Village primary school losing pupils in droves

[YearsMidnight]

Have name-changed, as I'm plenty identifiable on my normal name!

DS1 goes to a small village primary school (4-11) and I think the pupil roll was something like 97 when he started. It's the village we live in and we always wanted him to go to the local school - makes sense, as his friends will be local, but also it has been an active part of the community and all sorts of village events 'mesh' with the school. Nice.

School used to be an 'outstanding' I think, was the next one down when we applied, had slipped down to 'satisfactory' by the time he started Reception (he's now in Year 1) and was recently Ofsteded and remained the same, though of course this is now rebranded as 'requires improvement'. KS1 is fine, KS2 seems to have several problems. I know that Ofsted grades aren't the be-all and end-all, and it seems generally a happy school, with friendly pupils who look out for the younger ones. Or it was until a few months back.

Since the Ofsted back in September/October, there has been a steady dribble of children being pulled out of school - sometimes mid-term. Parents have been extremely cagey about their reasons, often going to lengths to explain that it's not the Ofsted per se, but also the lack of wrap-around care (no breakfast or afterschool clubs aside from drama and sport). But out of a pupil roll of less than 100, over 10% have left just in the last couple of months. Some are going to an even smaller village school locally, others to private places. DS1 has lost at least a couple of friends from his class already.

I get the impression that it's something of a stampede now. It started with a few families, and I think it's become a bit panicked. I'm just very apprehensive about what will happen if this continues. I'm posting in case anyone else in similar circumstances has seen this sort of thing happen. Did the local authority step in to assess the problem? What did the School Governors do?

I can't offer any helpful advice only sympathy.

The DDs perfectly reasonable secondary was put in special measures and has lost both Y7s and a few older DDcs as a result. The fall in income has lead to them having to lose staff

Ofsted have their own selfish agenda and don't care about the children at all.

primary league tables for 2013 were publised about 2 weeks ago, if school is poor and not turning around quickly, and there is a better local alternative with spaces of course folks will jump ship.

for your own children it could be worth looking into, no one wants to be in tiny classes for seven years, dull and uninspiring for children. being in small village school with local friends always seems nice when they are three and your applying for schools , by the time they are seven they really benefit from a much wider more stimulating social and educational enviroment.

My dcs school is much bigger but is a village school, friendly, kind kids, part of the community, etc. It got a requires improvement about 18 months ago, was good before that. Personally I didn't think it needed improving, it was fine. The one school governor I know got defensive, hid, resigned and has since moved her kids to another school, several governors did this. The local authority were not particularly evident but did apparently help out.

Lots of kids have now left. Lots of teachers have left and the experience level of the teachers at the school now is much reduced. And there has been a nasty class divide too - a lot of kids from the newish executive developments in the village moved. And the truly local kids with families in the village for generations have stayed. It got a bit nasty I'm afraid.

Initially I thought we'd stay but we are going to jump ship at the end of this school year, dd has not had a permanent teacher for about 9 months, one left and one has been off sick for ages, and the school has just admitted that its attempt to recruit a replacement has failed. DS luckily hasn't been impacted much by all the turmoil and has the one remaining experienced teacher, but he's off to secondary next year in any case.

I'm not keen on OFSTED however to go from outstanding to good and then satisfactory demonstrates that something is going amiss. I don't like to see people leaving in droves but I think it is inevitable in situations like this.

What are the school doing about it ?

RosemaryandThyme is speaking complete nonsense - of course SOME small classes are "unspeakably dull and uninspiring" as are some large classes. It depends on the teacher, children and school in general. To label all schools/ children's personalities the same would be unspeakable arrogant!

Probably it is the same school. OFSTED changed their criteria and a lot of previous ones that were outstanding slipped down even though there was nothing different.
I have no faith in OFSTED at all but parents do take note of it and panic.
It will now have to improve.

You can't possibly say what suits all children.

Thanks for the comments.

No, village doesn't begin with a C! The league tables have it 7th in the county, something the school were very keen to trumpet in their end-of-term newsletter today, and no surprise. So it is not a bad school. I think the head needs to be more of a mover though.

