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Special Measures

37 replies

georgedawes · 28/11/2013 19:47

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!

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ReallyTired · 29/11/2013 12:20

I think that many governors do not understand their responsiblities. Being a governor is far more than a bunch of friends/ parents meeting for tea. I feel governors are getting better at asking probing questions and being a critical friend of the school rather than a friend of the head.

Unless senior management or govenors are prepared to admit that there are at least serious weaknesses in the school then there is no way that they have a the capablity to bring about improvement.

georgedawes · 29/11/2013 13:00

Yes that's about my take on it too friday. I've already seen the ofsted dashboard data and it's not great, it has improved but not nearly enough. The HT has said that the official data is not reliable so they commissioned their own which the LEA apparently accepts and this shows the school is a good school.

No information so far on why the ofsted data is wrong or why there's is right, just an argument that the LEA supports the school. Not sure how we can evaluate it in that case! There seems to be some argument that because of their SN provision this is affecting the whole school results - can this be true?

The school does do a lot of things but I'm really not sure how all this fighting talk is going to help. I actually feel more worried by it. Surely the HT will end up resigning? It feels like she is waving her hands pathetically in front of a freight train hurtling towards her at high speed.

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ReallyTired · 29/11/2013 13:09

"The school does do a lot of things but I'm really not sure how all this fighting talk is going to help. I actually feel more worried by it. Surely the HT will end up resigning? It feels like she is waving her hands pathetically in front of a freight train hurtling towards her at high speed."

She is desperately trying to hold on to career and her job. In a highly paid job like being head teacher you have to get it right and there is no room for incompetance. Children only get once chance at education.

It is likely that both the board of governors and the head will be replaced quite soon by the LEA.

georgedawes · 29/11/2013 13:12

yes I agree rt. I'm sad for them, they really are loved by the local community but the results are just not good enough. The staff love her but it's not enough is it. I also agree with you about the governors too.

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NynaevesSister · 29/11/2013 13:23

Georgedaws I have seen three schools go into special measures and come out again in a year. One amazing head turned it into an outstanding in two years! Of these only one was turned into an academy. All three are under different local authorities.

The only thing they have in common is that they changed head. One school kept nearly all it's SLT and staff, the other say 75% of staff out in the first term and the school that became an academy has replaced 45% of staff.

There are no hard and fast rules.

friday16 · 29/11/2013 14:13

The HT has said that the official data is not reliable so they commissioned their own which the LEA apparently accepts and this shows the school is a good school.

And the school's been placed in special measures because the head and governors have not demonstrated capability to improve? Now there's a surprise.

I'd suggest that the head and governor's response to being place in special measures is to deny that they should be in special measures and then essentially act as though they aren't, then their future does not look terribly long.

friday16 · 29/11/2013 14:17

Bad typing on phone.

I'd suggest that if the head and governors' response to being placed in special measures is to deny that they should be in special measures, and then essentially act as though they aren't, then their future does not look terribly long.

georgedawes · 29/11/2013 14:22

Yep that's what I'm thinking too.

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temporary · 29/11/2013 14:31

Our school went into SM last year. The LA was very supportive and on most things improvement has been deemed very good. Just teaching is seen as being 'inconsistent' now.
The head got a lot of support from what I could tell...but our KS2 results have been extremely good, above national average, for the last two years (and they were OK before that), so the SM was quite surprising. (It's worth noting we are in an area of deprivation, with high numbers not having English as a first language).
Hopefully next term's will be the last inspection and it'll go up to a good again. There haven't been too many staff leaving or disruption from what I can tell either, so don't despair necessarily - it might all come good.

settledandsmug · 29/11/2013 14:35

Just a point of note on Interim inspections and satisfactory progress etc. A local school here got Notice to Improve in April 2012, follow up visit in October 2012 was happy that 'satisfactory progress' was being made, Feb 2013 unexpected full OFSTED led to Special Measures. It was clear from the beginning of the inspection that the outcome had already been decided. Politics plays a very big part! If you are in a similar situation then do some research on other local schools and what scenarios look like in your local area. For the school mentioned, academy status was a given, but with a lack of local sponsors the whole academy process has slowed down here.

teacherwith2kids · 29/11/2013 14:39

IME, primaries in SM (especially if the socioeconomics of their area are not absolutely dire) tend to rebound quicker than secondaries do - smaller ship to turn around, basically.

Also, for primaries, the conversion to an academy is less of a foregone conclusion. Primary academies are rarer than secondary ones, and depending on the LEA the pressure to academise may be resistable.

However, the head is very likely to be replaced. Often an executive head - sometimes, but not invariably, a head from a local school which is doing well - will spend some time in the school before a new substantive head is appointed. Often, major unpleasant changes - replacement of staff etc - will happen under the executive head, then the substantive head will be appointed to cement the rebuilding of the new team.

Significant staff turnover is likely - one school I know of has only 1 teacher who was in place before the Ofsted still in position 10 months on, all the rest (teachers and TAs alike) having left or been replaced. In another case, where there was a history of a staff / head split which lay behind many of the issues, the staff team re-grouped behind the executive head and only 1 teacher left.

the road ahead may be rocky, depending on how entrenched the issues leading to low results are. If entrenched, the school will not be able to turn round results for this academic year, and this will mean that it will take until July 2015 for substantially better 'formal' results to come through. If it's more of a short-term decline (e.g. a specific weak teacher in late KS2, or something which can be rapidly rectified once identified such as a lack of opportunity to write at length) then results may look up very quickly and the route out of SM will be quicker.

NoComet · 29/11/2013 14:57

I have DDs at a special measure secondary, except for losing their nice HT and everybody being stressed it will make not a jot of difference. We are already an academy.

It's a fair to middling school with a fair to middling intake. That's a property of the area, the intake and the fact we lose our very best, staff and students to the local Grammar and private schools.

No amount of expensive consultants will change that!

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