Ofsted inspectors - they are good, aren't they?!

[reeva]

My DC moved home last Summer and started a new primary in September, one in KS1 and one in KS2. I read the Ofsted report after I visited the school and I thought the report's conclusion was not as good as the school merited. Even at Christmas, I still thought that the school had been short-changed. But now two terms in, I can see that the inspector described it perfectly.
She worked out exactly what was good and what was bad about the school in one day whereas it has taken me seven months. I am v. impressed! (and maybe a bit disappointed too!)

Mmmm, not always, DS's 'outstanding school' talks of this superb team of educationalists but see my post about including my son on a school trip. Not so superb and this is not one off.

Perhaps it should superb team of educationalists for easy to teach children with no special needs!

Like any "profession" some Ofsted inspectors are better/more knowledgeable than others. Some get it right and others get it badly wrong and some schools are better at hiding "issues" than others.

Mrz, do you think they get 'star struck'? The Head at our school is one of those 'National Leaders of Education' super head saving other schools type of person. Must be quite difficult to go against someone like that.

Also, do you think the proper HMIs are more rigourous than the contract Inspectors they have?

I think the old HMI inspections were better in many ways to the current system and yes I also think it is possible for "confident" heads to "bend" inspectors opinions.

revva - had a similar experience to you.

Nothing bad in the Ofsted report at the school we were looking at. There were though just a small number of adverse comments that we ignored. About 6 months in we realised they were important. We moved DSs to another school after just one year.

I think any adverse comment in an Ofsted report report shoudl be taken very serioulsy. The inspectors would not make an adverse comment lightly.

Mrz is it right that the new regime is to look more explicitly at how schools deal with children on the SEN register.

New regime looks at safeguarding & vunerable groups so Sen would be included.

Recently had bad experience with OFSTED can't do details but they made their decision v quickly & then looked for things to justify it. The more the report is looked at the more things look 'petty'. Gradings and final comments were totally different. Things from previous report that were outstanding were then unsatisfactory.

Beenbeta, you are right - it was the adverse comments that I should have read properly. They hinted that the school was not really looking after the needs of the bright kids. It praised their approach to SEN and thought they were fine with the ones in the middle but reading between the lines, the brighter ones weren't really being challenged.
Everyone seems very concerned to do right by the SEN children (and rightly so) but sometimes it seems to be at the expense of the brighter children because as long as they turn in adequate work and don't misbehave through boredom, then the teacher thinks "job done".

Maybe we should swap schools reeva as my school concentrates resources on those at the top and the bottom with the average group being largely left to themselves!

My son has SEN but is very bright. However, his SEN prevent him acheiving without appropriate support so he falls into the middling bracket. But he doesn't cause a problem, so there is no problem and as you say 'job done'.

Don't be quick to assume that children getting help have SEN. They may just be on catch up programmes. SEN does not mean you are not academically capable. Most parents of children with SEN will tell you that you have an almighty struggle to establish any sort of provision in most schools.

Sorry, moving off topic there!

debs is correct it is quite possible for a child to be on both the SEN and G&T registers.

We had our Ofsted inspection before Easter and the inspectors wanted evidence of the ways we provided equality of opportunity for all children- no focus on any particular group (which I had expected as SENCO). They wanted to see how we track progress throughout the year and details of action taken as a result of assessments.
Safeguarding is the latest political agenda (hoop to jump through) in schools.