Horrified - kids schools got REALLY bad ofsted report

MortgageMamma

Hi All

I'm looking for some advice on what to do next.

The OFSTED report for my childrens school has just been released and the school has been graded inadequate and unsatisfactory on every single point. I'm in shock after reading it, and I'm not quite sure what to do - do I withdraw them and put them in a better school or wait until ofsted have implemented their "special measures" and see what happens?

My situation is I have a year 3 daughter who is to say the least a bit brighter than she should be for her age - the report says that bright children are not challenged enough

I also have a Y1 Son who has dyspraxia and needs a bit more attention to help him out. The report says that Y1 children are not achieveing national standards and the lessons are poor, task focused and unstimulating...

I saw an SENCO at the school last October as my sons occupational therapist recommended he got 20 hours support a week. This still hasn't happened despite me asking his school teacher every fortnight or so whats going on nobody has got back in touch with me. I've been worried about this for a while now - but his teacher said he was attaining his benchmark standards and I shouldn't worry (obviously before the report was issued)

The school is the only one in my village and I have a daily 20 mile round trip if i put them in the next towns schools.

What do you think I should do?:(

silvercar

Find out if the next town's school has places. It may be that they are full and you have little option but to stay put. (Though a 20 mile round trip twice a day is offputting; what would you do if one child was unwell and you needed to collect the other from school?)

RAS

I would wait a few weeks befor makign a decison.

however, start by speaking with the Chair of Governors to find out what how they are going to respond.

This happened to a village school I know. It nearly closed down becuase they did not tell the parents what was going on.

The new Board of Governors had some very frank discussions with the education authority. The Head left, the teacher who continually undermined him was put on secondment and then removed. With a new Head, a new temporary teacher and the one good teacher still in post, it turned round massively in a year or two.

joeblack066

I would bide your time a bit, as now that OFSTED has recognised the issues measures will be put in place, and often this results in the school in question becoming the best in the area! Keep an eye on your kids' progress, and as said before, see what the Governers and LEA are intending to do.

andrealm

On balance, were you happy with the school before you saw the Ofsted report?

I would definitely push the school on what's happening with your son's support.
Are the school trying to get him a Statement?

MortgageMamma

thanks for your opinions guys. I guess I'mgoing to avoid a knee jerk reaction and taking them out of the school. Incidentally the only thing the school has said since the inspection in "you should have received the oftsed report this week, whilst we are dissapointed with the result, we want to thank you for your continued support. We are looking forward to working with the local authority to move the school forward. The children should feel proud of their contribution to school life and understand the critisicms made were nothing to do with them".

Nothing in that little announcement about giving us parents regular updates which is worrying.

Incidentally in the 2.5 years my kids have been attending the school I have never seen any correspondence from the school Governors. I have no idea who the governors is/are or how to contact them. Any ideas?

MM

andrealm

Does the school have a website? If they do, it will probably tell you how to contact the Governors. If they don't the Head should be able to tell you.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Contact your local council. They'll be able to give you the details if the school won't or you don't want to ask them.

RAS

Small warning.

If your School Governeor are that visible, it may be one reason why the school is in trouble.

If you start to express an interest in what is happening, you might just end up on the Board, as happened in the case I just cited.

Nenen

First of all - try not to panic and don't rush into anything. You could take this term to look at all the options without unsettling your children until you have made some investigations and initial decisions. Even if you do end up moving schools, imho it would be far better to do this in September, at the start of a new academic year. I'm a teacher and have found that children starting a new school in September often seem to integrate more easily, particularly if all the children are finding their feet in a new classroom and with a new teacher. If you have decided to move them, use the summer holidays to arrange some play dates if you can so your children get to know a few children in their new classes.

However, before rushing to move them, personally my first concern would be - Are the children happy and do they have lots of friends at their present school? If they are generally happy (if somewhat understimulated) then personally I wouldn't move them immediately as a happy child in their local school is, I believe, better off than one who may be unhappy and unsettled in a new school far away. The last thing you want to do is jump out of the frying pan into the fire, particularly when the move will put a lot of extra stress on you with additional journies etc. You may be in a position to provide the extra challenges your daughter needs (even if you pay for extra tuition this would probably cost a lot less than all your travelling costs to move schools). Don't forget if you move schools you also have all the inconvenience of play dates, parties etc with children living miles away.

My second question would be - despite the current school's academic failings, do you feel the vast majority of the teachers care about the children and do your children have good relationships with them? Do you feel they are approachable?

Hopefully this report will give the school the kick up the **** it needs and if it is really dire the LEA should put in some extra expertise and resources pretty quickly. Having said that, I have seen all kinds of quirks, mistakes and misinformation in OFSTED reports. They are not always an accurate reflection of what goes on - some schools and some teachers are better at 'putting on a show for inspectors' than others. It is after all a snapshot taken over a very small period of time.

I would suggest that you (preferably with other parents who share some of your concerns) write to the head, governors and LEA to ask what is going to be done about the situation, and outline your specific concerns regarding your son and daughter. In particular ask for what is being done regarding your son's special needs given his rights under the disability dscrimination act. By putting this in writing the school and LEA cannot simply ignore what is going on. See what sort of reaction you get before you make any decisions. It may be that this report will encourage one or two key staff to move on and schools can change very quickly with the right staff in place, similarly (without wishing to panic you further) good schools can go downhill very quickly with a change of head (as I found to my cost when I chose a school for my son). Current OFSTED reports are just that - the current situation. Who is to say what that will be in a year or so's time?

Best of luck.

dizziblonde

They changed the criteria for a lot of stuff recently - and there have been a lot of schools I know fairly well around here put into special measures by the new goalposts. Some I think have had it coming for a while, but a couple I was utterly shocked by (and going in on supply you do see a school warts and all).

I'd leave it a while, see how things pan out - read the full report when it comes out (with a healthy dose of salt), and just remember when comparing it with previous reports - that they're using a whole new set of goalposts. If you're still not happy then by all means move - but I'd base more on your gut instinct and how happy your kids are than a snapshot of 2 days worth of paperwork scrutiny and observations in April.

If it's just gone into measures the wheels will be turning with the school and LEA, give them a few weeks to start turning before expecting change to happen - the staff (whatever you think of the school they'll have put their everything into the school inspection and will be feeling absolutely gutted) and management need to take stock before moving the school forward - there's no magic wand for insta-changes.