Ofsted "outstanding" award for dd's school

[Jampot]

Im pretty pleased

I?m sure that you are pleased, Jampot, although I?ll bet that you knew the school was excellent before Ofsted officially told you so!

We also got re-awarded ?outstanding? on our last inspection: the Headteacher was very pleased (and relieved!). I didn?t realise until I looked at the Ofsted website that, actually, there are quite a lot of schools awarded ?outstanding? ? another case of grade inflation by the education system?

DS2's school also got an outstanding last autumn. It is a good school that people out of catchment try to get their children into, but it isn't that amazing. It makes me wonder what the rest are like.

Don't know about the others but our school is amazing.

The foundation stage of the school DS will go to is outstanding according to ofsted - one in the eye for the snooty head of a middle class school who literally pulled a face when I mentioned the name of this school.

And ds's school is undersubscribed - as the vast majority of its intake are from a nearby council estate.

DS's school is outstanding too

DS's school is outstanding too

Very outstanding in fact

Ofsted inspections really are useful for parents to get an idea of what schools are like but does anyone else agree that during the inspections the teachers are jumping through hoops so the overall analysis might not be that accurate!

Hmm, ds1 and dd's school got a 'Satisfactory' with lots of bits being 'good' but in my mind, it is outstanding - it is 'fine' academically, but amazing for opportunities the kids get - extra curricular, foreign tours, music, drama etc.

well, they don't get notice like they used to, so they are caught pretty much on the hop. DS's school was inspected very recently (and magically achieved 'outstanding' status, too) - and they had one days notice.

BUT once a school is deemed 'good' and has good KS2 results, they get a 'light touch' inspection (that was what happened at DS's school, anyway) and only seem to concentrate on areas suggested for improvment last time. SO , having been told exactly what to do to go up a notch, schools can concentrate on that and get away without too much peering under the beds, I think!

DS's school has a huge proportion of children over the national (and even borough) averages for free school meals, ESOL, and SEN. The level on entry at foundation stage is found to be particularly low, but they do very very well at KS2...mostly it is a happy school - that's what I like!

yes, Tortoise - that does sound good.

blu - the 'happy school' bit is so important isn't it. That was one of the things we really liked about ds1's school - the older children really look out for the younger ones, pick them up if they fall over, look after them if they're upset etc. They also have a higher than average SENs etc. It just has a lovely ethos.

well considering her primary school had to beg to scrape through as level 3 I am pleased regardless of what they had to do to achieve it. They all received a badge and a creme egg - so I guess they were pretty pleased too

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ds's school is Ofsted outstanding too. The new framework definitely gives very little time for preparation, so is more transparent than the old system. IME, a lot of schools get a 'good' and maybe there's a bit of grade inflation there, but to get outstanding is pretty impressive. It's not something that can just be switched on for ofsted.