St Ursula's Convent School Greenwich, SE London

[runningandjumping]

Hi everyone, I would appreciate your honest opinions on this school. DD got a place, it wasn't our first choice, but my impressions from the open day were really positive. Thank you!

My dd also was offered a place , it was are first choice for distant reasons … I have seen good reviews and a few negatives as well

Thanks for your message ! More feedback would be welcome!

Thank you!

I think it’s just had an awful Ofsted.

https://www.stursulas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/St-Ursulas-Convent-School-Ofsted-Final-Report.pdf

What awful news! I'm really worried now. If we don't get a place at put number 1 school, I 'm not sure what to do!

why are people worried ? If you actually read the ofsted it’s mainly about teacher power struggles and pay and sen …. Which I’m sure in time will be resolved

Look at this too. Only 20% of parents recommend the school. https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/parent-view-results/survey/result/317/14

Oh dear! If we don't get pur number 1 school, can I put her on the wait list of our number 3 school or it is not allowed?

This means that teachers are unhappy and the school is not well run as a whole?

Blimey. I went there many years ago. Looks like it has changed disastrously.

If you look at the number of responses though, the percentage is pretty low. I think like a lot of 'surveys' - you will tend to get the people who are very angry (or very happy) responding. This is not to dismiss their experiences though. There are sadly some issues at the school that need addressing urgently.

Hopefully the school can turn this around. With a Requires Improvement Ofsted, there will be a lot of focus on improving things quickly. I've read the Ofsted and it does say that things are being put in place to address their concerns.

The strike situation is obviously the one thing that needs to be sorted asap. Hopefully it will be, well before September.

I was also going to say - my DS's school went from Requires Improvement to Outstanding in under two years. Obviously an enormous amount of work went on at the school by all concerned.

I'm not saying that this is going to happen in this case but I am quite surprised by how schools can move from a pretty poor Ofsted to a very good one so quickly (and vice versa). As a lay person, reading some Ofsted reports, it seems the 'devil is in the detail' as even some 'Requires Improvement' ones don't seem 'that bad'.

To the previous poster: it was not quick, the last inspection
was in 2017

What I meant was how quickly my DS's school went from Requires Improvement to Outstanding. It was under two years. It went into RI just before he started. A lot of parents were very concerned and I understand some parents pulled their DC out.
In under two years it was then graded Outstanding and become one of the most sought-after schools in the area.

This was a few years ago now though and I think under the new Ofsted grading system, it's much harder to be judged 'Outstanding'.

My perspective of the OfSTED report (as a retired headteacher) is that most things seem fine ie the curriculum is ambitious, the teachers have secure subject knowledge and most pupils behave well.

The recent 'turbulence' in leadership has resulted in problems in their SEND provision.

The new behaviour policy has high expectations but isn't yet fully embedded.

It looks to me that the SEND provision is the main issue that caused the 'requires improvement' and the new leadership hasn't had time to improve it.

That's just my view looking at the report from the outside - there's likely to be better information from parents but be mindful that opinions might be polarised due their own child's situation.

@Shetlands Thats quite an upbeat interpretation. Reading the report carefully, leaders have not embedded the behaviour policy and the report says that there is some low level disruption in lessons and at non structured times of day, it is not calm. Therefore leadership has some work to do. Thats discounting the send issues.

The governors have clearly let things slip and have now had training to fulfil their obligations: so hopefully they now know the time of day. It also comes across as a school that doesn’t listen to pupils or parents. You only need a vocal minority (who Ofsted agreed with) to sow seeds of mistrust but often these are accurate views. With ongoing staff difficulties, it will be interesting to see how quickly this is resolved. It feels like a top down leadership style and not a collaborative one. Some staff and pupils will be ok with this but others feel excluded. Depends what you want from a school community and whether RI for leadership gives you confidence in ability to improve.

@TizerorFizz
I don't think my interpretation is upbeat - the school does some things well.

I acknowledged what they have to improve on and that fits with the OfSTED criteria:
"A school judged as requires improvement at its last inspection is a school that is not yet good but overall provides an acceptable standard of education."

Yes. It’s the old “satisfactory”. It does do some things well but the low level disruption and the fact the behaviour policy is not embedded will impact on that. It’s far from being the worst RI I have read but it’s RI in leadership and to improve quickly, I would have liked to have seen that as Good. But I accept that maybe I’m too negative!

Hello long time parent at st ursula here. The recent parent view score was in large part highly negative due to ongoing dispute around one teacher and NEU strikes that honestly is due to resolve imminently but has been a massive disappointment to all. (To say very least) The ofsted rating was no surprise to many who were frustrated by the strikes and by difficulty hiring a senco. Despite the challenges faced at the school I can honestly say that there are some excellent teachers at the school and do look at the league tables. Despite the challenges with embedding new leadership team over last 3 years, the school is always top 3 for gcse results in the borough and value add score is excellent. I'd feel nervous seeing the ofsted too. But as a parent of a happy settled girl doing well there, I'd say that any school can be right or wrong for your child depending on so many factors other than ofsted. I'd go with the feeling you had when you visited. It's a quirky small girls school, where most kids do very well. I'd possibly consider a different school if my child had sen but then that could change if a new senco appointed. Happy to answer any other questions.

Smc4: thanks for your offer to answer questions. My main question is: can a child get a good education in this school?
From the OFSTED report, you can see that there is disruption in lessons, the quality of lessons requires improvement, pastoral care requires improvement... How bad is it in reality?
I want my daughter to have a stable, friendly environment, good quality lessons and well-behaved girls as friends...

Yes the education can be very good as born out by the gcse results. Many of my Elder daughters friends have gone on to then get great a levels and degrees. However you have to remember it's a state school in SE London and all such schools will have a range of kids from a range of backgrounds. I hear of bad behaviour but then I hear this from friends with kids in other local schools too. This was not much different in 2015 when my eldest first arrived at what was then a genuinely outstanding phenomenal school (as ofsted put it) and I was shocked at the behaviour of some kids!!
I think my girls have learnt really important lessons from being in such a school and are quite savvy. You'd hope this was well managed by behaviour policies, think this needs more work right now. But generally as a society I think there's far less respect for authority since Brexit/covid and this plays out in the classrooms all over the country I'm sure. Who'd be a teacher eh?!
My youngest is on track for a great set of gcse results next year despite these issues so I'm not moving her or even thinking about it. She has found some great friendships.
When you see other local schools ofsteds you have to remember they are part of large academy chains (I'm looking at you Leigh academy!) and have a lot of resources at their disposal. I don't think that gets them better gcse results (st Ursula streets ahead!) but it does gives them a better form of admin and a more cohesive admin. In short, yes there are some great teachers at st ursula, and I wouldn't be surprised if in 2 years ofsted visit and give it outstanding again. But they reallly MuST find and hite a long term senco !!

Dear Smc4, thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed and reassuring answer, this really very kind of you. 💐