Awful Ofsted

[schoolworries18]

My DS's school have just published their ofsted - inadequate, with some aspects needing improvement. This is worse than expected but not a huge surprise; the main areas of concern seem to be poor leadership, poor behaviour from a minority, safeguarding and some poor teaching and assessment. GCSE results are still good though.

It has previously always been an ofsted 'good' school and I think it has become complacent. There has been a new head in place for a short while and improvements are showing. DS is in Y9 and has done well and been happy there with no issues. I have no intention to move him and I think he will do well in his GCSEs.

DS2 is due to start secondary in September 2019, I have to apply by the end of this month. We have been to open days, he liked DS1's school but there is a choice of an ofsted 'good' school he could go to instead, better GCSE results last year and lots on offer. Until I saw the inadequate ofsted I was equally happy with either. The second school was inadequate a couple of years ago.

I'm in a dilemma now as to what to do- would I be failing DS2 if I sent him to the same school as DS1? I don't have a gut feeling really to guide me on this one. DS2 is more academic than DS1 and will probably do very well wherever he goes.

You say the "other" school has better GCSE results and lots on offer. If your DS2 is more academic, would this not suit him? What is on offer at the first school? Have options/clubs/sports/the arts etc been downgraded at the first school? You have a few weeks to do some more research. Why not post a new thread asking for parents' views on the "other" school and name it. You'll soon get replies.

What does DS2 think? Have you (both) visited both schools? Also worth asking what the school's response to the Ofsted report will be (they may not know yet).

DS1's school has lots on offer too. Options there are being downgraded slightly- from this year it will be 9 GCSEs rather than 10/11 as previously. Curriculum is very broad All the other schools in our area are offering only 9 (10 if very able/prepared to study in after school lessons)

DS2 said a few days ago he preferred DS1 school but I think what is probably driving that is that he gets on very well with DS1 and would like to travel in with him. His good friend is going to the other school. We made the decision for DS1 and I feel just 11 is too young for him to decide.

We have visited both schools, I liked both for DS2 and like I said I was happy either way till the ofsted, whereas I really wasn't keen on the other school when we looked for DS1. It has really improved in the last couple of years but it has a bit of an up and down history.

Difference in GCSE results is around 64% 4+ (English and Maths) compared to 78%in the other school.

There is a parent meeting soon about the ofsted report.

I'm also a bit concerned that if I send DS2 to the other school how will DS1 feel- that 'inadequate' school is good enough for you but not DS2?

In my experience you will get a response in letter or meeting setting out planned improvements.

My Ds primary school went down to requires improvement .

There was a lot of work went into teacher training , a few things changed leadership wise though not the people .

The school always had a community feel about it felt very fixable . It is now a good with outstanding features next Ofsted

I think there are several issues to sort out here.

I assume DS1 is perfectly happy. You didn’t have reservations when he went and he’s not expressing them now and presumably has friends. Therefore why would he now feel let down by your decision? I would talk to him about what he feels but I don’t think he will want to move.

Secondly, bright children absolutely do not do well wherever they go to school. In fact I would bet money on the fact that the Inadequate school has evidence of poor teaching and poor progress by the pupils. This means that many pupils are not achieving their potential. Therefore if you move DS1, do it for those reasons, not because DS2 might not be suited to this school and they could travel together. Give them a few years and the travelling bit will be utterly redundant!

Was the new leadership in place when the school was inspected? Even if it was, there has been little time to bring about change. Changing quality of teaching is a long haul and often brings turmoil as some teachers don’t like change. Teachers will be required to adhere to behaviour policies and embedding these requirements will be tough. Do you think they will be able to accelerate turning the school around?

The Good school also has a history of Inadequate. I worry when I see this and hope it’s not a yo yo school - Inadequate, Good then back to RI etc. It happens. Their results look good though but is this down to intake? On the government’s data web site you can look at cohorts of high, medium and low achievers and see how they do at each school. What about higher level GCSEs, 7/8/9 grades? Who has more of these children? What about progress 8? Which school has the best 6th form? If you choose the Inadequate school, you are putting a great deal of faith in the leadership to turn it around. Quickly. That’s not easy.

Yes DS1 is perfectly happy and making good progress according to the school and he also feels that he is doing well there. He is motivated and works fairly hard, just not as naturally able as DS2. His school has good sports opportunities which are very important to DS1. I am not considering moving DS1, he is settled and happy, I think to force a move would be really counter productive.

However I am seriously considering not sending DS2 there for all the reasons mentioned by Bubbles. I'm not sure how quickly things can be turned around. New leadership had only been in place a few weeks and changes are happening, but he is only a temporary executive head.

Progress 8 much better at other school than DS1's school, top grades similar. DS2 should be achieving 7, 8, 9 , DS1 will probably be 5, 6 and 7s.

I am also worried about yo-yo schools, until now all the schools in our area have been like that apart from DS1's school which is partly why I chose it, it has had consistently good results, but now it appears that everything else has been not so good!

That's quiet a difficult decision. The results look v similar so I wouldn't worry too much. In my exp from working in schools finance there is often a lot of money thrown at schools that are failing. They also often attract very ambitious leadership that want to put something like this on their CV so I wouldn't worry too much about the ofsted tbh. I've also been on the receiving end of Ofsted and I can tell you that they can be very inaccurate and I would base your judgement on happiness and results more than ofsted. Your DD sounds like they would end up in the top set- this is a group of kids schools that are struggling would put in a lot of effort with as they drive up the results.

I would list it: pastoral care, SEN provision (this may seem irrelevant but it is a massive sign of how well the school is managed- if they can provide for this group than everyone benefits as chances are most kids will dip into this at some point) results, commute, ofsted.

My ds is in a school that initially was quite bad. It has changed beyond recognition
and has gone from one of the lowest performing schools in the borough to the highest in a couple of years.

There was another school I was considering ( we had an unsuccessful appeal to first choice school ) and the difference between where he is now and the one I was torn over was the pastoral support which is outstanding at his school and always has been.

This completely swung it for me. Ds is a high achiever, has Aspergers but also anxiety and i knew that whilst his school were not topping any league tables at the time, it's dedicated pastoral base was fantastic.

Ds is in year 11 now and people are appealing to get in there which is a far cry from a few years ago. Results are not everything and I wouldn't change a thing now.
Go with your instinct op, it's very rarely wrong.