Y10 DD. Awful Ofsted. WWYD?

[liz4change]

That's it really. It's scathing and I don't disagree.

Previously outstanding school of many years standing.

DD is academic and on track for good GCSES.

Good things about the school: overall culture and ethos, historically high standards, good individual teachers.

Not good: an industrial dispute that has lost about 15 days to strikes this year. New-ish head (2022) replacing a head who lasted 1 year. A feeling of low morale. Some subjects with persistent supply teachers.

DD was in Y6 in 2020, so no SATS, low priority in Y7 and Y8 because of All That. I am so frustrated that they may now be let down at GCSE.

I know switching to another state school at this stage is probably unwise for timetabling/exam board reasons. Am I naive to think that local independents may be better placed?

Independents may have similar timetabling issues.

Depends what GCSEs she is doing.

Does the lack of teachers actually impact her? Most schools try hard to get teachers in front of gcse classes.

Focus on what she needs to move to the next stage. Some GCSEs are dispensable with.

Teacher here. I think it would be a really bad idea to move her at this stage in year 10 TBH. For English, for example, you may struggle to find another school that is doing the same texts, and she will have to learn the whole course in a year and a bit. Other schools won't have the exact same combination of GCSEs that DD is taking in the right slots on the timetable, and they won't be doing the same modules or the same exam boards.

Is your Dd happy there? Does she have good friends? How is she doing academically? Would she want to move schools?

If she's doing fine and on track for good GCSEs, why move her?

Why do you think she's going to be 'let down'?

If you are able to contemplate independents, I'd focus on tutors for subjects lacking teachers.
There is no way I'd be moving my Y10 right now unless absolutely essential. An ofsted judgment doesn't change how the school was 2 terms ago. You didn't move her for the start of Y10. Don't move her in the middle of Y10.

Ofsted aren't fit for purpose. If your daughter is happy and doing well, take no notice of the report. Aren't most schools running on temp / supply now?

Can you afford Independent school ?

Why not look for a tutor or two, give her the extra that a tutor can provide.

There will be lots of scrutiny and support to improve and if dd is settled and doing well, don’t worry. I’d consider if dd needed any additional support and invest in tutoring rather than an independent school that might have different exam board and syllabus.

Would recommend staying where she is to maintain continuity and to boost her academic achievement via tutoring or focussed self-study.

Too late to move her if she’s coming to the end of Year 10, I’m afraid. As a previous poster said, you’ll not find a school that’s doing the correct specifications for all of her GCSEs.

Save the money you’re thinking of spending on independent school and instead put that towards whatever will help make Year 11 easier for her: tutors, holiday revision courses, extra resources you can use with her at home.

If you really lack confidence in the school, she can move for Sixth Form. But by the sounds of this - “overall culture and ethos, historically high standards, good individual teachers” - you think the school is doing a good job. Don’t let one Ofsted report change that.

Utterly insane to move her. If she’s happy and doing fine then why disrupt her ? Industrial action is everywhere and Ofsted aren’t fit for purpose

Would also mention that even from simply a friendship group/pastoral position it's best to keep her where she is. Presuming that she has good friends at school and staff who know her, this support, rather than starting from scratch elsewhere, is really important in Y11.

You can't move a Y10 student. You will kill her GCSE grades.

I can tell you from a History point of view that we do Edexcel at GCSE - and they sit 4 papers. From a choice of 17 in total. What do you think the chances are that the school you move her to will be doing those same 4? Or even the same exam board. They may well be doing AQA or OCR.

In addition, by the end of Y10 I will have taught (most of) 3 Units. Y11 will be finishing off unit 3, teaching Unit 4 and hopefully doing some revision. Your DD may well arrive in my class having missed all the teaching I have done which began at Easter in Y9 (or I don't have time to cover the syllabus). She has basically just failed her History GCSE. She won't be able to teach herself 3 entire textbooks on top of her Y11 workload - plus all the other subjects she's doing.

