Beechen Cliff Bath- 'Inadequate' Ofsted

[LovelyBath77]

Just seen this, doesn't look very good.

www.beechencliff.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Ofsted-2018-Full-Inspection-Report.pdf

and previously-
files.api.beta.ofsted.gov.uk/136520__4.PDF

That's certainly quite a difference. Was 2014 when the last inspection took place before or after the change to measuring "value added" outcomes?

I'm not sure.

This is about when they did the new Ofsted.

www.somersetlive.co.uk/in-your-area/ofsted-springs-surprise-inspection-mock-1610232

The 2018 Ofsted Report is profoundly disappointing for the school having had seven years as an 'Outstanding' school and just recorded our best academic results. Whilst we recognise some of our procedures and systems in relation to safeguarding are in need of updating to reflect best practice, it is important to note the 94% of parents in the Ofsted survey reported their child being safe and making good progress at the school. Please see twitter @BeechenCliff for more details.

The report slates the leadership and governing body. The school has behaved unlawfully and Ofsted identified many failings.

The report is well worth a read.

The response is way off beam, PR puff.

My son is there and very happy. have heard such good things from other parents too about their children, including those with special needs who have got so much out of the school.

As a former teacher I take anything Ofsted say with a pinch of salt. How can they even have got a good look at what goes on generally at the school when they turned up in the middle of exams week.

Have the criteria that the schools are being judged on changed between inspections? Or the standards that are held as benchmark changed?

It seems looking at the two reports that many areas that were outstanding (governance/leadership/awareness of and good investment in PP/quality of teaching/behaviour of kids) have been assessed as polar opposite. I suspect a lot of the policies and process are probably the same. Just as an example the monitoring of boys using other educational services, the school did an excellent job in 2014 but not in 2018 to the point it was a safeguarding risk.

In my simple head either a number of balls have been dropped as attention has been elsewhere; or the standards and data that need to be captured have changed and the school hasn’t kept up. Looks like the school have a lot of work to do to regain ground.

That does seem strange as surely most of the same staff and policies are in place. Think maybe Ofsted need some continuity in their assessments from one to the next

The OFSTED framework was made tougher in 2015 partly to prevent schools from coasting and not keeping up with new innovations.
The link below shows the incident earlier this year that triggered the inspection www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-44696042.

I thought it was of interest about the iGCSEs...seems to have messed up the results section

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11378406/Private-schools-should-drop-less-challenging-IGCSEs-says-Education-Secretary.html

Wasn’t this the school in the national press recently for an horrific racist incident?

I get the feeling there seem to be quite a few at the school who could well afford private school fees- wonder if many will leave and go into the private sector. I guess that might mean there are more places.

Some key members of Senior Staff left (promoted, retired etc) between the last inspection and this one. They have not been successfully replaced and in some cases not replaced at all. The school is paying the price for these decisions now...
Wasn’t this the school who had the ‘mock slave auction’ in January? Nightmare for the Headmaster!

I'm not sure quite how horrific it was. I have heard various things. I think it has all got our of proportion and the school is not being judged unfairly tbh. But that is just my view.

Local news site

www.somersetlive.co.uk/in-your-area/beechen-cliff-school-bath-rated-1739351

So they are changing the iGCSE from next year...

Clear safeguarding issues at the school mean that whatever else good is happening there with results etc, that it cannot keep its pupils safe and from those comments that school and governors make, that they don't have a full understanding as to how they are failing at safeguarding either.
There was only ever one outcome from this inspection and that was what they got.

I understand about the safeguarding issue and some changes needed there, it is more surprising about the rest of the report...

@lovelybath77 - The child was tied up, beaten and called extreme racist names, allegedly, but you’re “not sure how horrific it was”? Seriously?

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bathchronicle.co.uk/news/bath-news/bath-school-governors-refuse-expel-1333724.amp

allegedly, that is the thing. I'm not sure quite what happened so that is why I'm not sure.

How can i make judgement based on heresay?

I have heard different things from parents so am unsure exactly what happened.

Bit I don't think one incident should define a school..

Well Ofsted refer to it as a serious racially motivated incident but you seem to be taking exception to their report so I’m not sure what would convince you.

Safeguarding is the most important criteria for Ofsted and rightly so. I am glad the school has been made an example of.

OP, have you considered how the parents of the victim in the racist incident are feeling? They trusted the school to keep their child safe and they failed. And then the school failed to deal with the incident appropriately. Just because your son is happy there doesn't mean that every child is. As a teacher, I have seen how two students in the same school can have vastly different experiences if one is bullied and the other is not.

Clearly certain behaviours have been tolerated at the school that won't be any longer. If an 'inadequate' is what it takes for the school to make this change, then for once I agree with Ofsted's approach.

I agree the only outcome from this inspection was the result given. But i’m sure that neither reports accurately reflect what majority of the 1000+ boys and 50-100 girls and their parents believe to be true about the school.

Both reports can probably be ‘dismissed’ by elements of the School community as they present a wholly positive position in 2014, then a very negative position in the last report. The majority will probably recognise statements in both reports to be true over the last 10 years.

Hopefully the SLT will not just make sure the paperwork is done to reach the required standard but will take the time to try and understand the practical application of it for minority groups in the school (based on race, gender, socioeconomic or sexuality) who might get lost in a school that might over index on one ‘type’ of human. I think it is hard, in such a homogeneous environment, to avoid a certain cognitive bias creeping in, and because it reflects the majority view it thought to be true. This is an opportunity for some naval gazing to take place.

How about boys hanging out the windows and cat-calling “fresh meat” to the new sixth form girls on their induction day?
Hey, it’s probably just high spirits!

Or the fact that school results are sufficiently poor that Bristol university has Beechen Cliff on its list of school it makes reduced offers to on account of poor results?
Probably they’re just looking for ways to make more offers to those lovely BC students!

Or maybe, just maybe, the Ofsted report is highlighting serious issues at the school