Special Measures

[georgedawes]

So our school has been placed in Special Measures, primarily for children not making good enough progress in English and Maths (although results have improved, but not enough).

What next? Will the HT go? At present they are staying and quite critical of ofsted but I wonder what will happen next and if they really will stay in post. I'm not planning on changing schools just now, but worried for the turmoil this may bring. Locally the school does have a good reputation but not sure how relevant this is. None of us want to think we're sending our kids to a failing school!

This is what

1. The DFE will step in and the school will be turned into an academy
2. A sponsor will be appointed
3. Unless you are in a large city with a huge shortage of Head teachers or the head is new , the HT will go
4. At least 50% of the staff will go (resign or pushed) so there will be huge disruption and lots of supply teachers
5. After 6 months of hideous disruption and disjointed insanity, the staff will stabilise and (so long as a decent ht has arrived) the school will start to rapidly improve and parents will have a significant voice in this improvement.

Sorry for typos.... Clearly I meant "this is what will happen"

Other point to note is the although ofsted can be questionable in both expertise and consistency - if they are saying special measures ..... Things are not good:(

Well yes clearly special measures isn't good. I didn't think an academy was guaranteed though?

I agree. A lot of schools are relying on their reputation and if they got good under the less rigorous inspection regime it means that Ofsted will not have done an inspection for a long time. If schools do not move with the times they will decline. I was very worried about choosing a school in Maidstone and my three go to a school which apparently "requires improvement" - they had an inspection at the beginning of this year under the new stricter framework. The school is brilliant, all my children are making amazing progress and the staff are lovely. Historically this school has a reputation that is "ok" but getting better all the time. There are very few vacancies now.Special measures would ring huge alarm bells for me - my advice would be to get out while you can!

We can't get out, this is our local school. Much as people want to jump ship at bad ofsted reports it's not always possible dependent on where you live! Wasn't really looking for advice on moving schools or not, just on what is likely to happen next.

We got put into SM in June/July. We expect to be out of it by Jan.

We haven't lost any staff. HT remains in place although we now have a deputy HT post created by the LEA. No more talk of academy conversion.
We have fought pretty hard though!

Our SATs were excellent and everyone feels The OFSTED was a farce in our case though. Parents voted in support of our HT and Governing Body and all have remained in place.

School is still oversubscribed and very popular with parents.

Academy is pretty much guaranteed for special measures. Unfortunately SM is a bit like stages of grief.........
Denial - it is good school really, the teaching is good, the ofsted inspectors were wrong/unfair/bais etc
Depression - HMI inspectors and the LA will go in and the pressure will ramp up. It is unlikely that the HT will be able to lead the rapid change needed if they were in charge during decline
Acceptance - the governors will resign or likely be replaced with an IEB by the dfe/LA. They will get rid of the HT. There will be no way to show that the school has the capacity to improve and so sponsored academy becomes the only option. If it is a church school, the diocese will have first refusal, if not it could be anyone from the dfe range of sponsors.

Cocovore - well done to you all but you are the exception not the rule.

To answer your question georgedawes:
An HMI (senior inspector) will be appointed. The local authority will appoint a school improvement advisor or similar named person. The HT will have to write a RAP (raising attainment plan) which show in a step by step detailed fashion how the school will be improved over the next 6/8 weeks. It has to be agreed by the HMI. If they decree it is fit for purpose, then the HT, governors and LA advisors (and hopefully staff from other more successful schools who have been drafted in by the LA to help) will then start the intensive process of training and review. The RAP measures progress almost weekly. The LA will monitor progress through the RAP and decide whether progress is happening. This then decide whether the school goes down the route describe by chocovore (rare) or the route I mentioned above (not enough progress, teachers put on capability/go off sick HT in the firing line, governors replaced etc.) HMI come in termly to monitor progress and the LA is in their firing line if the progress is not good enough. They will then decide capacity to improve question and that is when academy or not comes in. Hope this helps x

You seem to know a lot about this Effic. Is it really that black and white? If so, perhaps we still have these things to come then? Or would the measures you mention have already happened by now?

