On the ofsted reports for inspection what sort of grades are we looking at?

[ScoobyDoo]

what grades put a school as being classed good or outstanding on the ofsted reports, would you class a mixture of 1 & 2 grades or all 2 Grades as good schools?

What grades does your childs school have?

What grades are claased as needing improvement in a school?

I would class more Grade 2's (or all 2's) as a good school, and one with more Grade 1's as an excellent school. Mostly 3's and I'd be wary - 4's and I'd probably run a mile.......but don't forget this is all ON PAPER. What a school is like in reality can often be quite different.

And don't forget a school that got all 3's even just 1yr ago - could be of 2/1 standard now.

The one ds is at now has mostly 2's but does have a few 1's where we are hoping to move to has mostly 1's with some 2's.

So be wary of any 3 or 4's then, obviously all these things can change from year to year is well?

our school came in as 'outstanding' with all grade 1 , IIRC

Steer clear of 'satisfactory' and below. Read, read again and read again the Ofsted report. Question the school on any issues (difficulties) raised by Ofsted and how they have overcome them. Ask them how they deal with disruption in the classroom (on a practical basis ie the steps they take during an incident), and how frequently this has occured.

Hmm. We are in a lovely middle class area and the 2 primaries and our infant school all got satisfactory.

All these schools are full of lovely kids, polite and learning well. I am somewhat suspicious of ofsteds and do wonder if there is a level playing field. At our school I think they said "well, they achieve good results but then they would anyway".

Plus years pass and schools change. Our ofsted was 2 years ago and a new head has made big improvements - not that the school was in any way bad before IMHO.

No substiute for going and looking at a school tho as ice queen says.

School I work in got half and half 2s and 3s for it's last ofsted (4 days before end of summer term ffs!)

DDs school got mostly 1s and a few 2s.

There is no comparison- if given the choice I would DEFINITELY send my kids to the school where I work. Lovely school, great proactive head who deals with bullies, lovely atmosphere, fantastic FREE clubs, great dedicated teachers, brilliant SN and children reach their potential.

DDs school has a wishy washy head who bores the pants off every one and is crap at dealing with bullies. None of the clubs are free and the high results are because the parents are expected to do tons of extra work with the kids at home (dd2 in year 4 gets more hwk that dd1 in year 7!)

Don't put too much faith in ofsted and league tables- go and visit and get a feel for the place.

I would agree with smartiejake. League tables no help at all, read ofstead but don't rely on it, there is only one way and that is visit the school on a normal working day.

Check the 'satisfactory' category. It may just be that they just don't have the required amount of computers/ICT time. Nothing major

our little village school has all 2's on its ofsted report and is classified as a good school, but it's SATs are dreadful..
You must take into account where the school is and it's policy on SN, we are in an area (very rural) where a quite a lot of parents do no reading etc with their children and the school takes SN kids that no one else will.
My children are very happy at this school and are doing well and I think it is a good school. In our case Ofsted saw beyond the league tables

I used to teach in a 'Satisfactory' school. There's usually some very good reasons why a school can't eek out a 'Good'. You really need to dig deeper to find out why. Ofsted reports are a fairly good insight into whats going on in a school. Although, you sometimes need to read between the lines.

It is really easy sometimes to walk around a school and get a certain impression of it. However, remember that a school will have had advance warning of your visit and so will many of the pupils. The Head or Deputy Head will know exactly which classes to take you in to and which children to introduce you to. DIg deeper!

My DD's school have just had an Ofsted and it is mainly 3's with a few 2's. Its a perfectly good school and my children have been very happy there.It has it's problems but I very much doubt any school is perfect.
The "outstanding" school down the road is highly pressurised and the head's attitude is we are a highly over subscribed school, if you have a problem you can lump it, we have a queue of people waiting to take your place.

The infants DS left last summer had an Ofsted in the last week of that term and got all 1's so it is an outstanding school. It has the free clubs, anti-bullying policy, constant cirriculum updates for parents, lots of visiting activities and opportunities for sport, music and arts. It really is a fantastic school.

The juniors that DS is at, which is on the same site, and which normally has a different head, only scored 2's and the odd 3 in their last Ofsted (they are due for another one very soon) and I think you can tell the difference. The school just doesn't have the same buzz about it. It isn't a bad school just not as good.

However, first day of last term, the head of the juniors had a stroke. After a few weeks in limbo the infant head is now covering the juniors too and making changes which seem to be improving things slowly.

It seems to me that the head is the key to how good a school is. Doesn't matter so much what the grades are so long as the head is doing a good job. However, all things being equal, a head doing a good job should be producing good Ofsted results too.

I totally agree about always visiting the schhol, we will be booking an appointment next week if the house goes through, can't actually wait to visit & it looks like a lovely school.