misleading ofsteds

[markpiggott]

Hi all, we accepted a place for our daughter on the basis of word of mouth, closeness but mainly the school's glowing Ofsted report. Then we went to the open day and we were horrified: the report gave a completely misleading impression of the school.
Now we're frantically trying to get our daughter into a school whose Ofsted report was poor but when we went there it was fantastic.
I'm a writer and a national newspaper has asked me to research a possible article on the subject. Does anyone have similar horror stories?
Thanks
Mark P

This is the section for media requests

I do not think that ofsted can always get a good impression of a school on a one day visit. My daughter's nursery school was put into special measures because it did not have all the paperwork in place. Additionally, because it only ran for two mornings a week in a church hall, it appeared to be tatty, didn't have parents noticeboards, etc. The reason we chose the nursery was because it only had 6 children and two staff and we wanted a small environment with excellent ratios. Unfortunately, that was not on Ofsted's tick box!

Having said that, I also do not think that you can damn a school on a single visit to an open day. Of course first impressions are important, but is there any reason why you were horrified about this school? I do not think an open day provides a fantastic snapshot into the working of a school either.

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