What would you do if your child's primary school got an ofsted report of 'requires improvement'?

[MermaidMartian]

What would you do if your child's primary school got an ofsted report of 'requires improvement'?

Would you try and move them?

Our boy is happy at his school, but we've always thought that educationally he could be doing better than he is. He's very clever and the teachers' have never really tried to challenge him.

Now they've just had a dodgy ofsted report. The rating was 'good' when he started. We NEVER would have put him in a school with a 'requires improvement' rating.

Would you move your child, even though they are happy?

Read the report to see what areas require improvement.
That will give you an idea of where the school needs improve.
Could be SLT are useless.
Could be policies aren't being implemented.
Could be Teaching and Learning doesn't stretch and challenge pupils.

It could be in an area that has no relevance to your child or issues the school has put something into place to rectify.

Whatever was the cause will have been there for a while whilst he was happy.

Ofsted reports don’t really have a huge amount of relevance for many schools.

Look closely at why they got 'ri'.

It could be related to something that does not affect your child.

Eg. it could be something specific related to SEN or access, which are not relevant to your child. Or something related to paperwork.

Once you know what the issue was, ask the headteacher what is being done to resolve the issue.

Then take a rational decision when you actually know what you are dealing with.

Read the report and find out why. The single-grade judgements are nearly useless.

A school can get "requires improvement" if the children are happy and well taught but the admin paperwork and career progression mechanisms are crap.

Find out what the specific issues are and consider whether they will affect your child significantly. If yes, what other measures less drastic than changing school might mitigate?

Read the report and find out why. The single-grade judgements are nearly useless.

A school can get "requires improvement" if the children are happy and well taught but the admin paperwork and career progression mechanisms are crap.

Find out what the specific issues are and consider whether they will affect your child significantly. If yes, what other measures less drastic than changing school might mitigate?

Bear in mind schools won’t be getting this single grading going forward. Look at the report, not all areas will necessarily be requires improvement. Whichever area has the lowest grade usually means that is the overall grading they have to give. Could be only 1 area is requires improvement the rest good. Under changes to OFSTED they are looking at introducing teams to be working with schools where improvement is required

I think if you are really unhappy with the school, move them (but because you were already unhappy not because of the inspection) but don't move them solely because of the rating. Both my children's (different) secondary schools were rated Inadequate, which is even worse than Requires Improvement. DC1 was already there, DC2 wasn't but we sent him there anyway.

In the case of DC1 the Inadequate was a safeguarding issue which didn't affect him - in my opinion the school was still outstanding in regards to teaching and learning. In the case of DC2 I was well aware of the background of why that school got Inadequate, and I would have thought twice about sending him if those things were still happening, (eg banning homework) but I knew there had been major changes (and it got a Good on its next inspection).

Quality of education:
Requires Improvement
Behaviour and attitudes:
Good
Personal development:
Good
Leadership and management:
Requires Improvement
Early years provision:
Requires Improvement

The quality of education one makes me nervous. COVID was mentioned a bit so I supposed that will have had a big effect on the current year 6.

I'd be comforted by the fact that the head, the SLT and just about everyone else employed by the school will be working very hard to put things right.

If you haven't noticed any issues up to now, you've obviously been happy with the school. Things will get even better now.

If you have noticed issues, they should now be fixed.

Covid has affected all schools though, so I don’t see it as an excuse as such for getting RI. We’re in exactly the same boat at the moment, it’s been a huge shock and I’m so concerned and unsure what to do for the best. For me a key factor is do you have faith that there is a plan in place to address the issues and that this will be effective and timely?

Does it say why requires improvement in those areas and what school needs to do @MermaidMartian Under old regime the school would be reinspected within about 18 months, not what the plan is now under Labour

Move the child. Can you afford private? Our DS is bright and yes he would be "fine" in a state school but he wouldn't be challenged but he will where he is going to go. We are very lucky though, the school he'll be going to is the same school DD goes to and whilst she needed support in the early years she has utterly thrived there.

Can't faffle with education. Do what needs to be done.

They will be working hard to address any weaknesses so often it’s good to be in a school that wants to improve. Unless of course all the parents panic. If it was me I’d be talking it up to support the school.

Neither individual students nor society needs schools that no one really wants to go to but this can happen if OFSTED gives a school a ‘reputation’ Happened at our lovely local primary but next inspection it was back to ‘Good’ all found.

