Ofsted. Should we have had some idea of their judgement by now?

[amistillsexy]

My sons' primary school was OfSTEDed 3 weeks ago.

I seem to recall seeing a 'letter to the children' in the past, that is written by the chief inspector and tells the headline results- grade, areas for improvement, etc. They seemed to be sent out quite quickly after the inspection.

We haven't recieved one, and we have heard nothing about the grade they were given.

Two newsletters have been published in the meantime, and no mention of OFSTED made. Is this good, or bad news, do you think?

I think you need to wait a bit longer. After the report is written it goes back and forth between the school and ofsted with edits etc. There might be a disagreement about a grade or mistakes within the report. I think we waited about 6 weeks.. and that was with out mistakes.

You could always check ofsted web site. It'll go up there first i think.

Ours was back within 10-14 days. This was very recent - less than a month ago.

Have you checked the ofsted site?

They normally talk to pupils before they leave but the full report normally takes around a month

Not on OFSTED site yet. I know the full report takes time, but I've been expecting the letter in bookbags with the headline news on grade and areas for improvement. When it stilll wasn't there tonight I was a bit surprised and wondered if it signifies anything (ie. that there is a disagreement regarding grade, as Orchid says.

I wouldn't know if they'd spoken to the pupils- my boys are too young to act as a mole report back.

That's a shame because they usually give the pupils a verbal feedback which is essentially the contents of the pupils letter

They take at least 2 full weeks. You will get the full report at the same time as the grade, they cant give you one before the other as it is the full report that is judged.

There will be a reason you are waiting. As a different poster said if they are still discussing the grade it will take as long as it takes. The school are not allowed to tell you the grade until it is published.

I've just looked up. We were told that we would get our report about a week after inspection (in a school newsletter).

School (apparently) recieved report 15 days after final day of inspection and it was sent to parents in the form of an ele tronic newsletter the following day.

I don't know if this timescale is normal tho.

something is definately up, I think.

Thanks for your help, everyone. It seems the only thing to do is sit tight and await the judgement whilst checking the OFSTED website twice a day throughout the hols!

If your child is happy and learning I really wouldn't pay too much attention to Ofsted. You know the school better than they ever will.

Aicm, unfortunately I know the school only too well. I am hoping that ofsted have found out what I know. Then something might finally be done about it.

I just wondered if the delay in sending the letter to the children might be due to
the school getting a poor grade, or whether they had stopped sending that letter (which is a bit twee, after all!).

From the replies I've had, it seems there might be some discussion going on about the grade.

Our school had an inspection around 12/3 and we never got the report until after the Easter holidays. The letter to the kids was not sent out separately but attached to the full report which was given to every family in the school with another letter from the head teacher attached. It was not published on the Ofsted site until after parents had received a copy. It must have been about 6 or 7 weeks after the inspection.

Thanks carben. 6 weeks! Ours will be getting up to that by the time we get back. If you got the children's letter attached to the report maybe that's what we' ll get as well. I'll stop checking the website then!

Probably a good idea. I was a bit like you ! I think they are downloaded over night so if not there in the morning none added into the next day. With ours none of the ratings were disputed either so it wasn't as if that caused the delay.

If it is not on the Ofsted website then the school is probably contesting the 'verdict'. However do not be surprised if the school has been downgraded as this seems to be the current trend with Ofsted Inspections at the moment.

We se to have bucked the trend and gone from satisfactory to outstanding (not an academy !). So definitely not disputed and still took 6 / 7 weeks.