Brandlehow Primary School Putney Recent Ofstead Downgrade

[SchoolsPutney]

Hello - We’re currently looking to move within SW London within the catchment area of an outstanding state primary school. We had Brandlehow Primary School in Putney at the top of out list (as we already live in Putney but not within the catchment area of the school). However we recently found out that the school was downgraded by Ofsed from “Outstanding” to “Good” after their October 2023 inspection.
While we trust the ofstead ratings framework / rating, we would also love to hear views from parents whose children go to the school currently.
Be great if you are a parent and your children go to Brandlehow Primary School and if you could share your experience of the school and what the school is doing (if anything) to regain the outstanding ofsted rating.
This will allow us to decide whether we should continue to look for a home in Putney or look elsewhere in SW e.g. Kingston, Hampton, Richmond, Teddington where there are multiple outstanding state primary (and secondary) school options.

many thanks

Honestly? This is something that really isn't something to be concerned about. Good to Needs Improvent would be, but outstanding to Good wouldn't be. The one word judgements are largely meaningless and misleading anyway.

I would really only judge a school on whether it is right for your child, which would involve looking at the school.

After a change in the way things are inspected, it is incredibly difficult for schools to get outstanding- previously some areas could be good, and overall outstanding. Now all areas have to be outstanding for it to be judged outstanding. Most schools that currently have outstanding haven't been inspected in a long time- many reports are over 10 years old, so it's a misleading measure.

TBH, I wouldn't entirely judge everything by the OFSTED report. Most parents know to take.it with a pinch of salt- as a friend said, a large part of it is proving they can do admin well. Use the information but go by other indicators - do you like the school, is it right for your child, how is it regarded locally etc.

It's recently happened to our SW school, apparently very few outstandings are going to be given out. I wouldn't worry about it too much. The only people who stress about these things are estate agents.

It was probably one of those ‘outstanding’ schools that hadn’t been inspected for a decade or more. A ‘good’ school is a good school. Instead of relying on Ofsted, go and see the school if you’re able.

They changed the OFSTED criteria and it’s now much much more difficult to get an ‘outstanding’ grade. Why isn’t ‘good’ good enough for you? You should know that many ‘outstanding’ schools haven’t been inspected in a long time. It’s not always what people think it is.

I just did a quick Google. The outstanding grade was from 2010. Ofsted frameworks have changed an awful lot since then - there’s every chance the school is doing everything it was in 2010 or even more; ofsted are just looking at different things now.

I would be far happier with a recent good grade for a school (in as much as I take account of ofsted which isn’t much) than an outstanding grade from 14 years ago. You’re looking at the wrong things if all you’re focusing on is an overall grade - you could pick a different ‘outstanding’ school that ends up being inadequate at the next inspection.

Have you been to visit? What did you think- that is the most important thing? What was it about the Brandlehow ethos that appealed to you initially?

Is it for a child not yet of school age? (hard to get a place there for an older child)

You should never move into the catchment of a school just because it has an Ofsted badge of outstanding based on a 2 day visit once every 6 years or so.

The parking is quite bad around there- so make sure that you get a house with a drive!

Given the delay in properly re-inspecting all the historically ‘Outstanding’ schools that have not been seen by anyone for over 10 years, I would put very little credence in any ‘Outstanding’ grade that is not from the 2020s.

Instead, I would look for schools that gave maintained a good ‘Good’ - ie at least Good in all areas - grade consistently in every 4-5 yearly inspection cycle, including the most recent. Regularly-inspected schools getting ‘Good’ every time will have kept up with all new requirements and changes in criteria and have shown that they have maintained standards over time.

I only know one ‘historical’ Outstanding school that has maintained its grading, and that had a previous grade more recent than most. All the others have been downgraded, most to Good but including one RI and at least one into Special Measures.

@SchoolsPutney , Hampton Hill Juniors went from Outstanding to Good last Autumn following an 11 year gap since the last inspection. I think you will find this is a trend in the other possible areas you have mentioned due to the reasons outlined in other posts.