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

I wonder if they will pull their boys out

Well, I'm a parent there and don't want to hush it up. It's quite obvious anyway as linked to from the school's website so easy to find.

St Mark's is rated good not inadequate.

Yes maybe some will leave and go private and leave room for the others trying to get in!

My point exactly - St Marks rated good - so why don’t more people from BA1 send their boys there ? Will they send them their now with Beechens Dire report? I doubt it-
When will Beechen get inspected again ?

I don’t think the debarkle of admissions in Bath should be confused with items that Ofsted are highlighting.

They are serious issues that need attention. And not just a change to policy and practice. But to the culture of the school so boys emerge embracing diversity and starting to think what they can do, from their privileged start in life, to challenge ‘lads banter’, consider how equality isn’t always about acting the same with everyone and respecting humans that are different from the norm. It should never be acceptable to shout ‘fresh meat’ at a young woman; boys who don’t play ‘competitive’ sport should be valued for their contribution and no child should EVER be tied up and whipped or kicked and the video snap chatted. BC, and many other educational environments, are ripe for a #MeToo moment in my view. If OFSTED is going to challenge this then all power to them!

But as admissions has been mentioned ..... The reason why BC accepts boys north and south of the city is that Beechen was formed from a school called City of Bath Boys which was based in the Guildhall. When it moved out to it’s current location, and I think merged with another School on the road up to Bearflat, the admissions policy created to ensure that both communities that were previously served by City of Bath Boys and Oldfield Boys still were - one from north of the city, one from south. No idea why it takes 20% outside though. Hayesfield has the same policy.

I read that letter from the Labour candidate for Bath who said something similar about select the students ... leafy Lansdown vs Twerton I think he said or similar. As a former parent who lives in BA1 who dreams of a home in BearFlat, Widcombe or Oldfield, it feels like a cheap shot. And lazy logic, as the catchment starts some distance from BA1 and I can’t think of any family housing in the city centre so that also pushes the catchment back. Basically, there are million pound houses and social housing in all bits of the catchment. The discussion should be why people avoid schools like Culverhay and St Marks; what investment needs to made education equatable. And I say that as a long time Labour member. Anyway, enough of me raging about that discussion .

I have, or have had, kids at a number of schools mentioned. I liked that in Bath you could chose a school for a child. Such a shame that things are changing for the next crop of children coming through.

I am not sure there are million pound houses in Twerton , Fox Hill or Odd down

Sorry about grammar and typos, i’m on a very small phone 🙄.

There is more housing in BA2 and more housing with kids in than BA1

Charlie this year quite a few seem to have been given places at St Marks so it may grow - not sure. But yes not sure how much emphasis people place on the Ofsted report. It seems to be more about local opinion.

I think BC is supposed to be given 18 months to change and will be monitored.

I just think all the parents are getting behind the head because they cannot bear the thought of them being at inadequate school .

They are serious issues that need attention. And not just a change to policy and practice. But to the culture of the school so boys emerge embracing diversity and starting to think what they can do, from their privileged start in life, to challenge ‘lads banter’, consider how equality isn’t always about acting the same with everyone and respecting humans that are different from the norm

Agreed. And from parents of children I know with SEN they have been happy and children welcomed and confident in the school, for example.

It should never be acceptable to shout ‘fresh meat’ at a young woman; boys who don’t play ‘competitive’ sport should be valued for their contribution and no child should EVER be tied up and whipped or kicked and the video snap chatted. BC, and many other educational environments, are ripe for a #MeToo moment in my view. If OFSTED is going to challenge this

Well, I'm not exactly sure this does happen exactly as stated here. we just don't know. I know my child is not sporty and valued in other ways, and happy there.

None in my bit of Bath either That’s my point though both halves of the city have so much more depth than is represented in the socio-economic engineering discussions. There is Twerton and Bearflat. Snow Hill and Lansdowne. There needs to be a shake up across LEA. We can’t afford another failing school with the bulge years coming through.

But BC really does need to pull it’s finger out to avoid assuming that we all fall into one homogeneous group. And cater for the diversity hidden away in the City. I am glad this OFSTED inspection has highlighted things to look at deeper.