As others have said, it's just not doable to move someone.

For private school money, I’d just plug the gaps (if there are any) for GCSE and then move to a different state and independent sixth. You’ve missed the boat - she only really has 3 terms before exams.

In real terms, there is about a year until she starts sitting her GCSE exams - if you were to move her, most likely it would be after Easter tbf - leaving her summer term, autumn term and spring term.

English lit - if the new school is doing the same texts, there is nothing to say they will have done them in the same order.
History - may have done utterly different periods.
RE - ditto different religions
MFL - may have done the topics in a different order
Science - ditto

And this is if the school offers the same subjects and is doing the same boards, which isn't necessarily so.

I think there is a massive difference between moving for Sept of year 10 and moving for April of year 10. The first is reasonable - but presumably you were then happy with the school, as @SpringOfContentment says? - the second not fair on the student.

Don't move her in Y10. The order of topics will be different, it would be a disaster.

If you're considering independent, instead consider getting her tutoring in any subjects she doesn't have a permanent teacher for. Also buy her decent revision guides, textbooks, flashcards or whatever IF (and only if) she has the capacity to use them alongside her class based learning.

And bear in mind that teaching is full of individuals who doing an amazing job even when chaos reigns around them. An awful Ofsted doesn't mean she can't still do well. She probably has a heap of protective factors working in her favour too - her favourite teachers, friends, her work ethic, good support at home.

An inadequate judgement is not to be ignored. I get the other judgements can be more grey but inadequate is actually pretty unusual and should be taken seriously.

If you'd wanted to move her, you needed to do it at the start of Year 10.

But presumably then you were actually happy with the school? If the school used to be good, then a bad report may well encourage it to improve pretty sharpish. Also, reports look at the school at a high level - they don't tell you that your own child will or won't do well there.

you can't move her without causing more disruption to her GCSEs than a poor school might. I'd keep a close eye on what she's doing and support at home and with tutoring where needed.

Is this St U, by any chance?

If you can afford private you can afford tutors to make sure she's reaching the standard she wants to and is capable of. Changing for year 11 will knock her back worse than staying in a crap school.

I will be in a similar position soon

I'll just get private tutors if necessary next year

I know this is not an option for many but moving school on y10 would be catastrophic imo

@liz4change Im mystified about why you didn’t leave earlier. You agree with Ofsted and you could see the leadership
eas going downhill and there were lots of supply teachers. Ofsted have probably called this right.

You cannot really move now. So get tutors and try and keep dc positive. Then move for 6th form. I cannot see any other route.

When posters ask if dc is doing well, I’m never sure how parents can trust what an inadequate school tells them. Supply teachers may not be assessing in line with school policy. Very few really good schools have hit and miss teaching. Quite simply parents in schools where standards are not good enough have a very difficult job to know how well dc are doing. Unless they can compare to other similar dc in other schools. You do have to trust the school to improve but few do in one year.

Thanks all. It's very helpful to get such a consistent view. @TizerorFizz fair point, reasons are really to do with this being a case of slow creep and feeling that continuity is very important, particularly in exam years.

@liz4change Yes I do agree but after y8 or even after y9 is ok to move. Obviously if they are doing 3 year GCSEs, y9 is difficult. I understand what you mean about slow creep! It’s a slow dawning something is wrong. However lots of supply and instability of staff is a strong indicator of turbulence. Sometimes exam results are not obviously impacted because parents get tutors but Ofsted clearly have concerns and often this is centred on quality of teaching and learning and quality of SLT. Turning these schools around is not immediate so the school and MAT will have work to do and if they have sleep-walked into this, they might be in denial. If new head got a decent review, then change could be quicker. If curriculum is poor, teaching is not great and there are other big concerns, a quick improvement is not likely.

Even good leafy comps are having trouble filling vacancies and managing budgets. I would stick it out and if you can afford it consider supplementing with tutors in any problematic critical subjects.