Often it is something that is very simple that has caused a school to slip into a category of concern. For example poor attendence can trigger special measures

It is pretty much guarenteed that the head of SM school will be forced to resign. Infact its pretty standard to sack and replace the entire management team of a school that is in a category of concern. It is likely that most of the staff will leave or be on long term sick. The whole atmosphere is horrible in a special measures school.

My town has a shortage of school place otherwise I would move my daughter.

Chocovore - All depends on what your HMI is saying? I presume your RAP has been accepted and you are demonstrating a good capacity to improve. If the HMI visits (you should have had at least 1 by now) are saying that you are improving from the first visit then you will be ok but that is really rare as mostly schools would not have gone into SM if the problems were minor or easily fixable. However I have seen some barmy decisions by ofsted so you may be an exception. HMI 's know there stuff so they will be telling you where you are at. Ofsted inspectors range from fantastic to hopelessly inadequate!!!
To go into special measures in July and come out in Jan would be spectacular. The best I have managed is SM to good in 9 months but that was with an almost complete staff change. However I don't know your school or your circumstances - the HMI report will tell you what your direction of travel is. If you have been given satisfactory progress in all elements in the first visit then you are a rarity and probably going to go through this relatively pain free. (That suggests the original ofsted was questionable) If progress is inadequate in that first report (nearly always the case) things are going to get bumpy. The very best of luck:)

Really tired - that is a bit of a myth. Relatively minor things (including questionable inspectors) can send you into 'requires improvement' category. Special measures is a hugely expensive shitstorm that the LA, dfe and him have to get involved in and so usually (unless it is around safeguarding) is indicative of fairly systematic failings.

Thanks for the info.

Last inspection was satisfactory, now special measures. It's all about results - so was inevitable really. Pupils not making good enough progress, they have impoved but not enough.

Ht seems bullish but I'm not sure that's the right approach. School has got some good things going for it including a lot of community support but still. Good thing is early years was praised which my child is in.

Relatively minor issues can tumble out of control if an incompetant head does not catch them. Attendence impacts on progress, progress impacts on behaviour. It is hard to identify children with special needs if they don't attend. If some children have good attendence and other children don't then the range of ablity in the class increases. Teaching a class with some children at level 6 and others at level 1 is hard.

Our school is frankly a disaster area and I feel that the new head does not have what it takes to get the school back on its feet. She is utterly SATS obcessed and cancelled the christmas productions to focus on SATs.

Prehaps my biggest bug bear is that children's progress is not being tracked clearly enough and children with special needs are not getting the support that they should. The new head has funnelled everything into improving year 6 SATs results. Children in reception with special needs are being left to rot.

Georgedawes - it is nearly all about results! If you are in a challenging area, then so long as the school can show good progress then most inspectors will listen and see if what they are seeing in lessons stacks up. If you are in a more affluent area, the attainment data is key. Schools in SM simply are not allowed to stay that way. Apart from some notable exceptions where schools are facing insurmountable odds - massive deprivation/massive non English speaking / huge SEN sink schools, most other SM schools do turn into fantastic good news stories. But it takes a while and the journey can be bumpy. Keep a keen eye on what the HMI reports are saying......

I will! Area is v mixed, but only one school locally. Sn provision is good and extra curricular stuff is ace, but obviously this is not of interest to ofsted. Attendance etc all good, I think school is good at the other stuff but not good enough on results.

Really tired - poor you:(
Being a HT in SM is a real challenge especially if you have never experienced it before. The pressure to shift KS 2 data is immense and sometimes can become the overwhelming focus. Sadly, as you point out, it is very short term gain as you will be forever firefighting as children drift further behind until all hell breaks loose in year 6. Is your HT getting any support from a HT who has done this journey before? There are National Leaders of education who support heads/schools in SM and it is shame that more HT and LA don't use them.

