Devastating OFSTED. Should I change schools?

[jlt23]

My 4yr old is in reception class at school. We have just had notification of the OFSTED report which is absolutely awful. The school has gone from one of the best in the area to the absolute worst. Completely inadequate across the board including health, safety and welfare. It states that the decline of the school is set to continue and they have been placed on special measures. Would I be to hasty in looking to move her to another school? Would love to hear what other Mums would do.

The floor target is both less than 60% of kids getting a L4 and less than some number making 2 levels of progress.

It's a very low bar, regardless of your cohort.

If you go into special measures because you've failed to meet the floor target, you really have done very badly.

I've sat in too many governor meetings where our average results have been blamed on our cohort. Yet lots of schools with a very deprived/ EAL etc intake teach almost all kids to read.

If your school is not teaching all kids to read (besides those very few who are heading on to special schools) you should be upset.

It's not good enough. There are very few acceptable reasons for not teaching a child to read.

(certainly SEN is rarely a reason why a child can't learn to read)

Getting a L4 is about much more than children being able to read.

My 5 year old would be a L4 if that was all it involved.

While L4 is about more than the ability to decode, I think you'll find a very strong correlation between kids who are poor at reading and kids who get less than L4.

If your 5 year old can read and understand a newspaper she probably is a level 4.

If not, she probably hasn't finished learning to read.

nlondondad - thank you for your useful comment on sponsored academies.
You said In a sponsored Academy two rules apply to the Governing Body. A majority of it MUST be appointed by the sponsor and parents get one member of the GB only, and they may be appointed and not elected.

Do you know where I can get access to those rules? I'm finding it hard to see through the mass of information to find out what it means practically to be a forced academy. In particular, is the parent member of GB definitely phrased as a maximum not a minimum?

I'm finding this ideological experimentation very worrying.

There is a very, very approximate relationship between not meeting floor targets and going into special measures at the moment.

A school near us went into SM last autumn - has NEVER had less than 62& L4 E & M KS2. DfE moved in, governing body sacked a couple of months later and it's being forced to become an academy.

Before the GB was sacked, the old (inadequate) head left and the GB appointed an Interim one. She's made massive, positive changes. This is what the school needed - not to be forced to become a sponsored academy.

I was really after some emotional as well as advisory opinions from other parents. To be honest I will be hearing all the figures and percentages at the meeting next week and it really doesn't mean/explain anything to me. The education in real terms, of our children however does.

Just read my last post and really didn't mean it to sound so sharp, lol.
Am really appreciating all your opinions. I am just getting a little confused with all the info and jargon

specialmeasures

My original posting was based on information given at a briefing early on in the Academies program, when Labour was still in office, Academies were few and only sponsored Academies existed. But your direct question focused my mind, and I thought "hang on what is the up to date info?"

So here is some extracted just now from two Government websites

First a succinct description of what a sponsor does from a DFE website

"An Academy sponsor is a member of the sponsored Academy trust, and as such has a great level of control over the set-up of the Academy and the actions the Academy undertakes. The sponsor develops the Academy's ethos, organisation, staffing arrangements, management and leadership and curriculum. It also receives the Academy's budget and controls the school estate."

And if you want to look for your self here is the URL

www.education.gov.uk/b00204911/sponsoring-an-academy/the-role-of-an-academy-sponsor

And now quite a detailed, although still brief, description of how this control is implemented:-

"Academies are set up as charitable companies to
give sponsors and governors broad scope and
responsibility for the ethos, strategic direction
and leadership. The sponsors of the academy
jointly appoint the majority of its governors"

"........ the governing
bodies of academies include stakeholder
governors: a parent governor, a local authority
appointee, and generally the Principal ex officio.
They may also include a teacher and a staff
governor, and one or more community
representatives."

"The academy governors are responsible for:
appointing the Principal
employing the staff
administering the finances
authorising appointments and changes
to terms and conditions
approving the curriculum, personnel
policies and procedures"

And here is the URL (which takes you to a pdf, I have quoted from the chapter on Governance)

www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/corporate/migratedD/ec_group/D167293100713

Thank you very much for that nlondondad and for your pm - will have a good read through this evening.
Many thanks

jlt23, sorry, your OP has become a big highjacked, hasn't it!

A devastating Ofsted report of their child's school is scary, new territory for most parents. The only comfort is that you're far from alone if, as some suggest about, 50% of schools will be in special measures within the next year!

Go to the meetings at the school, see what the problems/plans are and go from there. If your child is happy and settled and making good academic progress, then I'd stick with it. You could see what the other options are in your area, but those schools are likely to be going through the same thing very soon.

Good luck - I know it's worrying.

