Ofsted as a teacher/subject lead

[bohomoon]

Absolutely dreading the Big O coming to our school. Very long overdue and we are currently RI. I have now taken on a subject lead too and am feeling really anxious. Not getting much help from SLT at all. Very disorganized and last minute.

Any tips on what to do on my part?

We're just moving this thread over to our Primary Education topic (and giving it a bump for the OP).

Which subject?

English

Ok that is a big one. Look at your last Ofsted report and look for any mentions of English. What has been done since then. Write an action plan then order easiest to most difficult and time consuming.

If Ofsted come they want to know where you are in the process.

Do a book look first, a top middle bottom from each class and again make notes of what you can see.

If you want to DM me I will help where I can. I have done this myself!

Can't help too much with the subject leader side of things (I'm a TA) but I'm heavily involved in reading in my school, and when they came in March they were very much interested in phonics and early reading. They watched several TAs listen to children read and wanted to make sure children were reading books which matched their phonics levels (we're a Junior school but have lots of children such as EAL children still requiring phonics). We too were previously RI but got Good this time. I don't think they looked at writing much (wasn't one of their deep dives) but they did look at how SEND were being differentated for in writing.

Are you part of an academy? If so, do you have more experienced reading leaders you could ask for support/advice? It might also help if you could find someone to do a mock deep dive into English, not in a judgemental way but in a supportive way, to highlight what Ofsted will be looking for and what you might still need to look at. English is a massive subject to lead - so many aspects - so it's no wonder you're feeling overwhelmed.

Its worth googling "deep dive in early reading" and "deep dive in english". e.g. this site Ofsted Subject Deep Dive: what is and what you should expect.

OP look on Facebook. There are some FAB subject specific and year group specific groups on there with so many amazing people. You’ll defo be spoken to by ofsted when they come so worth joining and asking!!

Oh lord feeling even more sick. My school has not had meetings to discuss English.

We did however have a meeting before the end of last term with a specialist to discuss Ofsted style questions, we still haven't had feedback from this. SLT members were there, they heard how we answered questions but have given no feedback. Waffled for England tbh!

As a school we had Rosenshine training, but nothing about implementing it into English.

As soon as we returned back to school, had a mad rush to get MTPs complete, ready to teach for week 2. Bonkers! I am constantly working on planning from home.
@stayingaliveisawayoflife I will start with the priority list, great idea.

Should I approach the headteacher? He is new but seems nice.

What are you doing for phonics as a school? They can't expect you
To work miracles so look at the Ofsted report from before and what was identified then. Use that as your starting point.

@stayingaliveisawayoflife tbh as I'm LKS2, I understand the phonics to be more with KS1.

We do have chn doing phonics in KS2, but these chn are those who are behind.

It's a four-form entry so Early years, KS1, LKS2 (me), UPKS2.

My worry is also regarding implementing things, but the other English leads not doing so.

For example, I asked to do Rosenshine grammar recap lessons before each grammar lesson, but the other leads are not aware of this. However, the AHT said 'yes go ahead and do it.' But surely, we all need to do this. So confusing

I agree I can't perform miracles, and I will be saying I have just started the role etc etc.

Omg op this sounds like me. I’m in the same boat

Phonics for spelling is in the curriculum up until the end of KS2, alongside etymology and morphology.

They will want to see that the phonics interventions catch up children rapidly, think about how you could show that.

Just to check: you only lead English for your phase? Your phase is made up of 8 classes (4 for Y3 and 4 for Y4)?

Slightly playing devils advocate here, but if things are 'very disorganised and last minute' then isn't that what Ofsted should find out?

I used to be in charge of a procedures & standards thing for work (like ISO9000 only more specific to our area). My brief to others for assessment was to
a) remind them of how we were meeting certain requirements (so they didn't say 'I don't know' or worse 'we don't' to things we did)
b) tell them to tell the truth but in a nice positive way
c) tell them not to volunteer negatives (but not lie)

Surely if you have a sound comprehensive joined up English programme that runs through the school then you'll be able to explain it. If you monitor phonics catch up programmes you'll know to what extent they are effective. On the other hand if all the teachers are left to define their bit themselves then that is how it is and what Ofsted should see. If there are weak spots but you have a plan to address them, they should see that too.

I realise Ofsteds are a big deal and you don't want to be the 'weak link', but the common aim is to get the children a good education.

(Also this should be in The Staffroom which is where the teachers hang out).

I realise Ofsteds are a big deal and you don't want to be the 'weak link', but the common aim is to get the children a good education.

Unfortunately, with Ofsted being what it has become, it has practically nothing to do with ensuring that the children get a good education. In fact, in many cases, schools have to work out the best ways they can give their children a good education in spite of the moving and jumping hoops of Ofsted.

Is that really true? Or is it that schools keep imposing things 'they think Ofsted want' even if they don't?

@Iamnotthe1 yes exactly!

As we're not in The Staffroom, I feel OK to ask this.
Can you give examples of things Ofsted want that don't make sense?

@TeenDivided completely agree with you, they should see the school for what it is. But I just want to make sure I'm covered from my end.

'On the other hand if all the teachers are left to define their bit themselves then that is how it is and what Ofsted should see.'

As you said here, I may have to do Rosenshine, vocabulary, WAGOLLs and all that. But also, because I know that this does help students too, it's not for show. They need it.

Yeah, it's really true.

Ofsted reports are frequently inaccurate (both positively and negatively), some inspectors have not worked in education for decades (other than looking from the outside) and there's a huge level of personal bias within the inspections.

There are things that Ofsted "want" but they aren't stated publically. However, they will question things that drift outside of those hidden wants. For example, the number of data collection points. Ofsted will never say that you should have 3 (one per term). But if you have 1, they'll ask how senior leaders and subject leaders know how children are progressing. If you have more than 3, they'll ask about whether staff overall workload is affected by this. Have 3 and they'll move on to something else.

@TeenDivided
Standards in reading and writing
Redesign curriculum for literacy skills (keeps changing)
Low expectations from teachers
Failing to address misconceptions
Speaking and listening (still no policy on this)

To name a few

What they want to see is consistency, so whatever you say is happening, has to be happening everywhere! I can't quite get my head around the set up, do you have English leads for KS1, LK2 and UKS2? How do you ensure consistency across the school in that case?

But are those not fair questions? That doesn't sound as if you would be negatively scored for having say 5 data collection points if you showed their benefit? That surely isn't an example of something they want that doesn't make sense?
Wouldn't the conversation go
Q: I see you collect data every half term, isn't that a bit of an imposition that gets in the way of teaching?
A: Oh no, not at all. We have streamlined data collection to make it really easy for the teachers, and this way we are able to put in individual intervention before a child starts to drift (or whatever)

In which case, I strongly suggest you make regular planned in meetings for all English leads to work together on a singular cohesive policy. It's one, interconnected approach that runs through the school from start to finish (and knows how it's built upon in secondary). There must be cohesion and consistency with clear examples of how knowledge builds over time due to the careful planning and ordering of the curriculum.

All English leads (and all staff involved in the teaching of English) must have a good understanding of the phonics programme that you use to know how the skills of reading and spelling have been developed but also what to do if a child hasn't progressed well enough in those areas.

You need to be able to answer the questions: why this and why now? These Y3 children are writing a fantasy-style narrative - why are they doing that? Why now in their journey? How does it build upon prior learning and what does it enable them to do in future learning?