Ofsted U-turn leaves schools on the hop
SPALDING Grammar and High schools could be among the quarter of ‘outstanding’ English schools facing re-examination as Ofsted moves its goalposts on educational standards.
A new framework for Ofsted inspections came in last month which ended regular, full-scale inspections for ‘outstanding’ schools.
But the Ofsted boss, chief inspector for schools Sir Michael Wilshaw, threw eveything back into the melting pot last week when he said: “I don’t see how you achieve outstanding status unless the quality of teaching is outstanding.”
Spalding Grammar School gained ‘outstanding’ status in its Ofsted inspection in December, but the quality of teaching was marked ‘good’.
Spalding High School could also get caught up in fresh inspections although it too is currently rated ‘outstanding’.
In the High School’s last full Ofsted inspection in 2009, almost all teaching was rated ‘outstanding’ – but the sixth form was away doing exams and, bizarrely, teaching for those students was marked ‘good’ although no lessons were observed by inspectors.
An Ofsted subject survey at the school last February for English described achievement as ‘outstanding’ but the quality of teaching ‘good’.
Grammar school headteacher Nigel Ryan was not available for comment, but High School headmaster Tim Clark believes his school is still only likely to have “health checks” rather than full inspections.
Mr Clark remains baffled about the ‘good’ score for the sixth form when lessons were not observed.
He said: “In 20 odd categories we got ‘outstanding’ and in one we got a ‘good’ – why they didn’t just leave it blank we will never know. We find it a rather odd scenario.”
Other big changes on the cards are so-called “no notice” inspections and the scrapping of the ‘satisfactory’ label, a category describing many South Holland schools, and its replacement with ‘requires improvement’.
Mr Clark said schools now get two days’ notice before inspectors come calling and there is no way they can have all the paperwork to hand if they just walk in unannounced.
But Long Sutton’s Peele Community College headteacher Ian Charles said: “I have always been in favour of ‘no notice’. I think to turn up and see a school in action is the only way to do it. People can put on a show.”
His school has just been rated ‘satisfactory’ in an Ofsted inspection in January and says the new category ‘requires improvement’ will not adequately reflect the many improvements made over the last three years.
Spalding headteacher Heather Beeken, of St Paul’s Community Primary School, said her school is rated ‘satisfactory’ and the new ‘requires improvement’ label will be “a very poor morale boost for parents and staff”.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Spalding
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
Comments
There are 3 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
alocal
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 10:15 AMHave a look on http:www.bbc.co.uknewseducation-11950098. If you took 2 grammars in Spalding and 2 in Tunbridge Wells, you would find that they would be ranked (1-4) TW girls, Sp Girls, TW boys, Sp Boys. However, it is very close! And Sp Girls get the best A levels (point score and % getting 3 A levels), which is mainly what the Grammars are aiming for.
alocal
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 10:05 AMAll grammars (and all other schools, for that matter) can be compared by looking at their results on the league tables. You can look at results for GCSE and A Level, as well as value added. VA scores show what they do with what they admit at 11, so it is a useful indicator of the level of teaching. Find the tables via BBC Education (very easy to access) or the DFE. I was in another area with grammars before I moved here and have compared ours with theirs; they only took approx. the top 27% of children, whereas ours in Lincs take approx the top 30% and ours get similar results, often with better value-added scores.
justmyview
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 12:58 PMI am not surprised the Head Teacher of Spalding Grammar wasn’t available for comment, he was probably working from home! I call him the ‘lesser spotted Head Teacher’, because I rarely ever see him around the school gates. I agree with Ofsted, how can a school be rated as outstanding when the teaching, which must be a priority, is rated as good? I would like to see the Grammar Schools compared and rated against other Grammar Schools in the country so it is clear just how good (or outstanding) our Grammar Schools are! With the two tier system it is easy to hide behind good exam results which can be achieved regardless of the quality of teaching.
Page 1 of 1
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.