Give them a break !

*GSM• A report from Ofsted in January criticised the school following a visit in November, highlighting issues with the multiple roles held by the head, which is said was impacting on its strategic direction.

Ofsted said: "The headteacher is also the proprietor of the school.

"The school does not have a governing body.

"The strategic vision and direction of the school are set by the headteacher alone.

"She is aware of the weaknesses in the school, but lacks the capacity to make improvements.

"This is because she holds multiple roles with the school that take up a considerable amount of her time."

Taken from the local paper, the head cannot afford to run the school and not teach, the school was slammed by ousted.
The boiler broke down on the day of the inspection which put the heads role under scrutiny.
It was exceptional circumstances but it was enough for a poor result from Ofsted and the straw that’s broke the camels back for the lovely head.

Lucca, you wanted to primarily raise the question of the timing of current inspections in your OP, and I believe your comment may have been overlooked.
Inspections were of course suspended during covid and there is now the inevitable backlog. My DH had one lined up for the week of the first lockdown, and a couple in the following weeks. The Inspectors are playing catch up with lots of those. So most of the schools were pretty much preparing for the visits two years ago! Other than a quick ask as to how things went during lockdown, that period is not inspected in any depth. However, areas like IT, preparation and organisation, and general communication with parents might actually have greatly improved and receive great praise in current inspections.
It is unfortunate the stress any inspection brings and I can sympathise. I wish anyone in teaching or with offspring in teaching all the best.

That’s all well and good Hetty but what you need on your cv is good exam results. You can only show your communication skills and positive attitude once your cv has landed you an interview - and I don’t need to tell you what a competitive world we live in.

trisher in the 60's they were called "Educational Advisors" and that was their job.
You can't blame inspectors that the job has now changed beyond recognition.
FWIW my DH is currently not staying in a posh hotel as you say, and lunch is a quick sandwich, and writing up until 10 pm.
I agree Hetty58 that the inspection is merely a snapshot on that day or so. Impossible to get the whole picture.

It's a shame that parents rely on Ofsted reports to determine whether a school or college is 'good'. The inspectors will measure and record - only the things that can be measured and recorded. The really important things can't be measured, though.

It wasn't the physical environment, my teaching, their learning - or even their results that worked the magic. It was the communication, the role models, the infusion of positive attitudes, the friendship, camaraderie and enjoyment that made all the difference.

Having worked in many different schools over the years I've heard so many stories about ofsted inspections, what was done to bend the rules and get the school through, schools that failed on single issues, schools which manged to get outstanding although there were many rumours circulating about their inadequacies, it's difficult to have any faith in them.
There seems to be an illusion that before Ofsted there was no support or inspections in schools. Of course there was, but it was done in the spirit of encouraging and helping teachers to do their jobs and to improve their practice. It was supportive and informative. Local inspectors were not people who zoomed in, ticked boxes, stayed in a posh hotel and then left, they were locally employed and maintained contacts with the schools in their area.

My late DH was an HMI and then a registered Ofsted inspector. He stopped when they were required to report on individual lessons and teachers because he said nobody could make any kind of judgement on the basis of half an hour on a given day. When HMI saw a lesson which raised concern they would discuss it with the head of department, not report on it.

No wonder teacher retention is so hard.

I suspect there’s rather more to it than that Sago.

Our GD’s school is closing at the end of March thanks to Ofsted.
It’s been a wonderful happy place since 1945 but the powers that be don’t like the way the school is run, the head apparently spends too much time teaching.
The staff,children and parents are devastated.

I was Ofsted-ed in different secondary schools on 4 occasions. It's the stress (and extra work) generated by senior management before, and the absolute exhaustion for weeks afterwards that I remember years later.
Covid had produced both stress and exhaustion for 2 years, and that Ofsted are going about their business as usual, to me, is obscene.

I have seen the threads on MN and I think they are a bit more nuanced than that.

I have to say that this was not how I read the thread that I saw. Most posters were clear that the OfSted ratings were not what influenced their choices. It is a shame in one way, as it may be that OfSted might have had something very important to say about the children's safety and well-being; but parents are so used to the idea of OfSted measuring the wrong things about a school that the baby goes out with the bath water.

Hopefully the new OfSted rules will bring back some sanity to the whole business.

