Challenging ofsted judgement

[quiller]

Our school recently got a 'requires improvement' from Ofsted, and plans to respond with a formal complaint about various aspects of the inspection, mostly to do with paperwork on results I think. I wondered how seriously to take this - is it really likely Ofsted have messed up badly enough for that? I don't have much faith in Ofsted at all, but I wonder if this the school are just wasting energy on this rather than admitting they have a serious problem. Is it common/reasonable for schools to respond this way? and is it likely to get them anywhere?

I wonder if this the school are just wasting energy on this rather than admitting they have a serious problem - this would be my first, and most worrying, thought.

If a school 'requires improvement' that's fine - wouldn't put me off at all.

But a school that won't admit it requires improvement would worry me.

With any organisation the size of Ofsted there will always be inspections and individual inspectors who manage to create the wrong impression in the school. It is also fact that in some cases schools that have complained have been proved to be more than justified in the action that they took. In other words Ofsted do get it wrong at times.
I don't know what the level of complaints is and the level of complaints that are justified but I suspect it is low in comparison with the number of inspections.
A school that requires improvement is what used to be termed satisfactory, so my first question is what did they get last time and has it moved much to justify the decision to complain.
If the complaint is around results then I am not sure where the school is coming from. The results are well documented, so they cannot be arguing that the results are wrong.They could be arguing that the results are not being considered good enough when the school do think they are good enough. That is always going to be a point of discussion but I can't see that the school will ever win that argument. It is not good enough to have made average progress, all pupils need to have made good progress. Could it be that the school is falling into the trap of comparing their results with other local schools and thinking they are good when the correct comparison is with other similar schools across the country, when the comparison may not be good?

It was satisfactory before, but there's been a big turnaround since. The complaint seems to be around inspectors not looking at much of the data available, and looking at attainment rather than progress- of course it's difficult to get a handle on it as an outsider. Thanks for those comments - that's helpful.

OFSTED look at both progress and attainment.

Schools aim to get all kids to a level 4 (attainment) and all kids to make 2 levels progress (progress)

I don't think a school can get good (under the current criteria) unless both attainment and progress are good (and teaching and leadership)

AFAIK if any one of those things are only 'satisfactory' then that is the highest judgement the school can get.

(But I might be wrong)

quiller OFSTED have rewritten the dictionary "satisfactory" now means "un satisfactory"

I know that. It has been level 3 twice, if that makes it clearer.

So in reality the school has been judged as satisfactory for the last three inspections but was hoping for better at this last inspection.
Without knowing the detail of what extra information was available it is impossible to comment on whether the school has any kind of case. But in the prevailing climate I think they are probably wasting their time complaining given that they have shown no effective improvement over the last three inspections.
One would hope that this would be the kick in the bottom that would move the school forward but if they are focused solely on complaining to Ofsted then that does not sound like a school that has the capacity to improve on its own.

It's over two inspections,actually - one satisfactory and one req improv, ie level 3 twice - it was good before that. But I take your point, and I hope they can see it too. I'm not unhappy with the school, but I'd be happier if it was recognised as good, however much I distrust ofsted, and I think this very defensive response is a bit worrying. Thanks for your thoughts, admission and others.

To be fair to the school, it may have very justifiable reasons to complain - some Ofsted inspectors, especially those freelancing from Tribal are shite.

About 3% of schools make a complaint about their Ofsted report, and rapidly rising with the new framework.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136469/Bizarre-Ofsted-rulings-uncovered-PE-teacher-ticked-letting-cricket-fielders-stand-told-pupils-behaved.html

I would be worried about a school who directs so much effor tinto challenging Ofsted rather than scrutinising the report to imprement improvements for the children and the school. Tiggy's right.

It's very important how the school responds to this. As difficult as it must be for the HT and governors, to take a defensive position would be a mistake.

when dd old school got satisfactory downgraded from good summer term i think would now under new framework would be reuire improvements.

There was uproar at first it was ahh they being too harsh lost of parents at ks1 dident think school changed much.

but then i read how issues with attaintment
few disgruntled junior parents
realised lots remporary teachers
few kids had left.
school knew 2years in advance they would be downgraded yet did not seem to do enough to improve.

i dident move dd over ofsted.
but it rang alarm bells for me made me dig look at more recent sats, speak to others parents .

