DC's high school rated as 'Requires Improvement' by Ofsted - what are your experiences of this?

[femaleflimflam]

My DCs school was previously rated as 'Outstanding' back in 2013, and has not been reviewed after that under the guidelines for Outstanding schools. It has now been rated as Requires Improvement - due primarily to pupils behaviour in classes and inconsistent marking of pupils books, leading to gaps in identifying areas of progress.

I think both of these assessments are fair, and the school has said they were already a concern that the school was addressing, as they had a change of headteacher a few years back, but obviously it is a huge shock to have dropped standards so much. To be fair to the school the ofsted took place post-exams, during the heatwave in July and so could not have been easy.

Should I be worried, and if so, what can I do about this?

There are no other schools within my catchment area so by DC will have to stay here. My eldest is first year of GCSEs and my youngest is due to start in Sept 2023.

What has been your experience of this? Do schools take this seriously enough and improve outcomes?

The headteacher has said they will be working on this, etc, but no parent meetings are planned at present (which I understand as they would probably just get a kicking from parents when morale must be low already).

Were you happy with the school before the Ofsted inspection?

If you were, then nothing has changed - the only outcomes are positive (the school will address the issues raised).

If you weren't happy, then equally nothing has changed.

Standards haven't dropped "suddenly". They will have been dropping gradually over several years, during the time that your DC were in the school.

Also remember that Ofsted criteria change over time. The school may well not have actually changed at all - just the way it's evaluated.

Also remember that "Requires Improvement" used to be "Satisfactory".

I did have an issue with kids being disruptive in classes from what my daughter told me previously (and frequently), so I am glad this will now become a hot potato for the school to address.

I have been semi-happy with the school - some teachers are great, and teach well, others are shouty and demotivating, new form tutor is young and plain disorganised.

Also remember that "Requires Improvement" used to be "Satisfactory"

I didn't know that was the case, thank you.

Has anyone experienced schools improving to a noticeable level after poor ofsted reviews?

@femaleflimflam not secondary, but I do know of a primary that was downgraded; changes were made quite quickly. There is also a secondary school that has been downgraded due to behaviour (near us but not one my dc attend), and from what I've heard changes are being made- so I'm assuming schools do try to make the necessary improvements, as quickly as possible (hopefully).

The school will take this seriously, and they will try to improve.

However, turning around poor behaviour is often difficult, and it can be hard to find the right behaviour system that will make a difference in a school. Staff need to be on board and buy into the new system, as generally it will only work if it's consistent. The school needs to invest in what ever system it goes for, usually there will be some level of staffing needed.

Sometimes, schools in this sort of situation can end up with a behaviour system which takes up a lot of staff time (e.g. asking staff to ring home every time they sanction, asking staff to have restorative conversations every time they sanction). These systems can be good in theory, but in practice they fall down if staff don't have the time to implement them correctly. The fact you describe the form tutor as disorganised, and that marking of books is also an issue makes me wonder if there are workload issues for staff behind the scenes for whatever reason.

I'd hope to see a new behaviour system soon (but not immediately, it shouldn't be a knee jerk reaction) which appears simple for students to understand and easy for staff to follow.

I'd also be wondering about issues behind the scenes leading to these problems- do you know if the school is fully staffed? Do your children talk about having supply teachers regularly or their class teachers changing often? What about their friends? There can be all the will in the world to change, but if the school doesn't have enough permanent staff, it won't happen.

In terms of your eldest child, I'd definitely be considering tutors IF it seemed needed at any point, and if there was a key subject they were struggling in.

In terms of your youngest, are there really no other schools at all you could consider? I'm not saying don't send them, but just to have a look and see if there is any alternative that seems better.

This just happened to my DS school. And I also know a few in the area that have been downgraded as well. We had a big meeting with headteacher who set out the concerns and how they were going to address them. Overall we like the school and my son is happy there (which he wasn’t at times in primary). I don’t have (and neither did ofsted) any concerns about bullying/safeguarding - those are the areas which would have worried me. But I will keep a careful eye out on what happens in the future.