My point is really the timing. All the extra work and admin for the pandemic etc
However I have since had some inside information and it seems the leadership knew they had some failings in the safeguarding sphere and failed to address them. So not the classroom teachers …hooray !
It honestly will not affect parents choosing this school, there are several good secondary schools in the town but this and one other will never be short of students !

Yes, always find out for yourselves. It is easy to see the Ofsted inspection reports. You will be surprised at what can put a school under 'needs improvement'. You may well decide that, is the school you wish your child to attend.

Ofsted inspections, jumping through hoops whether you are a good school or not. Two schools that i know of were told to improve, had their heads removed. The 'heads' then turned up as Ofsted inspectors!

Parents do indeed care about these things - they want their children to be safe - but not about the things that have been a focus for OfSted for so long. I can only hope that their new protocols will concentrate on the things that matter.

Indeed - inadequate judgements are usually about the very basics - safeguarding in all its aspects.

I have seen the threads on MN and I think they are a bit more nuanced than that. I too am a school governor, so have been through Ofsted inspections in that capacity as well, I think anyone ignoring the inadequate judgements that I have seen through my work would be making a mistake.

Its my understanding that schools rated outstandng dont have another inspection for years. Ergo my gc school. I cant believe that can be right.

You make a good point about small schools trisher. They have to do everything in miniature in terms of tick boxes that the bigger schools do, without the same manpower and resources. And yet they often go above and beyond in terms of pastoral care and value added teaching not necessarily on the curriculum.

The real issue here is what are high standards .... are they about box-ticking, or about the rounded development of each child?

I am a school governor - as long as you have a Head who can tick all the boxes, then you will get outstanding. The boxes that need ticking have nothing to do with your child's well-being - they are just statistics that the government can use to say that they are doing something about education.

There is general agreement in education circles that OfSted has been getting it wrong and quite simply looking at the wrong things.

For the sake of OfSted, teachers are burdened with unnecessary box ticking and target setting, much of which repeats itself. Clearly some of it is necessary, but teachers know which of their pupils are shining, which are struggling and which are just ticking along OK. And they adjust their teaching accordingly.

Schools with tiny classes in rural areas are in a farcical situation - 2 children with special needs in a year of 6 pupils .... the stats reveal that one third of the children are not up to "expectations" - surprise surprise!

It is important that schools are kept up to scratch with safeguarding and buildings safety. No-one has any argument with that. The problem lies in the over-emphasis on the collection of statistics - it truly is totally out of hand, to the detriment of both staff and pupils.

Time was when there where school inspectors who also had the role of advisors (and had resources to back this up) so were there to help schools when they had problems - they had a positive role as well as a judging role.

I have been through 2 OfSteds and they were so stressful for everyone - teachers, governors, pupils. And we had to argue ourselves blue in the face about the irrelevance of the statistics to a rural school with so few pupils, and with a very high level of special needs pupils. Were they remotely interested in the massive and broad curriculum enrichment programme, the wonderful pastoral care, the individual attention that made sure that every child of whatever ability had their own programme that meets their needs, the opportunities that every child had (academically, socially - as part of the local community - musically, sports - just everything). As an example, how many tiny primary schools are there where every child in every class, from pre-school up, plays music for at least 15 minutes at the start, where they all learn to read music, where they all learn an instrument? - and the sport is at a same level.

I am told that OfSted are now changing their criteria - I have yet to be part of an inspection under the new rules and hope very much that some common sense will have been injected into the process - how anyone could possibly have thought that the system that has been present over the last years made any sense at all is beyond me and many others. Maybe it made sense to Michael Gove - but what does he know about education?

I hope the new rules are an improvement, because up till now the things that OfSted concerned themselves with are not the things that parents are looking for in a school.

Try looking up a thread about this on Mumsnet and you will hear what parents think. Basically they ignore the OfSted report and go to the school and find out for themselves about the things that really matter,

No worries!

They would have marked me down on my spelling of your name though

I always found them really helpful Josieaa and their grading was usually where I would have graded the service. I found it a useful tool in negotiating resources/changes with senior management 'well Ofsted says this needs to happen'.

DH is on an inspection at the moment. The last thing his team wants to do is to fail a school. A teacher on GN was horrified when I mentioned that some inspectors are actually keen to advise and support the school in a helpful manner. Not all inspectors are monsters or ticking boxes machines, though yes, as several have said here, standards do have to be met. I'm sure my DH would give you top marks Galaxy, he isn't a git!!

I wanted the people in my care to have someone other than myself taking a look at standards, I thought they deserved that much.