Can we talk about Ofsted? Recently had a visit!

[OfstedOrganised]

As the title says. I'm a regular who's name changed as would like to be able to talk a bit more freely without the worry of people identifying me.

I had my first Ofsted experience last year. Happy to discuss it.

First ofsted two year ago. Am willing to talk.

We're waiting for them. How did it go?

It didn't go very well over all tbh!

Tell us about it, they can be horrible and I hate the idea that everything I do can be surmised from a very short observation of part of a lesson. Was it just your encounter that was difficult or the whole school's?

Hideous experience - poor you! We've just been done too!

My encounter was positive and my feedback was very good. Everyone I work with in my team was given a good grade, which under the new framework I was very pleased with.
I asked how I could boost this to outstanding and they said that one way to do this would be for more children 'exceeding' their level targets each year!! Unfortunately. Other areas of the school got RI and there for all teaching was graded RI. I just hope they say some positives in the report or I fear the parents will be complaining!

It all seems to be based on data, ie progress made by students. They use the data to come up with overall grade and then the lesson obs just support this.

Our school was graded RI when I joined. It was a horrible, stressful time. We were monitored constantly and observations were a weekly occurrence.

We were told if we got a good grading that things would ease but unfortunately things are now worse than ever. HT is determined that we should be an Outstanding school by our next Ofsted!

I think that was where one of the Key Stages fell down as they said that although the children were at a good NC level, looking at their starting points and how they had progressed over the years, it wasn't enough progress.

I have been ofsteded 3 times, once under the very old framework where they stayed a week, and twice under the new. I preferred the old. At least they got a truer sense of the school, and they stayed for longer than 20 minutes or less in your lesson. I got good, good, good. But our last one meant we went into SM. And my internal obvs are now all RI. I'll probably not be good enough for the Academy.

I don't think for one minute they got a true picture of my school. I'm happy for my own two to go there. I know how hard the staff work, and crucially, the start the students have had. But the stats are all. We knew we would fail. If we'd all come in juggling satsumas and having waiter monkeys serve up "wow" moments to the inspectors, we would still have failed.

That seems really unfair on you call phleb. :(

We failed...our results were crap so most of the teaching must have been crap. Feel sorry for those teachers who always got the pupils to make progress but others came up with shocking excuses as to why their pupils didn't progress well. Failing and the resulting monitoring has improved all kinds of practises..hard but necessary. Pupils are now getting a much better deal.

It's just a joke at the moment. I got told I couldn't get a 1 because of the nature of my C/D borderline group - they could never make 'exceptional' progress. They've got B grade CAs which I think is pretty exceptional for them.

I worked in a school recently (changed jobs in Jan) and we got 1s across the board, yet students did not exceed targets.

Today, learning walked and pulled up on tiny things, yet nobody is pointing out I'm delivering an epic course by myself that had no resources and I am pulling it off with great progress being made.

I've just been sat here thinking about what other jobs I can do. Teaching is totally bloody thankless and I'm sick of being picked at when I know I do a good job. Its always a case of what else can you do. It will never be quick enough, good enough or clear enough for the students.

SIGH.

It's

Everyone I know is doing the same Kinky.
I'm too old to retrain to do anything else, but I do feel that I won't be in it for an awful lot longer.
I feel like older, "face doesn't fit" teachers are ebing hounded out, frightfully easy to do in academy.

Agree with you Pleb, though face not fitting is closely related to how expensive you are in my opinion. Schools will soon be run by cheap youngsters and a head teacher.

Spot on. I'm aware of a couple of academies who are trying to get rid of older staff. Bullying seems to be on the increase too.

It really worries me as a parent. The profession is being totally de-skilled. With expense comes subject experience. I started as an excellent graduate and an excellent NQT, but I still didn't know a fraction of what I do now about the subject and how to teach it effectively. It can be as flashy and gimmicky as you like, but unless there is substance to what is being taught, it will eventually have a negative effect. New teachers will do a couple of years, burn out or leave because of pay and conditions, then the short, crappy cycle starts again.