Sadly there’s a cohort of children whose parents were worried and who are being driven all over the place when they could be walking to and supporting their local school and community, and helping their fitness and the environment. I’m not at all against schools being accountable and checked but OFSTED was too often a sledgehammer.

I chose a school with RI when selecting my primary, there were others in the area that were "good" but I did not get a good feel from them. The school had a clear plan on how to improve and have recently moved up to "good" in their last inspection.

I don't regret my decision. DD is happy in her school and has received fantastic support for her ND needs, far more that I would have expected from a small village school.

OFSTED is not the be all and end all.

It depends what the problems are, whether they will specifically impact my child and what the other school options are locally.

This happened at my DS's school recently. The old head retired, the new principal came in and changed absolutely everything, without telling the parents, spent money on crap (a large amount of it personal) and it appears the Governors were worse than useless. In less than 18 months it's gone from a good school, with a savings buffer and relatively high achieving pupils, to over half the teaching staff resigning, the principal being fired (although we're not allowed to say that), a deficit of hundreds of thousands of pounds and the children collectively failing the english and maths tests the local authority gave to see how the principals 'new' curriculum had impacted their learning. The latest new principal says it will take at least 18 months for the children (those without additional needs) to 'catch up'.

If my child didn't have significant health and SEN issues, I would move him instantly. However, it's taken a long fight to get him back into school at all, he feels comforable in familiar surroundings and, to be honest, SEN provision is so exceptionally poor in the vast majority of schools that there would be no benefit in moving him. Much to my surprise, a lot of parents have kept their children at the school, as they don't want to disrupt friendship groups.

I would move him, gaps at primary can get very stark later on. Mines in a very supportive private school, she’s quite far ahead (with some gaps) in some areas and they are figuring out how to fill in the gaps whilst not slowing her natural progress.

If that isn’t an option I would review the curriculum and make sure you are confident that he is where he should be in each area. If not work on it with him at home.

What year is your child in? “Requires improvement” schools are often great if your child is young because they’re about to make vast improvements.

My kid started at a Requires Improvement - it did, so they did, and now it’s ’Good’. I wouldn’t want Oustanding tbh as they don’t get as many checkups and seen a local one go from outstanding to requires improving as it was diabolical.

I would do nothing. In fact, I did do nothing. My dc were happy and settled and that's more conducive to learning than uprooting them to another, "better" school where they may not make friends or be very happy. Too many people put too much faith on the outcome of an Ofsted inspection and not enough on the actual progress that their children are, or aren't, making.

I would be reading the report to see what specific things require improvement within those.areas, and what Ofsted are saying needs to be done. Sometimes it's just a tick box thing and sometimes it's something more deep-rooted. How can you possible make a judgement without understanding the full report, not just those headlines?

That happened to my children's primary. The morning after the report was sent to parents, the head was on the school gate ready to speak to parents who had concerns. I went straight up to her and told her that she had my full support, and I meant it.

Two years later, they were reinspected and were found to be good with outstanding aspects. In the intervening two years, they had embarked on a programme of improvement with support from the LA and surrounding schools.

If you like the school, and your kids are happy there, stick with it.

How old is your child?
It sounds like he is in year 6. I would not move a year 6 child unless really, really necessary, it is just really unfair on them and their friendships etc. He is facing a big move anyway in less than a year.
That is the first year group that will get support, as good SATS results will help the school prove that they are improving.

If in year 4 or below, it depends, how do you feel about this year's teacher and how they are challenging your son? In my experience (as a teacher, parent and governor) the individual teacher they have is way more relevant than the school as a whole. What alternatives are there, how good are his friendships and how easy does he find it to make friends, what other factors are there (eg he plays in school football team and this is important to him)

If in year 5, I would be on the fence. How is their current teacher, who usually has year 6 and what are they like, and what alternatives are there (great school 5 minutes away then I would be more tempted to move for example)

Thing is you could move them and then find the next school could go into requires improvement for quality of education. If you are happy with the school, and more importantly your child is happy at the school I certainly wouldn’t be rushing into moving them. I would wait to see what the school is doing to improve

He's 8 years old, in year 3

I’d thoroughly read the report and expect some kind of response from the HT about the plan going forward
I wouldn’t just move my child unless they were personally unhappy