Our only choice of secondary school rated inadequate

[theSeatheSea]

My child is in Year 5. There is only one secondary school in our catchment. It has just had a shocking Ofsted, with concerns in the report such as unsafe, bullying, racism, homophobia..
All the other schools in our area are oversubscribed as it is. We cannot afford to move.
I know the school will have a lot of support now and measures will be put in place but I do not want to send my child there.
Does anyone have any advice or experience of this situation? Can anything be done? I will be meeting with the School, taking to parents to get other viewpoints and the local MP. I feel an alternative has to be provided, how can I send my child to an unsafe school.

Being found inadequate doesn't mean it

Being found inadequate means that resources will be poured into the school and normally the management team will be replaced. You might find it's completely changed by the time your child goes there.

Sorry posted by mistake
Being inadequate doesn't mean that, the school will get more help now. The bullying etc is a concern but this might of been by a small percentage who would of left by then. As long as your child knows what is right and wrong its a good start. No one whats their child to go to a failing school but unfortunately sometimes it has to get bad before it gets better.
Don't let your child know your reservations

Both my children attend inadequate rated secondary schools (different ones); one became inadequate when he was there (it was previously outstanding) and the other was already inadequate rated. In both cases I am not too bothered because I have a good (ish) knowledge of both schools and am aware of their strengths, know other children who are thriving there etc - and know that despite the inadequate rating one school is still delivering what I consider to be an outstanding education, and the other - well, I am keeping an eye on it. What was the school rated before? Can you visit it, talk to parents who have children already there, etc?

You don't have to send your child to a school in catchment. What part of the country are you in? Have you got the admission criteria for each of your preferred schools?

Thank you for replies, much appreciated.
We live in Brighton, the ‘good’ schools here are very much oversubscribed.
We live in one of the more deprived areas. In the last inspection 2016 the school was rated good. There is a new head starting next term.
I have not spoken to my daughter about it.. Although the children have been talking about in her class and she asked me about it. None of her friends will be going there as they live in another catchment.
I am feeling sad for the school as it always had a reputation and now it is going to take a lot of work to improve. And I am feeling angry that this is our only option. Before this latest report I felt happy with her going there, I knew it had its issues but I thought it would be ok.
I will try and get other viewpoints and talk to parents/pupils at the school. I know we need to take Ofsted inspections with a pinch of salt (I used to be a primary school teacher).
Thanks for reading and the advice.

I’m in this position. We are moving to a new county so my DS has been offered the only school with places and of course it’s ofsted inadequate.

i feel so sad as the school he is in now is outstanding. I’m worried I’m going to jeopardise his education now 😏

@theSeatheSea
It is hugely ironic that as a teacher you thought Ofsted should be taken with a pinch of salt and now you are angry about an Ofsted inspection! How about you take this one with a pinch of salt? That’s what you used to do ding it? How come it’s such a bother to you now? I guess it’s because it’s your own DC going there and not someone else’s?

However you know as well as I do there won’t be magic money tree places elsewhere or new schools. There is, however, a new Head. That, as far as I’ve experienced, is excellent news. They will be fully aware of the shortcomings and will be key in writing and developing the action plan together with closely monitoring g outcomes.

You also know the progress of the school will be closely monitored. If you really want to see the work that’s going to be done, and monitor the improvements first hand, become a governor. Don’t sit back. You can play your part in helping them improve. You seem to think Ofsted is correct (pinch of salt thrown away) so you can expect the school to reach out to the school community to help them improve the school too. Working with parents and the community always pays dividends.

You are going to have to trust the new leadership. I would also expect a rapid change in ethos and day to day behaviour via behaviour policies that are upheld and made clear. When a majority support change, expect good behaviour from DC and get behind the school, it will improve. The school should also weed out poor teachers and ensure the education given to DC improves in a calm and respectful environment. Lots to do but not impossible.

I’ve now read the report. This is a leadership and staff issue. Not really sure what an MP can do other than wring their hands. The school is already an academy. So no change there I would think.

The head is being given a chance by Ofsted to get to grips with this. She has a good understanding of the issues. I suspect teaching heads and some leadership heads will roll. What on earth teachers thought they were doing in turning a blind eye to this is beyond me. However why hasn’t anyone done anything before this? Has everyone had their heads in the pebble beach? Why didn’t anyone tackle the shortcomings before? I can’t believe you didn’t know this school was awful. Often talk about a school is fairly accurate. No one else wants to go there. However clearly some decent DC do because they spoke up. I would expect pretty rapid change now. Some teachers really are going to have to step up to what’s required. Inadequate safeguarding is not acceptable so they need a lot of training and making sure staff really do care about the pupils. Some of the shortcomings scream indifferent staff to me. Just not good enough for this school and its pupils.

I also live in the catchment for the school you're talking about OP. Our dd is in Y6 and goes to a primary school a car-ride away and so all of her friends are in the DS/Vdean catchment. The injustice of it is really quite shocking, that some get the choice of two (sometimes three) good schools, and yet others have only one inadequate option.

Luckily our dd is pretty bright and so in the summer we decided to pour all of our efforts into exploring the bursaries available for private schools. There are some very generous bursaries out there if you meet their criteria. Is this something that you would be in a position to consider?

I also used to be a primary school teacher OP!

In very many rural areas there is one school. If it’s crap, getting somewhere else is impossible. That just goes with the territory of where you live. It’s lucky if you have a realistic choice. Many don’t. People in towns and cities are often luckier and can look at several schools as being realistic but to have one option is hardly shocking. It’s the norm for many. The important thing is to ensure the schools are not crap. This Brighton one is failing it’s pupils. It would be interesting to know how it’s SLT and governors allowed such a dysfunctional school to develop unchecked.