I will be glad if some things are changed such as the class sizes in the lower years, supporting disadvantaged children and some of the pastoral care side of things.

But BC really does need to pull it’s finger out to avoid assuming that we all fall into one homogeneous group. And cater for the diversity hidden away in the City. I am glad this OFSTED inspection has highlighted things to look at deeper.

YY. Especially considering the closure of Culverhey...where are all those boys going now? Being bussed to St Marks? Or BC..

I’m sure someone told me that Culverhay only had Y11 in for the last part of 2017-2018 so everyone that was already there was redistributed already. I think those who would have chosen it this year, but put three schools with small catchments,this year have matched to St Marks - this has happened to most of the kids that chose the Hayesfields, RAs, BCs and didn’t put a third choice. If they chose Oldfield or St Greg’s I assume they got in as their catchment would still include the whole city.

I hadn’t realised the class sizes at BC got so large in the lower years. My boy who went was in classes of 19-25 and he left relatively recently. He had a great time there, was SEN, relatively sporty, very well supported, great teachers, personally I found the head good and the house system ace! But he also experienced 18 months of low level bullying in Y7-8, witnessed fights that made my butt clench and sometimes had to be challenged on his attitude as it seemed a little arrogant or almost patriarchal.

The two examples given at the end of my post I know of personally. The other two were things other posters on this thread had said. That said, do I think these things happen at other schools. Hell, yes they do. My family have tried a lot of Bath, and out of LEA, schools over the years. Like I say, I would love to see schools really manage their minority experiences.

Well, I noticed it mention in the response to the Ofsted that they plan to try and reduce the class sizes on the lower years to 'below 30' so yes it sounds like they are bigger now, which may be an issue.

Someone mentioned no family housing in the centre, that's not the case, I know of several boys coming from social housing int eh centre for example Morford St / Julian Road area and there are also the houses around Kingsmead Square. Others come from around the areas such as New King St / Green Park for example. I suppose these are considered 'north' as north of the river. Most would probably be going to St Andrews for primary which is quite mixed.

This is interesting- something similar happened with Oldfield School back in 2014. But that time an Ofsted report 'went missing'. I remember that going on, there was drama around the Head and issues there and some of the staff left...it seems to have recovered OK.

www.learningspy.co.uk/featured/mystery-missing-ofsted-report/

"Following a “number of complaints and allegations made to Ofsted about the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements at the school,” Oldfield was reinspected under Section 8 (and Section 5?) last December. The report remains unpublished."

If you scroll down, it seems to have also been graded 'Inadequate' around that time. It seems to have been upgraded since then and I think is oversubscribed now...

I should point out here the issues seem to be quite different at Oldfield

My son left Beechen last year.
I am not surprised that the SEN provision has been raised as an issue. I felt that I was constantly fighting a losing battle with them, including writing to the governors and headmaster, but not receiving replies.
As my son was not disruptive, I feel he was left to get on with it, but he has not reached his potential. I blame the school for this.

It is interesting to note this in the report:

In addition, the school did not tell inspectors about a recent racially aggravated safeguarding incident.
This weak practice relating to referrals and allegations places pupils at risk of harm.The language that leaders and governors used during the inspection to describe a recent serious safeguarding incident gives serious cause for concern. They still do not appreciate its true gravity and little appears to have been learned from theincident.

To me, that indicates more than one serious safeguarding incident, as the one that hit the press was apparently not mentioned.

Does anybody know of people that live in Bath, that go to Oldfield?

I think Beechen should do away with Boarding , there is no place for that in a state school - those places should be for local boys

I think they get fees for boarding, over 10K per year..

www.bcsboarding.com/fees.html

Sounds very nice- "Shared bedrooms are spacious and have en suite bathrooms. The boarding house has a large lounge and games room, kitchen, laundry facility and a balcony with panoramic views."

www.bcsboarding.com/boarding.html

I'm unsure the reasoning behind these students having local state school places as it seems anyone can apply if they pay the fees. Could be wrong though.