classes they observed. As I have one DS who achieves highly academically and one who struggles academically this is obviously of interest to me. My concern is that the school's emerging from a very bad time and struggles to retain staff - there's only so much stick they can take without any carrots! Morale seems very low.

Wait and see. It's good they've called a meeting; it will help you pick apart the report and hopefully dispel your concerns. There should be LEA representation there, for a more neutral interpretation of the situation.

better hope the school is not an academy then - no LEA help in that situation

The new framework is very data driven. The inspectors are looking for at least 'average' progression in every child.

Needless to say, there are some school populations that lend themselves more to this type of framework than others.

The unholy alliance between the DfE and Ofsted have an investment in downgrading schools, especially into categories. They are then vulnerable to being forced into becoming a sponsored academy, and a nice little cash cow for one of the PM's friends.

Its not an academy - thanks all for your input. Will go to the meeting tonight and find out what's going on and report back.

Please do. I would be very interested to hear how different schools handle this. Our school seems at risk of becoming an academy now and has been vulnerable for a while. Fortunately, imo, the new head is against this although as she is coming up for retirement I fear what the future brings.

The meeting was pretty concerning - there were parents there expressing concerns that the issues form the last ofsted report hadnt been addressed so they got such a bad ofsted this time. The school population is pretty diverse (its a huge school) and subject to huge turnover. To be fair I think alot of the report is on the SATs last year which were really not good - and they've suffered as a result of the framework changing and Ofsted getting tougher. They still dont know when the report will be published but have been in touch with the LEA and are getting extra funding to fund an action plan to improve - so I guess it might be special measures. The question about being turned into an academy was asked and the governors said no... so I guess now I'm waiting for the report to come out and the parents meeting which is proposed to be held after that.

My DDs school went from outstanding to adequate as a result of the new framework and the fact that their levels are not particularly good. They are not in special measures and haven't been given 'notice to improve' but they are getting another monitoring visit next year.

A few years ago, despite everyone working hard and doing their best, my school was given notice to improve. We were shocked and dismayed. We had a repeat visit the year later and had done enough to be given a good result and be removed from the notice to improve category. It was all down to consistency and tightening up on a few things.

Now we are very data conscious and are expecting our next inspec in a year or two. Fingers crossed.

As far as the report not being out yet, it usually takes 6 weeks or more between the school hearing about the results and the report being available online.

Unfortunately, the new framework means that for many schools, it will mean much more than consistency and tightening up on a few things.

The new framework expects average or above progress for all children. Now that the 'contextual' has been taken out, children from social groups known to progress less well than others regardless of which school they are at, are expected to progress as much as other, consistently higher performing social groups.

The evidence-base has been removed. And before anyone says that this is about excusing underachievement, it's not. It's being honest about the fact that issues like poverty, mobility between schools, joining year 4 with no English etc affects how children achieve at school.

I'm really worried about the kids amd teachers morale 2kids - its a lovely school with a huge socio economic mix and they all try so hard. Its good to hear your school turned things around well. Rosebud - thank you for explaining abit ,ore about the new framework.

We recently fell foul of the system because it looked as though our SATS scores had plummeted between KS1 and KS2. Only we have high turnover because of the local employment situation, and the entire cohort of children was different - there was not a single child in Y6 who had been there in Y3, and all the others had left. Current Y6 had 50% non English speakers/SEN kids - therefore extreme year group. Lots of panic, emergency meetings, emergency OFSTED visit, lots of LA interference including the teachers having to go on courses that didn't have any relevance for our situation (it's actually a top drawer school). Luckily OFSTED were eventually persuaded that there was a perfectly good reason for the dip and rubber stamped us, but it took everyone a lot of work.

It sounds like there are some negotiations going on behind the scenes at the moment.

That's not an unusually long time for the report to be published - on that alone I wouldn't read anything into it, but obviously the school are telling you it hasn't gone well, so it will men it's not good.
As so many others have said though, the Inspectors aren't allowed to make a judgement, all things considered, on what they think of the school, the teaching, the progress etc., they can only award their levels on the data, even when the school can prove the data to be 'wrong' or 'limiting' (See BoffinMum's post ^). So, from the pov of your dcs being there, I woudn't worry as much now about a poor OFSTED as I would have 10 years ago.

Boffinmum - your school sounds quite similar to DS's school. I do hope there are negotiations going on as you say.

Our school too, though the population is fairly static.

Surely they should call another meeting at yours OP to address the specific issues when the report gets published. Thankfully it's not an academy so the LEA can step in.

Dont know if anyone remembers this thread, but the report finally came out this week - Basically according to Ofsted pretty much unsatisfactory across the board (which was a surprise) and school has now gone into special measures. Another meeting is being called later this month to discuss the report - its really not going to be pretty. I know they will be under heavy scrutiny from the parents as well as Ofsted now so guess will be a case of seeing what happens in the next 12 months. On the plus side, DS1 still likes school, feels safe there and is happy regardless of the Ofsted report.

Hi Dinky, I remember this thread (although I didn't post on it before). The school my DS is due to go to in Sept has also gone into special measures - there seems to be a lot of them at the moment! How do you feel about it? I really want to support my DS' school but part of me thinks, mmm, is it really a good idea to send him there?!

Hi Slaveofsolitude - DS2 is due to start there in September (in the nursery) and am still sending him there. I cant deny that I am worried about it all (but as you said there seem to be an awful lot of schools going into special measures at the moment) but going to see what is going to happen within the next 12 months. All 3 teachers I have come across so far while DS1 has been there have been good - caring, considerate and responded well to any queries or concerns I have had along the way.

The new framework expects average or above progress for all children. This is obviously a particular OfSTED-form of average, which everyone can reach or exceed . It would be fine to let them play with their statistics for their own Machiavellian political ends, if it wasn't that there are real people, real lives and real careers at stake here.

Indeed. Only Michael Wilshaw and Michael Gove employ this particular definition of 'average', and are bringing teachers to their knees with it.