ISI reports

[JohnHunter]

Has anyone ever encountered a negative ISI report for an independent school?

Only one. My DDs prep had a new Head and I checked the ISI report for his old school. It did contain criticism! I guess the Inspectors didn’t get offered good enough lunches or wine! Usually they are PR for the school. At my DDs school, the report excused a lot of what they hadn’t got round to (performance review of teachers, effective evaluation of progress etc) and included praise of activities that they couldn’t possibly have evaluated because they either were not yet offered or were visited for a few minutes. It was a laughable work of fiction.

Ofsted is about evaluation of data. ISI is about evaluation of how good the school is at covering up its shortcomings and how well it sells itself!

VERY good question. Not really, no.

I’ve seen a couple with some fairly negative things mixed in with all the bumpf. Mind you OFSTED often bears no resemblance to relity either.

An Independent that DD attended a few years ago got an excellent from ISI. The report bore no resemblance to what I knew of the school and had completely overlooked some criticisms that I know I and at least three other sets of parents had made, I would have expected more probably had the same issues but don’t of course know what they put in their feedback, so was quite surprised at the report. That experience means I wouldn’t believe any ISI report I read.

It is senior managers inspecting each other, not impartial inspectors. You scratch my back... perhaps.

Yes, a local independent pre school and primary had a really negative report with safeguarding issues raised.