Ofsted Report for DD's Primary published today, is Inadequate. What now?

[suwoo]

I have been dissatisfied with DD's school for a while for varying reasons, mainly due to her not achieving her potential. The ofsted inspection was published today and it is pretty shit and the school is now in Special Measures. This is a good thing though, right? Things will be done now, I assume?

DD has just started year 3 and it was her teacher that was off sick most of last year (read between the lines).

Ofsted Report

It is a 'lovely' school which comes across in the report and one of the reasons we chose to walk past 4 others to get to this one.

Any comments or advice?

If it's in Special Measures they'll have to do lots and should keep parents very informed with all progress/ intent. I'd say stick with it, but worry if nobody's talking to you.

I would agree that this can be seen as a good thing.

I think it is worth waiting it out for a while and seeing what happens.

What sort of things are likely to happen?

Suwoo I just googled this because my dd's primary has got a 4 and been given notice to improve - found this explanation of what will happen.

Thanks Kathy. Anyone else?

Ofsted started their 'new style' inspections in September - I don't think your dd's primary school will be the only one in special measures. Goal posts have been moved!

I think stick with it for another year at least and see what improvements you spot. In theory at least, the school will have a lot of support and hand-holding to get them back on track. The Leadership Team and the Governing Body will certainly be having a good long look at themselves - it does read like they've been pretty appalling. Do you like/rate the Head? The positives that are mentioned - community cohesion, politeness of children, etc - are very positive, and that's worth something.

is your dd happy at school? my friend had this problem - her ds's school went into special measures about a year ago. Some parents did move their kids out, but my friend stuck with it as her ds was doing ok and doesn't like change. The school is now out of special measures and doing much better.

Yeah, those positives are important and the reason we chose the school in the first place, it just had a 'nice' feeling about it. No, I don't particularly rate the head, she is only 2 years away from retirement and IMO has been biding her time.

I wonder whether she will be encouraged to depart earlier now?

The main thing, is that DD is very happy at the school and is lucky to have very nice classmates. I have 2 boys though, to follow her into school to consider, DS1 starts nursery next September.

x post paddington, but I answered your question due to my psychic abilities

I think it's highly likely the head will go. She will no doubt be offered early retirement and a new broom will be brought in.

A new head can turn a school round very quickly. I work in a school that was in special measures about 5 years ago. It took a while to find a new head (as he resigned before he was sacked!) but within 6 months the school was a different place and we were taken out of SM.

Our next inspection 18 months later was satisfactory with 6 or 7 good features and we had one of the new style inspections in September and are now rated good with 6 outstanding features.

If the school has a good feel it might be worth hanging around especially if a new head is appointed.

SM schools are inspected termly and there will be loads of advisors coming in and out to keep a very close eye on things.

Wow, well done on latest inspection, BrigitBigKnickers!

We were rated good last time, but are quaking at the thought of the new style inspection due any time. A couple of previously good schools close to us were put into special measures, hence the quaking!

My friend's ds's school got a new head, things have really turned around under her.

In Norfolk it seems about half the schools inspected on the new system have been demoted by one level.

We however, bucked the trend and went from satisfactory to good with some outstanding. We were quaking because we thought it was likely borderline good/satisfactory and new if we got another satisfactory they would over us like a rash (apparently habitual satisfactory is not satisfactory ).

It was particularly annoying because the satisfactory the time before was seen by all who knew the school as being unfairly harsh.

As for the original question - I agree with the others - stick with it for a year and see how things go. They should be getting a lot of help to sort out the issues that have been identified.

just skimmed your report.

I am guessing the safeguarding is the reason it is special measures. The rules changed about 18 months ago - it is now very tied together and all the boxes have to be seen to be ticked - and probably the head and governors have not been up to speed on this.

Our head said that if anything is not as it should be with the safeguarding procedures (even if the school is safe) then it is automatic special measures - regardless of how the rest of the inspection goes.

I think that sort of thing can be sorted quickly and the authorities will be checking to make sure it is all in place.

The other thing they will probably tighten up on is tracking progress - something the teachers will have to work at but the children won't notice it. Sounds like the early years are good - so that is good for your younger children. For the older ones it sounds like lessons ought become shorter and more fun to keep the children focused - which should again be a good thing for your DD.

