How to under Ofsted and parent view

[Lieger]

*Edit - messed up the title. I mean understand, obviously!

We’re looking at two schools for DS for 2025. Both have recent Ofsted reports:

• School 1 is outstanding, but less popular with parents (80% recommend on parent view, parents have some issues with bullying)
• School 2 is Ofsted good but gets glowing feedback on parent view (as an example, 96% would recommend)

I find reading the actual reports is difficult - it’s like they’re written in a code I don’t really understand. Can anyone help explain why a school would be more popular with Ofsted than with parents and vice versa?

"Don’t parents actually read the whole report though?"

Yes, but I would agree with Lieger's comment that the latest format is a bit vague and impenetrable to parents.

I'm a school governor, and our school was inspected recently. The inspector was brilliant - much better than the one we had a few years ago - so hopefully he is a reflection of a new breed of inspector. The report reads very positively to me, but I can read it in context and fill in the gaps. It's hard to tell what parents would think of it.

We didn't shout much about the very positive result publicly at the time - just an email to parents, no press releases - so the reaction locally may have seemed muted. Our Head said it's no longer the done thing thing to celebrate too visibly, following on from the Ruth Perry events (though obviously the staff celebrated internally).

@shivermatimbas I looked back at the Ofsted report when I was chair of governors. It was 42 pages long. I had truly forgotten how long they were. Also how many were in the Ofsted team! 6 including the lay inspector for a medium sized primary school. I do think that 42 pages was a stretch and that area was deprived so no idea how many prospective parents waded through that. I looked at my DDs junior school that was inspected at roughly the same time and that was 28 pages. I could have written most of it! Of course back then, assessment with levels was fairly new and not embedded and Ofsted had little pre inspection data and they gave a lot of notice they were coming.

I think existing parents get a whiff when a school is not great but they have little influence. They know dc don’t learn much in Mr X’s class but they rate Mrs Z. They don’t entirely know why. I think we need a mix of easy to understand points about the headings. I noticed years ago there were fewer standard phrases. If I read the word “sequenced” one more time!!! Why not use plainer English?

Lotz of reports definitely like to stress the positive. Sc like coming to school etc. That’s good and gives confidence but you won’t know about how well they teach the full curriculum because it’s a fleeting mention.

I also think most have forgotten why there was a need for safeguarding policies in schools and how important it was considered after the Soham murders of children carried out by a school employee. Never mind sexual attacks on dc by staff. It used to matter to everyone. In the three schools where I’ve been a governor it was 100% understood that failing safeguarding was Inadequate even if everything else was great. Parents now do not appear to care about safeguarding enough to see a school failed. They now care more about a head being so distraught. I suspect failing safeguarding in the future won’t have such a draconian result. I’m still very unclear why the Head in Caversham took her eye off that ball. In my LA it was drilled in that safeguarding was vital and it’s not box ticking. Heads had to do it. Governors had to know if was done.

I definitely want to see all inspectors working collaboratively but if a school needs to improve, use the areas of the inspection to say so. If a school gets inadequate in all areas, quite frankly, it probably is.

@TizerorFizz I agree with what you say about Safeguarding, and the Caversham school got the correct result for the current framework. But the case underlined why one-word judgements are problematic - my reading of it was that the school had inadequate safeguarding procedures, so leadership (including governance) clearly needed some improvement, but other aspects of the school were at least good. The safeguarding issues could be fixed very quickly.

Many parents do read full reports and get the nuances, but many don't. Why even bother opening it if the headline is 'Inadequate'?

Schools are scarred by poor Ofsted judgements for longer than the lifetime of the report. If they get a less-than-good judgement they can lose staff on the back of it. Even if most of the staff and local parents are supportive, schools can struggle to recruit new staff when their reputation is tainted. That's a particularly serious problem in the current recruitment crisis.

Ofsted reports are written in ofsted-speak and if you are familiar with it you can decode it but it's not really parent friendly.