Bit on plus side know one school that in special measures got loads help. new heads ad making rapid improvement.

But OP hasn't said that the school isn't doing anything to improve. In fact, she says that there's been a bit turn around since it was 'satisfactory'.

It isn't either/or. The school may be feeling defensive in the face of what it perceives to be unfair criticism from Ofsted at the same time as making moves to improve.

I would let the dust settle a bit, to be honest, and wait until the new term. The school making a complaint that the judgement is unfair is reasonable enough if they have the data to suggest otherwise (and as it's all about data these days, it's unlikely they would be making a complaint if they couldn't back it up).

The school should be having meetings with parents to go through the Ofsted report and give an idea of their improvement strategy. You could also ask to speak to one of the SLT about what they are doing to improve.

I'm absolutely not considering trying to move; more trying to get a sense of whether the leadership's response is reasonable, out of interest. I hope that yellowsubmarine's post hits the nail on the head - thanks! It's rough on the teachers, most of whom seem to be lovely.

I do know of 2 schools locally that did try to challenge OFSTED but am afraid that it did not work in both cases. School 1 went into Special Measures and the Headteacher lost her job. In that case leadership and management was graded as 4 (unsatisfactory).
In the other case after a period of questioning the school did accept the report and the Head took the initiative in drawing up a School Improvement plan to address the main issues - this Head kept their job (some of the teachers didn't though).
Both these schools are now Good with Outstanding features and Outstanding respectively.

A school local to me with good sats results has just had its second what-used-to-be-satisfactory, which is a shame as a lot of effort had been made to improve. This time it was for maths sats results.

ofsted seems to have has got tougher. Suspect that some other local schools with "good" in past inspections might also be downgraded, since their sats are worse (although intake different and value-added score better).

I wouldn't necessarily think it a bad thing for the school to complain, as long as they were taking action to improve in addition.

A friend's father was an Ofsted Inspector and told us that once Ofsted have made a decision it is unlikely to be overturned and that a school would be better off putting their energies into addressing the issues raised than wasting time preparing the complaint.

Anecdotal but seems true from the experiences of the schools in my area.

That is very true, trees, but there have been instances in which complaints about an Ofsted inspection have highlighted some very concerning conduct by inspectors.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jun/08/ofsted-criticised-cut-paste-school-reports

It's very good that this school had the courage and sense to complain.

"a school would be better off putting their energies into addressing the issues raised than wasting time preparing the complaint"

Yes, unless the "issues" are a fiction created by Ofsted...

such as????

If results,teaching,progress and management require improvement I fail to see how any report is "fiction" however unpalatable that may be for those involved.

Really, Polkadot? Are you involved in education in any way?

Ofsted are WELL known for making errors.

We recently had a school in our area that had to appeal against their report due to the many inaccuracies contained within. The school has been rated "Good" by the way, but the errors were so glaringly obvious (and shockingly unprofessional on Ofsted's part) that they had no choice but to appeal against the wording.

I have known of several schools that have been asked to put measures in place that already exist...

Still no examples and re putting measures in place already there perhaps not enough evidence was given that they were in place and perhaps the measures that were there simply weren't good enough.

I just gave you some examples. You need to work on your reading comprehension skills. I am not giving you any further details because I do not want to "out" the school that I work in (or have worked in, in the past), thank you.

"re putting measures in place already there perhaps not enough evidence was given that they were in place and perhaps the measures that were there simply weren't good enough."

Nope - Ofsted made a mistake. The mistake was then rectified.

Ofsted are not gods, they are not perfect, they make errors. Some of their judgements and comments are entirely unprofessional and show a lack of educational awareness and decent training within their own ranks.

If you would like some further examples that I am unable to provide you, I suggest you Google "Ofsted upheld complaints" and have a look.

We only go up to Year 4. Our Ofsted report referred to Year 5 twice and Year 6 once, and had the wrong age range on the front page.

Human error (which didn't affect our grading, though it would have deeply puzzled someone reading about the school) which was corrected between us receiving the draft report and the report being published. Definitely proof of fallibility , though.