How important is the Ofsted report?

[GadaboutTheGreat]

We have a primary school 50 metres from our house

Its latest Ofsted report has put it in special measures

I've recently spoken to a lovely mum whose son attends the school, who says it is a fantastic nurturing environment and her son is thriving, and not to take much notice of the Ofsted report (they've recently got a new Head so a bit of disruption due to that)

Of course I want my DC to be happy and thriving at school, but I do still wonder whether it would be madness to send them to a school which is apparently struggling.

Any advice?

Someone asked exactly the same question a couple of days ago here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/a1677734-How-important-is-an-Ofsted-report-to-you

Ah ok thanks. DC1 is only 2.6 but I'm starting to have to think about schools already

Would a visit to the school during school hours help do you think?

So hard to know without any prior experience of doing this!

I'd leave it for about another year. A lot can change in that time and you don't want to give yourself the wrong impression of a school.

It is very early days for you to be thinking about schools but I understand why you'd be thinking it through. A year or two can be a long time, I would go and visit in a year (assuming your child goes to school in Sept 2015). I live on the same road as a school in special measures and TBH thank my lucky stars every day when I walk past that DC go to a different one. Location is not everything!

Would DC1 not be going to reception in September 2014 though? She's July born, I thought that meant starting the year she turns 5?

If the school in special measures then it will have an interim inspection to see what progress has been made (we had ours after about 9mths) and are due another full inspection around a 12months later.

You could ask the school to see the interim report to see what they say about the school improvement.

Ah ok, if she turns 3 before sept yes sept 2014 and it's probably not too soon to be thinking about it! I would visit.

I started that thread the other day. We still haven't had the result of our new Ofsted.

Another friend of mine though had her dcs school put into special measures. The old head took early retirement, they got a new head in, changed a load of stuff. Their new official Ofsted was 'good'. This is in the space of 18 months. She always liked the school though.

A new head is the best possible sign that things at the school are changing for the better, so I would just wait for the next 12 months and see what Ofsted say about the school then. In the meantime by all means look at other schools but make no decision before you need to and especially only after visiting this school and seeing for yourself what it is like.