How does Ofsted Work?

[Daqqe]

My DDs after school club was rated as ‘not met’ in an inspection done in Feb 22. I wasn’t hugely surprised, the club is fab but so relaxed they were falling over backwards. Essentially it was like a youth club, the kids dumped their bags & went off to play.

Since this inspection, they’ve formulated a committee & completely turned the club around. New staff, key workers, the rooms been revamped, they get planning from the EYFS teachers & do educational based activities. Snack is now super healthy (which is good). DD is not so impressed 😂 she enjoyed the no rules youth club 😂 but all seems much improved, I’m very pleased with it.

Do Ofsted go back? Check what’s happening since their inspection? There was a deadline for these improvements to be met but then no sign of Ofsted checking this? Or maybe I’ve just not spotted them.. or there is some other way they check?

Similarly, our catchment school is rated inadequate based on significant safeguarding failures. The report is scathing & the head left with immediate effect. My neighbours have just found out they didn’t get into the out of catchment school my DD goes too & have got the catchment school. They are really upset. But again, is there a reason Ofsted don’t appear to have provided an update when the school was so badly graded in 2018? It’s been 4 years.. why is no-one checking if things have got much better or worse? Given some form of update so parents have something to go on?! or am missing something?

I know ofsted is pretty shit but it is one of the only things parents have to go on .. we opted against an outstanding school in favour of a good one as we thought it was far better but I could never send my kid to a school with such a terrible report on safeguarding.. but things have probably have improved in 4 years, new head, academy conversion. But we just don’t know.. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I thought they were supposed to inspect ‘required improvement’ schools within 30 months, I wonder if covids changed this.

Inspections were put on hold in March 2020, and routine grading inspections only restarted in Sept 21, so whilst an RI school would normally have been inspected again in 30 months, that all went out the window for about 18 months so there is a significant backlog.

I don't know how things changed with covid, but usually "inadequate" schools have to have an action plan which is closely monitored, either by an academy trust or by Ofsted. It's unlikely that they've been left to carry on their way making no changes! They will eventually be reinspected, and it certainly used to be the case that the bar to get out of the category was higher than the bar to go in.

If the information isn't on their website, it's perfectly reasonable to ask a school what they have done to address the issues raised in the last inspection. If the main problem was safeguarding procedures, that's actually relatively easily fixed.