So - assuming the governors/head get their act together things should be getting better.

I think as well you may have a new head sooner rather than later, maybe even a county head to come in and get the changes under way and then a new head to take over in a year's time (although they will have to move quickly to get someone in post by next September).

I have no idea Jajas. Did you read the report I linked to, I wonder if that would tell you? Is there a significant difference then? To be fair, their last one was pretty crap too.

the new inspection is based on data analysis - they do it all before the visit, long phone calls with head etc before. Then it is a 2 day inspection - they choose what they want to see (previously the school had more control over that).

They have a good idea of what grade they will give before they come to inspect - then they look to confirm that - and the head staff, and governors have the chance to argue their case and justify anything that looks not too good, and show what they are doing about it.

Not sure what the old system was - I was not ever involved in it - so the differences are what I have been told by staff and old hand governors.

Thanks throckenholt, re the security... that is a major issue. DD has just informed me now that she was interviewed by ofsted (she is school councillor) and they asked her how safe she felt at school, she said she didn't because of the gates being open all the time and the playground being accessible. Also, the school has 9 exterior doors which were all unlocked during the inspection, but that is only 'the word on the street' .

There were too many 4's though for it to have been just security which they failed on.

True - but from what you say about doors etc, and from what our head told us - that would likely be enough to trigger the special measures on its own. They might have scraped a satisfactory without that to push them over.

But it should be a wake up call - and that kind of security can soon be turned round - and you should see signs of that very soon - if you don't then it is time to start asking questions.

I consider OFSTED reports to be rather bland documents that do not tell one much about a school. On Today this morning (10 March) the issue was raised concerning how superficial the current inspections are (2 or 3 days of work) and how little they inform parents: most assessment reports are either at 2 and 3 on the 1 to 4 scale.

Comments have also been made concerning how the grade awarded shows a surprising correlation to exam results; the supposition is that the secondary school assessment is GCSE A*-C percentage results linked. The OFSTED report does not contain any numbers concerning exam results - and not all schools disclose subject-by-sebject results.

However, you can get these. Every school has access to a new system called RAISEOnline. This details issues such as CVA (google it) and A*-C exam results at GCSE. It is a 50+ page report but is easily read as most information is not that complex.

However, people seem to have trouble accessing the report - even teachers - as it is password protected. The solution though is simple - use your rights under the Freedom of Information Act.

To do this, mail the headteacher (or any member of staff actually) at the school concerned. Give them your name (such as Ms J Smith) and request a copy of the latest RAISEonline Full Report.

The Act states that if the school holds it then they are legally obliged to send it to you within 20 days. So ask for it by Email.

However, do expect some intransigence. My experience is that schools do not want parents to be supplied with this report and they will object asking questions such as a) who you are or b) why you want it. I think this is because it exposes their detailed performance.

Remember that under FOIA legislation you do have to tell them who you are - hence putting in your name - but not why you want the information.

So use your legal powers! Request this report from any school you wish. It is way more informative than the OFSTED report. And do tell your friends.

First, what the previous poster says about Ofsted is true. The new format is causing lots more schools to be judged as inadequate. Second, now it's in SM there will be lots of inspections (and HMI are much more positive and helpful) and support in school. Like you say, it is likely that staffing changes for the better will happen. Some schools can turn around very quickly. If your child is happy, I would stick with it.

There was something on the news this evening about many schools being downgraded and a rather shocking number being classed as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Hopefully this will mean that schools and teachers will have to improve.

There has also been a shift in lesson observations to not focus on what the teacher is doing but the progress the pupils make. So the teacher can be all singing and dancing but if the kids are not making progress the lesson will be graded unsatisfactory.

Homehusband,
RAISEONLINE has been around for a number of years and yes it does contain a lot of information, all of which OFSTED have full access to.

It is password protected for a reason and that is that it contains individual pupils information which is confidential and should not be disclosed. That begs another question for the school and that is what information can be disclosed and what information will have to redacted to ensure that confidential personal information is not disclosed.

To be honest if teachers are struggling to get to see the information that to me is a good indication of a school that is or is going to be in trouble when OFSTED come calling. It is a standard question to teaching staff about how they are setting pupil targets and data from RAISEONLINE should be there.