High school open eves.... ofsted.... how to choose high school for DD?

[jobergamot]

I'm going to do the rounds of looking at high schools this month even though DD is only in Y5; I want to shortlist at least for next year. But what am I looking for? Expecting open evenings to be all fur coat and no knickers anyway .... and can anybody explain the Ofsted system to me? As some of the schools I'm looking at don't seem to have been inspected since 2013 but they're only good rather than outstanding.... I thought it was only outstanding schools that didn't get a further inspection. And it seems that academies don't get inspections so who monitors their progress I'm completely clueless about all this!!!

yes, shhh it is a choice, I could put down any one of 3 or 4 schools in order of preference, so I do need to make some sort of decision about this.

It is not a choice. It is a preference.

You are state what school's you'd like you child to go. They look at what school's you child fits the entry criteria of and place you firstly according to that and then your preference.

Yes Burn, technically it's a preference, but in some parts of the country it really is a choice

There are five undersubscribed secondary schools within a reasonable distance of my house. When DS is ten we will be able to choose which he goes to.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=choice&rlz=1C1JPGB_enGB733GB733&oq=choice&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i61l2j0l3.1124j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I am deciding between more than 2 possibilities, therefore it is defined as a choice.

PS. why are some posters on here deliberately arsey?

I didn't read it as being arsey. A lot of people genuinely think they decide which school their child will go to. In a lot of areas of the country that simply isn't the case, so it is good advice to those parent - and poster hasno idea if that applies to you or not - to let them know.
Every year you get parents who just haven't given thought to their 2nd, 3rd, or more choice places then they are floored when they don't get the school they wanted.

I read it as poster being helpful.

jobergamot,

I would second BackforGood.

It looks, from where I live, as if I have a choice of about 4 secondary schools.

In fact, there is only 1 I would have got into every year for the last 5, and it is not the one I would 'choose'. Even that one, as my neighbours found out, is no longer the 'school of last resort I don't even need to p0ut on my form because I'll be given it anyway' - all places now go to people who put it on their form somewhere, and commutes of 5+ miles are now needed for those who don't put that 'banker' on their form.

I would have got into my first choice 3 years out of 5, and my second choice never, even though they are pretty much equidistant and you see people [siblings] with that uniform on walking from further down my street.

So i can choose the order I put them in, but not necessarily the final outcome, if that makes sense.

The security was one issue out of four that needed improvement as this grammar school in Cumbria. The other two very serious issues were progress of children in English and that of SEN children and also failing to keep the required registers of attendance. These may be negligible to some people but the school was not failed on a single safety issue. Parents will make up their own minds about a school but none of what Ofsted found appears to be untruthful. The school of course has spun it as being a single issue about fencing and an unreasonable judgement. What is unreasonable, is children not making good progress. So that's what I would take away from this report.

Watch how the children talk to the teachers and the teachers talk to the children (the children who are there helping out on the night). It tells you a lot about the ethos of the school imo.

I think you do have to be aware that the children helping out on the night are probably the best advertisements they have. You are not going to get the most difficult and behaviourly challenged child anywhere near the place. I think open evenings can be very difficult to judge and often parental views carry more weight for lots of peope and anopen evening backs that up - good or bad.

I agree that open evenings can be difficult to judge but generally at the dc's school anyone can go in and help out.

If it is possible to arrange a visit outside of or in addition to the open day then I would strongly advise this. Open days can be a bit hectic with lots to take in and there is not always the time to speak to teachers or ask questions. A visit within school hours lets you see the school in action rather than on show.