Hello everyone. It is a common problem that parents see the "fluffy" side of school, pastoral care, after school clubs, happy children etc but Ofsted look at progress and attainment which is very difficult for a parent to judge. If a school is making insufficient progress in Maths and English this is evidence based and is very serious. The other good aspects are peripheral and will be seen as less important. It also follows that a Head, Governing Body and senior staff who have not recognised this from their own data, and therefore have done nothing about it, will probably feel the heat now. Why will they do a better job now the problems have been pointed out to them? So many schools in SM have poor Governors who are unaware of what good progress actually looks like. Also, if they have presided over the decline in the school, why should they be allowed to preside over more children not making good progress?

I agree that the HMI will tell it how it is but I also think they rarely disagree with Ofsted because lack of progress is evidence based!!! It is not a judgement reached lightly. If parents stick around and the best staff stick around you will be ok. Academy status is not a given either. However, it will be rocky!

Thanks that is really informative. Most parents will have to stay, only one school locally. Possible some could leave but not all by any means. It's a large school.

The school have said the ofsted data is unreliable and their data (the school) shows pupils are making expected progress. Apparently lea agrees!

Doesn't sound good.

When will the first visit be, roughly?

Feel upset the more I think about this, we moved here as a forever home and I'm worried I'm letting dd down, especially as everyone's first reaction is to move schools.

We had one eleven year old boy from dd's school who autitioned for the local church choir. He had a lovely singing voice, but could not read the words to "All Things Bright and Beautiful" because the hymn book had no pictures to help him.

I feel its easy to lose focus of what is important. A child long term happiness depends on getting basic skills.Frankly I think his primary school should hang their heads in same if a year 6 cannot read the words of a well known hymn.

georgedawes SM schools come out of special measures. There is short term pain, but in two years time everything will be better.

Thanks really. There does have to be a balance doesn't there!

Ht is adamant that lea supports their data over ofsted, can this be true? Seem to be saying it is complicated because school is centre for many children with special needs (who do well).

Can't see how ht can stay, surely? They're completely defensive about it all.

The sheer number of teachers leaving is heartbreaking for children. Our old head was a lovely man, but he failed to focus on what was important. Unfortunately being a "nice person" is not enough to hold down a headship.

I feel that LEAs should be supporting schools once they have been labelled as requires improvement rather than waiting for the inadequate label. Sacking staff should be a last restort.

I also feel that the mental health of teachers in an inadequate school needs to be looked after. We have one teacher at my daughter's school who looks utterly skeletal as he has lost so much weight. Frankly he looks too ill to teach.

It sounds bizarre, but I would like a system where competant teachers who choose to stay in a SM school are awarded a significant bonus if they stay to the end of the year. (Subject to good lesson observations, clearly it would be daft to give bonus to a teacher going through competancy proceedings.) Otherwise staff who can get jobs elsewhere will go to less stressful schools.

The school have said the ofsted data is unreliable and their data (the school) shows pupils are making expected progress.

That's simply bollocks. There is no "ofsted data" and "their data". The school is responsible for providing data, some of which will be external (external SATs, external exams in secondary) and some of which will be internal (teacher assessments). What data does the school claim Ofsted have, apart from the data the school gave them?

Now the claim may be that the criteria for expected progress are wrong. The there's an appeals process for Ofsted which should have been started as soon as the initial, draft conclusions were shown to the head and the governors.

Claims once the Ofsted has been published that there are errors in the data or the evaluation of the data are "dog ate my homework" excuses.

A common thread in Ofsted reports on schools that have gone into special measures is words to the effect of "the governors have uncritically accepted the assurances from the head that results are good, but the head's self-evaluation in flawed and overly optimistic".

The data should be on the school dashboard. The governors should have looked at it. Ofsted will have looked at it. You should look at it. If that data shows expected progress, while the report says there isn't expected progress, then something has gone horribly wrong. If, as is much more likely, the dashboard shows that expected progress is not being made, then the head is (literally) arguing the toss: they're claiming that there are special reason why their school can't even manage the floor standards.