The classes are mixed age (two years in one class) because of the school size. So DS1's current class is about 20 (though 4 have left this term, so maybe a few less!). KS2 classes are currently larger than that, I think. I do wonder about such a small pool of potential friends, and whether, by the time he reaches the upper classes, it will feel stagnant. Also, with small numbers, if friendships turn sour, there are fewer children with whom to start again... But we knew that when we opted for this one.

It's funny you should say that about a nasty class divide, MilkRunningOut. The village is pretty MC and quite wealthy (we're not loaded though, and certainly couldn't, and wouldn't, run to a private school) and it's those who can afford to, or who have a very aspirational agenda, I suspect, who are taking children out. The school is also used by the local estate village, which is - well, not MC or wealthy. It's out of catchment but a lot of people manage to get their children in, depending on birth rates for individual years. Essentially, I'm sensing a sort of middle class panic stampede. But more to the point, if loads of people who live in the village start to send their children to schools outside the village, the village school will sort of cease to be a 'village school' because it won't necessarily have the sorts of ties to the immediate community that it has done.

This situation is not uncommon and is very much chicken and egg. It is quite possible that the school has been slowly going downhill for a good number of years but parents often take a long time to realise. Of course when the "real school" becomes apparent to parents it starts the stampede to other schools.
Hopefully the numbers leaving will stop, if for no other reason than other local schools become full. However what is also vital is that the school do something to rectify the situation, which is seen by the local community as a step in the right direction. Does the Ofsted report actually say that it is KS2 that is the issue or is that the local belief?
If it is what has been stated by Ofsted then as the school requires improvement a number of things should happen. I would expect that the Ofsted report will say that a review of governance is required. This will be carried out by someone who is an experienced trained governor and will highlight where the governing body have to improve. I would immediately say from your post and the way the Ofsted grade has slowly dropped that they are not holding the head teacher to account in terms of the progress of pupils.
The other side of the issue is that the school have to improve the progress of pupils in KS2 and this is for the headteacher to resolve. To be honest it is difficult to be more precise over what the issues might be and what could happen in the future.
If you want me to look at what the Ofsted report says and give you some suggestions of the probable issues then please free to PM me with the school name and LA.

I have noticed time and time again that parents are happy with a school because it is kind and nurturing. Ofsted look at much harder evidence than that and many parents are not aware if their child is making appropriate progress or not. This is because most parents cannot compare progress or quality of teaching in their own school with another school. They are making, usually, an isolated judgement. Hence Ofsted saying there are problems comes as a surprise to parents. The Head and Governors should know better but usually in schools requiring improvement the caring ethos of the school continues to be good, but other aspects slip. I suspect parents have woken up and smelt the coffee. I know in my area, Ofsted generally make the right call and there have been no surprises. There have, however, been complacent Heads and Governors. Also, if a school cannot recruit it is because no-one wants to work there. There is usually a reason for this at primary level. I suspect there is a lot bubbling under the surface of this school and it's village feel and desirability have been lost. Could be retrieved with a top class Head though!

I think small class sizes will benefit your child. Better class room control, better educational outcomes

I have seen this happen first hand, twice (2 different schools). First one, I have to say we started the stampede. DS, in Year 1 at that point, had become a selective mute under the school's care (in amongst lots of other not-very-good stuff), and as we were moving anyway within a few months, I pulled him out to HE him. I wasn't a teacher at that point, but was regarded as 'knowing something about schools' for a veriety of reasons, and our leaving did cause a number of other parents to look long and hard at the school. A trickle of parents followed us over the next 6 months or so - probably 2-5 children per class - despite the school being Ofsteded and getting a 'good'.

The school continued to decline in numbers, and in its next inspection crashed to one of the worst 'special measures' reports I have seen. At that point it was only just over half the size it had been when DS started there.

It's now 7 years on from our departure. The school has turned round and is Good under the new framework. After a periuod under interim heads brought in to turn it round, it has a new substantive head. However, with an outstanding primary one village over, and a loss of confidence in the local community, it is only very slowly growing in numbers again, and that i suspect only because a rise in birth rates make alternative schools full and unavailable. It will take many years to recover its reputation.