To get ofsted-outstanding you do need to jump through a lot of hoops and they don't really benefit the children.

In some ways I would worry a bit about an ofsted outstanding school because I'd be concerned they were more focused on paperwork and hoops rather than what is best for the students.

(Worked in education for 20 years)

@shivermatimbas I agree that’s what happened at Caversham but hardly the first school in that position. Anyone looking for a job at the school should surely read the whole report! Dreadful if they don’t.

One big issue is that schools advertise that they are Outstanding. Heads cannot have it both ways. Ofsted could have course drop the overall grading and there’s clearly more weight given to some aspects and less to others as the overall grade can sometimes be odd. It has been clear for years about safeguarding failure but that’s now seen as OTT. So by all means scrap one word judgements but won’t schools still want to say they are outstanding in every category? Or just pick the Outstanding categories? Generally I think no overall category is a tweak. Most schools do know when they are doing well and have the data to back it up. Those who delude themselves and have governors with no robust monitoring procedures in place should be Inadequate. It’s not about working hard. Everyone does. It’s about working effectively. Like any other job really.

Can someone give me examples of Ofsted speak? I used to find “head” speak difficult at times! Education, like many professions, develops its own language. I don’t think it’s just Ofsted.

"I agree that’s what happened at Caversham but hardly the first school in that position"

@TizerorFizz in most similar cases the head and/or Chair of Governors will resign, replacements will be appointed, the school may be forced to academise, and things will move on. The difference here was that the Head was very much part of the local community - she grew up in the area, and went to the school herself. It would have felt much more difficult for her to simply cut ties, walk away and either retire or make a new start elsewhere. The impact was clear.

After the events in Caversham, many other heads came forward to tell their stories of the impact of Ofsted inspections on their lives, which otherwise wouldn't have made the news.

Hopefully the legacy will be more positive. As I said in a pp, my own school's recent experience was a good one (though our Head and staff were still exhausted by the experience).

It will take time for Ofsted to win back trust nationally.

That’s not the case with a safeguarding failure. Ofsted come back quickly as it’s easy to put right. Inadequate in every category is utterly different and yes, new SLT is probably needed. For one Inadequate category with an experienced Head, as long as it was corrected quickly, the Head absolutely doesn’t go.

I also think many heads don’t get upset and see it as a fair challenge. Possibly because they are backing their own judgements and know their data is robust and they have everything else in good shape.When a school hadn’t been inspected for a decade, it’s maybe more stressful. I get that.

Most of the time the inspectors have been reasonably collaborative in schools I know. They listen but of course make judgements. Inevitably there are rogue inspectors but most are not. The noisy heads are always going to be heard but they aren’t necessarily a huge majority. The stress is part of doing the job but most jobs have stress in one form or another when you are a leader. In recent times, schools are encouraged to be themselves and not do anything special when Ofsted come.

The difference between good and outstanding could also just mean that one school has better PR than the other and more SLT to make sure all the tick boxing for Ofsted is up to scratch.
My ds is at an outstanding school but it's run like an army barracks and although he's doing really well academically, he can't wait for the GCSEs to start as he's just not happy there.
My DD was at a good school that had been outstanding for around 12 years prior to the new framework for inspections then they were the 3rd school to be inspected on the new framework and downgraded to good in 2019 and have remained good in their recent inspection. A much happier cohort of kids, no gaming the Ofsted system, just honest, hardworking teachers and students who really are all mostly happy to be there.

I know this is unrelated but there should be a way to give feedback to Ofsted about how teachers felt about an Inspection.
I mean they give you the helpline number to call during but I do think a feedback opportunity should be given. Not straight away as emotions can be quite high but after around 3 months teachers and SLT should be able to feedback their experiences so as to be able to compare their experiences with other local schools.
When we've spoken to SLT in other schools some of their experiences have been so completely different it's shocking and surprising how one school get an outstanding but another get good when their practices in regards to certain features were exactly the same.

