Holy Cross - ofsted report went from good to needs improvement! Should I be concerned?

[Mamabear12]

okay, I'm already concerned! We were planning to send our daughter to holy cross in fulham when it was listed as good and now it fell in ofsted report! So Im concerned! What to do??? We are in the midst of moving and I wanted to move to Wimbledon near better schooled and my husband insists on stayi g in fulham!

Personally I wouldn't choose a school based on the ofsted report. You can access their league table results and visit the school. Talk to the head and get a feel for the place. Make your choice based on what you think not on what the report says.
Schools in a lower category also end up getting a lot more support so could even be a better place for your child in the long run.
(I'm a teacher)

I would read the report thoroughly. Our school recently went from good to requires improvement. However, in the last year we have had a change of head and lots of other staff changes with new teaching appointments. It was this state of flux, combined with NQTs but getting enough support that contributed to the downgrading. Something that should (hopefully) settle with time.

The school is actually lovely, new head fantastic, children love going to school and feel safe there (behaviour has improved immensely). I would never base a decision on a report alone. You need to visit.

I agree with those posts above,a school is so much more than an Ofsted report. Also, under the new Ofsted framework 'requires improvement' is the old 'satisfactory'. If you read the report there probably isn't anything too alarming in there. It is actually more difficult to get a 'good' now than in the past. They may have just been coasting along and this is just a bit of a kick up the backside. Saying that, there is nothing wrong with asking the head about their plans to address weaker areas when you go and visit.

I'm a governor, our school has gone from good to requires improvement, because the benchmark has moved up (little change to school).

The key is does the head know where the weaknesses are and are they doing something about it?

Okay, reading all these posts makes me feel better. Thank you.

Happened to ours,just gone back up to good very quickly.It was a good thing imvho. School uber arrogant previously when Outstanding,they needed to pull their socks up and have in many areas.

If you like it and behaviour is good I wouldn't discount it.

The local infant school went from Good to Outstanding to Needs Improvement, over the space of about 5 years.

The school had not changed in any way that I could see.

This happened to DD2's primary last year, I couldn't see anything had changed, really. I think OFSTED are like badgers, always moving goalposts.

Our school has just gone from good with outstanding features to inadequate in 2 years, it's had some challenges as it's got much bigger as it got more popular, but is definitely not inadequate! I would take ofsted inspections with an even larger pinch of salt than I did previously tbh.

DD's School has gone from good with outstanding features to Inadequate over the last few years. Ofsted has compared the data for it (upper school) to a secondary which has different year groups so can't be fairly compared.

They still haven't responded to the School's official complaint which was submitted in January. None of the parents recognise the school they describe plus the report contradicts itself in a few places. I was always a bit sceptical Ofsted reports, now I am very sceptical and very cross.

Why does Ofsted think it needs improvement ??

Schools are not compared against one school, they are compared against a cohort of similar schools and you can see this on the Ofsted dashboard information. I would look to see why Ofsted think a school needs improvement. If it says the leadership team know the problems are are well placed to do something about it, I would not worry. If the leadership is weak, and the school has weaknesses it is in denial about, then I would be concerned.

It may not always be evident to parents about changes in a school. My local paper was full of how well pupils had done at the GCSEs last summer in my nearest school. Lots of A grades! Or so it appeared. However the A grades were shared by only about 5 pupils. Ofsted thought other pupils were underachieving and that the A level results did not reflect the abilities of the pupils at the school. I had never heard anyone have a bad word to say about the school, but the results, actually, were not that good! There had been many changes to middle management and these teachers were not yet functioning as well as the people they replaced. It happens. It does not mean the judgement is wrong though.

What I meant MillyMolly is it has been compared to the incorrect cohort. I didn't mean literally one secondary school, just that the data comparison isn't correct as far as anyone can tell. Though it is hard to tell 100% given that Ofsted haven't replied. Sorry, bad phrasing on my part, I am cookin tea for 5 teenagers I seem to have acquired !

Ok. I would assume the whole cohort cannot be completely different though as it should include similar fsm, sen, etc. and school organisation may not matter that much.

However, the Holy Cross report is detailed and interesting. It says the Head is inspirational but gives it a 3 for leadership! It appears from the monitoring visit that it is largely going in the right direction. I would not be moving house to avoid the school, but I would move house if I wanted to live in another area. There is no guarantee you can get into a school that is good in other areas.

Local school went from Good to special measures between 6 month inspections. I reckon it's the same school, nothing changed.