More recently, I saw this happening to a school near to where I was teaching. A trickle of 'knowledgeable' parents started leaving in the year before the Ofsted inspection that put it into Special measures, and again it is around half full at this point. It hasn't had the inspection that might bring it out of SM, and numbers remain extremely small.

Probably worth saying that in neither school do any teachers, or either head, remain in place who were there when the decline started. If your school is at the beginning of the journey, expect an almost total staff turnover, and significant stress amongst the staff body, while changes are made.

I would say, if you do have a viable alternative with spaces, you should get out now.

Not because of the results, or the Ofsted, but because a school in that situation is not a pleasant place to be - budgets depend on numbers, so numbvers of staff are likely to drop.

Pressure on the remaining staff to improve will put almost unendurable stress on them.

Children woill be tested very frequently to see if they are starting to make better progress.

There may well be a change of head, and it may be hard to recruit a new one [the school is not in SM, so the LA will probably not get involved - but be aware that unless significant changes are made under the existing head, the direction of travel does not look hopeful for the next grade!]

Oddly, if the school was in SM, I would be suggesting that you stay put - the effort put in to turn such schools round often make them exciting and dynamic places to be taught. However, sitting just abopve that band but with declining rolls and a flight of 'parents interested in ediucation' is NOT a great place to be.

Tapiocapearl. Small classes do not help if the teacher is useless. I have seen teachers in an independent school unable to manage or teach 16 children! The parents were up in arms demanding she had a full time TA! If the teachers are poor, small classes may mask the problem, as
parents tend to think they are highly desirable, but it is certainly not a good reason to stay in a school that has problems of management and learning. Behaviour will not necessarily be better if the teacher does not have appropriate strategies either. Staying in a school really depends on if parents are up for the upheaval post poor inspection. This can seem even worse if they thought the school was perfectly good in the first place.

I absolutely agree MillyMollyMama.

Something similar happened at my DC school, although it is a much larger school.

TBH, because so many children were leaving I too started to look at our options (and a couple of posters on MN also advised me to get out quick!)- but I concluded I would rather my DC attend their current school than any other school available to us.

I'm not the only parent to hold on tight, and now the school seems to be improving day by day. Children who were moved to other schools are even returning! Also, for almost every child who left there was a child moving into the area to take the place, so numbers stayed high.

You need to ask yourself if the school is providing what you want for your child, rather than looking at what others are doing.

Im a mover but in my case was meduim sized town primary.

Ofsted downgraded, then church inspection satisfactory.

My child was having specific problems and found her year 2 teacher impossible.

It was depressing few terms after ofsted

was always negative moanig in playground it drained me.

we left for small village school mixed class, nurturing last rated good few years back we happy, dd1s happy.

shortly after we left head left, lots teachers and lots pupils.

but was much bigger school than yours.

i would be worried about such low numbers.

wait and see dont be too hasty of kids happy.

old school has new head and im sure it will improve but really was fact mine was year 2 and struggling why we moved.

looked at few schools for dd2 and seen 2 schools practically blacklisted by parents due to osfted as 1st time parents will always rely on ofsted and find reputation/local gossip equally as damaging here.

it goes in cycles dd2s new school one we moved too was in ect same situation year before.

primary runs 7years and if more than 1 child can change a lot.

school not local to me but same city went from requires improvement to outstanding within 3years so there is hope and thats from very mixed deprived area so there is hope,

A similar thing happened in a village near us.The HT was off sick for a long time and a succession of unsatisfactory 'weak' acting heads caused concern.A group of parents held a meeting outside school and the following morning 18 out of 6o odd pupils deregistered.It was a horrible horrible thing, very upsetting for the remaining children parents and staff.
It took a long time and a huge capital investment by the LEA to reinvent the school, and now it is a popular school with a new head staff and great facilities.But it took a long time.
The biggest worry is that once the ball is started rolling no-one wants their child to be last ones there with all the surrounding schools full.