Another way to look at it is to contrast a community school's GB with an Academy GB. The community school GB has as its largest block elected parent governors (ie elected by parents from parents), it has a smaller group, but still several staff governors, elected by staff from staff. It has a group basically equal in size nominated by the LEA who can be anyone, and some co opted members. While parents are the largest group, no section dominates, and in my experience no section votes as a block anyway. The GB appoints the Head, and through proper staff appointment procedures appoints the staff. (In staff appointments the Head has in practice the leading voice, but the appointments are subject to ratification by the GB) The GB does not MANAGE the Head but the Head is accountable to the GB. The GB elects its own chair from amongst its own members. Full disclosure: I am just such an elected chair serving at the will of the GB, I am elected for a year at a time, and can be removed at any time.

An Academy Governing Body has a majority appointed by the sponsor with one staff representative and one parent governor, and one governor appointed by the LEA. The sponsor normally appoints the Chair. The Academy has all the powers of a Community School "Stakeholder" governing body plus it controls admissions to the academy, is able to depart from the national curriculum, and can set its own terms and conditions for staff not being bound by national agreements. It can, if it wishes, choose to recognise a trade union for negotiations on terms and conditions but it does not have to.

A community school is required to have a complaints procedure the operation of which is over looked by the LEA; so in fact easier, and safer to use the model procedure recommended by the LEA. A complaint by a parent about any aspect of the school is referred to the Head in the first instance. if the parent still dissatisfied (or the Head wants the complaint referred on) a panel of three governors is convened to hear it. If the outcome of the hearing not satisfactory then the complainant can appeal. The appeal is heard by a new panel of three governors. If that is STILL unsatisfactory the parent can appeal to the LEA ( would usually involve democratically elected local councillors taking an interest.) Under certain circumstances a still further appeal would lie to the Local Government Ombudsman.

While formal complaints are, in my experience, rare, the school has a strong incentive to get its "ducks in a row" so that the LEA does not get to stick its oar in..

An Academy is required to have a complaints procedure, but what should be in it not specified. Should the outcome of the complaint be unsatisfactory there is a formal right to appeal to the academy funding agency but it has no power to over turn a decision so it is difficult to see a practical situation in which the appeal would be of any use. So they have to have a complaints procedure but no check on what it is, and no effect right of appeal. This gives the Governing Body of an Academy significant freedom of action...

Yes, especially if, like this one, they choose to charge for FOI requests

www.harrisfederation.org.uk/uploads/document/Freedom%20of%20Information%20Charging%20Policy_1.pdf

Millions of pounds of public money and absolutely no accountability as to what they do with it.

Hi folks!
We have attended the meeting and here is the update.
There have been a lot of they say, we say rubbish and on many occasion when the parents demanded an answer the head of governors demanded the debate move on.
They spoke a lot about failure in communication with parents which they have put strategies in place to combat, however it took one and a half hours to be forced into admitting that the school will in fact become an Academy. It seems the conspiracy theory mentioned before is probably correct.

Of course, there's always the possibility that the school hasn't changed very much at all since the last inspection. I suspect it much more likely that the box-ticking criteria altered.

The box ticking criteria has altered yes, but right across the board. If it was just about that the rest of the schools in the area would have done badly whereas, In fact, most of them did better than in previous years.

Have the governing body voted re academy conversion? Do they intend to consult with parents and other stake holders?

Are their other schools in Leicestershire that the academy chains are trying to get their grasping hands on?

From the direction of the conversation it is on the cards to start the process as early as January.
The head of diocese was there and has taken on the role of sponsor. She, and the head of governors just repeated over and over that it is now law for a school placed in special measures to make the transition to academy, however they was shot down by the DOE as it is actually the law to consider, which tells me that the school has an option? It turns out they have been discussing academy status for over a year.

They talked about working with others as a collective group rather that just being set out on their own which I took as meaning they know of other relatively local schools 'joining' so to speak.

The Head of Diocese and Head of Governors are incorrect. There is no law which says that a school placed into special measures has to convert to an academy.

It sound like the two heads want the school to become an academy and the Ofsted judgement has played right into their hands (and they into the DfE's).

The DFE probably knew about the Diocese's plans and your Head of Governors agreement before they sent Ofsted in to hammer the school.

It's a stitch-up, I'm afraid.

In regard to your initial question of should you change schools - if you and your son are happy and he is progressing, then no.

It's still the same school that it was when it was considered 'one of the best in the area' and it will most likely get an 'outstanding' Ofsted when it become an academy, to be claimed as another success for the Academy agenda!

One of the previously most successful primaries in our town has just been placed in special measures. Nice new buildings, good rep. One of the first things the head was asked by the inspectors was 'why aren't you an academy?' (according to DH who teaches at another school).

our previously outstanding secondary was downgraded to satisfactory this year. Inspite of massively improved GCSE results. And it's own of the schools in the throes of rebuilding. So by the time it becomes an academy (and let's face it, it's going to happen) it'll have a nice shiny new state of the art premises. Ditto DH's special school that is attached.