Ofsted is not box ticking. They really do look closely at the progress dc make snd all schools should record that accurately. Anyone who thinks it’s trivial really doesn’t understand what inspections

"They really do look closely at the progress dc make snd all schools should record that accurately."

When was the last time you were involved in an inspection @TizerorFizz ? It sounds like you may be describing the pre-Sept 2019 framework.

If you look at any recent Ofsted inspections, assessment is usually mentioned. Therefore looking at how this is carried out and accuracy matters. Or what’s the point of assessment?

Under the new framework, inspectors don't look at assessment data at all. Even if it is offered, they refuse to look at it.

Just wondering, why is it mentioned in the report than and how do they measure quality of teaching than? Just based off the couple lessons they visit?

Go for the school you both prefer OP - especially if it’s walkable from home and gives DC the chance of lots of local friendships

It was before 2019! However the data is available to Ofsted and of course they check it. It’s just nationally generated but to inform teaching, in school assessment is vital.

Which report? It's not mentioned in our school's report.

Since Sep 2019 the Ofsted framework covers:

• Quality of Education: ie. curriculum intent, implementation & impact.
• Behaviour & Attitudes
• Personal Development
• Leadership & Management

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-inspection-framework/education-inspection-framework-for-september-2023

It doesn't cover progress or results at all, but they can be looked up by parents separately here: https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables

One of the key inspection drivers behind the scenes is this document: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-inspection-data-summary-report-idsr-guide. It shows how the inspection school compares to other similar schools. Where there are variations, the inspector will ask relevant questions to find out why. For example, if a school has significantly more pupil movement, or pupil absence than other schools, then that will be a focus for questioning. Attainment and progress are on the list, but will only be probed if they are very poor compared to other similar schools. The school won't be asked for any internal attainment or progress data as part of that process, but they may be asked detailed questions about what they are doing to improve attainment and progress.

The IDSR isn't available to parents, but school leadership teams can access it.

How do you measure curriculum impact if you don't look at internal assessment data?

"How do you measure curriculum impact if you don't look at internal assessment data?"

Every school in the country now has to have a curriculum statement in its website, so take a look at what yours says about impact.

But, as I said above, so long as the results are broadly in line with other similar schools, they won't be a focus at the inspection.

The new Ofsted Chief is tipped to make some changes to the reporting ... see his answer in this interview under the question: "There seems to be broad support for the philosophy of the current framework – looking more at inputs (what is taught and how), rather than just outputs (results) – but there seems to be consensus that has led to more inconsistency in inspections. What can be done about that?" ... https://schoolsweek.co.uk/interview-how-sir-martyn-oliver-plans-to-turnaround-ofsted/

Fyi, a randomly googled curriculum impact statement: https://ashmountprimaryschool.co.uk/curriculum-impact/

Lol that's my DDs old school 😂 bit creepy you randomly got that but a little funny too

Sorry, it was just the first one that came up! 😁

Fwiw, publication of curriculum statements, and making sure all staff are aligned on, and can explain, their narrative, is one of the things people mean when they refer to "jumping through hoops" for Ofsted.

@shivermatimbas However some schools aren’t in line with other schools so then there’s a need to look at why. Many schools are poor at reacting to data and don’t change their improvement targets. To measure how well you are doing, and hopefully improving, accurate assessment is key. I think schools can have a great curriculum policy but if you cannot deliver it, then dc are being short changed.

Yes, I agree. I do prefer the current inspection framework to the previous one. It will be interesting to see how it evolves under new leadership. Hopefully it won't change too radically and create a lot more work for everyone to adapt.

I actually think if Ofsted can change the culture of some inspectors I think it would be better for everyone . Schools definitely want a collaborative approach but also have to accept judgements might not be what they want to hear. I know schools get into excuse mode over their data and everything else, but recognising what needs to be done is key.