experience of special measures?

[working3jobs]

DS' secondary school has been put into special measures, four years ago it was outstanding.
main issue was that 2012 exam results dipped to level of national average.
poor marking system, inadequate / irrelevant /unchallenging homework.
teacher complacency, not pushing the children hard enough.

anyone been through this?

DS is in year 9, has asd (mild) is extremely happy at school.target for end of year 9 is 6c (which means what??)

lots of research needed I feel for me to help him more....

academy or lea?

If LEA and its not forced to convert, relax. A new team will parachute in and sort it.
If sponsored Academy - it depends which sponsor
If non sponsored academy, it soon will be

Academy, for last 2 years. I really don't understand what the "levels" and "grades" tell you about how on-track your child is? compared to national average ( until the last 2 years he was well below, but I can see a big improvement in maths now, so hoping that Learning has finally "clicked" for him.)

sponsored or normal converter?

it matters because it affects the support and input they will get to come back out of special measures

If he is 6c at the end of Y9 that is average and means he is on target for a C at GCSE.

little aside... DS reckons that level 7 is equivalent to C at GCSE & level 8 is rough equivalent to level 8. He is setting own expectations on this rule of thumb.

Crazy or some truth to it?

talkinpeace- sorry, I don't know about sponsor/ normal converter...

working
really, you need to find out - and fast
look the school up on the dfee website

Levels are notoriously difficult to equate to a GCSE grade. Given that many pupils are level 5 at primary school, a 6c target means he is currently level 5 in year 9, so I think Grade C GCSEs will be a bit of a challenge personally.
The school is not in special measures due to one set of dodgy results. It is ALL the things you mention as they impact very heavily on the quality of teaching and learning and progress being made by all the children, not just one exam group. Lots of posters get hung up about who runs a school state, academy, sponsor or whatever, but most parents just want a good school and clearly you do not have one. Some schools recover very quickly, usually down to new management within the school, whilst others have very deep seated problems which can take time to resolve, eg moving on poor teachers, embedding an appropriate marking system, ensuring there is appropriate homework and effective, high quality teaching. All of this takes time but is achievable with the right leadership in place. It is highly likely quick action will be taken if a school was previously outstanding. What can the leadership have been doing not to have seen the problems? There will be changes, but they will be for the good. I would hang on in there and see what measures are put in place.

Some schools recover very quickly, usually down to new management within the school,

Special measures, rather than notice to improve, also means that the head and the governors are not felt to be capable of delivering the required improvement. So if it isn't followed with root and branch reform of governance, it's less likely to end well.

Both of the special measures in comps I have knowledge of resulted in the immediate resignation of the head and the removal of most of the senior SMT. The governing body was rapidly replaced as well. One that went into special measures some years ago is now Outstanding. Another has only just gone into SM, but has taken rapid and effective action and looks promising.