would you consider a "requires improvement" school?

[pinklemonade84]

We've got a list of 5 schools that we would like to go and visit as dd starts school next year, one of which is set at "requires improvement" from ofsted after dropping from "good" earlier this year. We've checked the information booklet from this academic year and really doubt that we'll get into our catchment school because of how popular it is, so these other schools are all ones that tend to not fill all of their spaces

What I can gather from the report for this school is that they have a very good early years department. Although children's behaviour, persistent pupil absence and needing to close the gap for disadvantaged pupils, were all points highlighted for this rating.

I don't know whether I should go and take a look around later in September, or should I just strike it off because of this rating?

I'm feeling the pressure a bit as I want to make the right decision for dd, yet am getting persistent pressure from the in laws to choose a school that dh went to (despite it being further to travel)

Nah, she's a governor.

I am a retired Ofsted Inspector and still chair a couple of GBs. In all honesty, you can tell pretty quickly what you think a school is like from the moment you walk in. You get it through your senses, you can hear a hum of work, you don't smell urine and cabbage, you can touch surfaces, it feels bright and clean... even if it is a Victorian monstrosity. Taste comes a bit later when you eat school lunch. You can see children's work on the walls, of all abilities not just the teachers. If there is a dip in results, ask why, believe me I have had to explain those to Inspectors, when we have had a challenging cohort and abilities were a 180 on the previous year.

Go past the school at different times of the day, that will tell you loads too. Yes, results are important but when you are in there think, would my child be happy here, do they seem kind in their dealings with children, do people smile properly?

Some of this may sound daft but it is your gut that will tell you, so listen to it.

There is a certain amount of distorted info on this thread. Most parents, casually looking round, never, ever, have the in depth info that Ofsted have. Ofsted have very experienced Inspectors and, in my judgement over many years, are rarely wrong. Parents forgive a lot but Ofsted don’t and that’s fair. Ofsted work to their Inspection Franework. RI really isn’t the same as the old satisfactory because so much water has gone under the bridge since then. A recent inspection judgement is of value.

Ofsted themselves admit 10% of judgements are wrong.
They work to the handbook, which under the 2015 framework changed numerous times and so a school may have gone to RI for something 1 term which wasn't an issue by the time the handbook changed.

I've been able to access the information booklet for next year's admissions today

Kingsmead's furthest distance this year was 0.6 miles and we live almost double that away. I don't think there's any point of me applying for there and wasting a preference, despite it being our catchment.

Am I right in that I now look into the closest schools and look for the ones that have a history of having spaces available?

Anyone involved in testing or statistics knows the most basic way to evaluate the accuracy of your results is to run the test several times and see if you get similar results.

The teaching unions, universities, education experts, and many o5hers have constantly asked Ofsted to prove the accuracy of their results by this simplest of checks. Send another inspector/team into the same school/nursery/childminder/whatever and, without conferring, see if they make the same judgments.

Ofsted have always refused to do this.

Does that not strike my fair-minded person as just a wee bit suspicious?

Do not to try and out-think the decision before you have seen all the schools and as LatteLady says go on gut feeling. You then need to look at all the data you can get together from Ofsted and form the CWAC admission data and then you you can start to decide what are your three preferences.
In terms of KIngsmead specifically you are not understanding the admission criteria correctly. For September 2019 figures they admitted to 0.646 miles on distance. What that means is that they admitted ALL applications who were in catchment and then they admitted pupils who were not in catchment to 0.646 miles. You need to check very carefully on the catchment maps on the CWAC site but if you are in catchment for Kingsmead then the odds are that, unless there are a very large number of siblings, that is the most obvious school that you will get an offer of a place at. If you having visited schools think other schools are better then put them down as first and second preference but put down Kingsmead as your safest bet as third preference.
The other point to make is that the figures in the CWAC booklet (and every other LA) are the initial allocations in April, they do not include changes that happen after the initial allocation because people move or get a better offer elsewhere.

With regards to your in laws, they won’t see who you put down so just tell them you didn’t get in.
Similarly, your in laws rose tinted memory and opinion of a school some decades ago should be treated on the same level as an ofsted report.

You do know that some schools judged 'outstanding' have not been revisited in many years.
Ofsted is hardly worth the paper the report is written on.

@Paddington68 I've noticed when looking into some of the schools. Kingsmead for example hasn't been inspected since 2012

I'm going to visit them and hopefully I'll get a positive gut feeling about one of them for dd

Definitely consider it, if it feels right when you look round it more than likely is right. RI schools have a huge amount of support in order to improve and they often move forward faster than other schools. As an ex headteacher I would be wary of an outstanding school. Look at when it was last inspected rather than the shiny badge it proudly proclaims. Most outstanding schools don't retain that rating in a new inspection as the goal posts have moved several times in the past few years.

My son started at an RI school this week. We looked round really only because it's our nearest school. We got a great feeling about the school. The kids were all working well in their classes and were very enthusiastic about their school. Everything was quite orderly and it just had a lovely feel. I also looked round the school that's classed as outstanding. It was absolute chaos. There was no sense of order and I hated it straight away. Go with your gut feeling x

Dd has just started at a RI school. We got a great feeling about it and several primary teachers in our town have opted to send their kids to the RI school rather than the good ofsted rated school, which backed up my view that it is in fact a lovely school. I also got a relative who is a very experienced primary teacher to go through the report and read between the lines. A lot of ofsted just doesn’t matter to the average child/parent. Do you know any teachers who can read through the report and read between the lines for you?

We don't know any teachers who could read between the lines for us unfortunately

I've been asking around locally about the schools and one in particular has had lots of positive comments about how it's run, the teachers and how caring they are, facilities, etc. For us, the caring teachers and atmosphere is very important as dd is epileptic and does have absences semi regularly. She can get quite distressed after one sometimes, so to know this about the teachers, is kind of reassuring

I'm definitely going to email and get some visits booked for October