Westways Primary now rated "requiring improvement" rather than Good

[henny 10]

Westways Primarys new ofsted report now says it 'requires improvement' rather than the previous 'good' rating. Does anyone know if it deserves this down-grading?

 

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection report/provider/ELS/107095

 

I have been wondering if it is a victim of its own sucsess and its new, larger size (presumably pulling pupils from a larger area). Should we avoid?

[AMR67 10]

I work in a north Sheffield school and we suffered the same fate (good - downgraded to requires improvement). The inspectors didn't take into account that we had had a massive influx of Roma/Slovakian pupils into our school who could not speak English added to the fact that almost 30% of the Teaching staff had only just started at the school (the inspection came 7 days after the summer break) and were still finding their feet.

It is widely believed now that inspectors are marking the schools low with a view to pushing them into academy status.

[robdawn12 10]

If you look at any school which has been vistied by ofsted in the last 12 months or so, not one has kept the same grade, they have all been downgraded, My youngest goes to Westways and my Eldest to All Saints catholic high school, both have dropped a grade

Teachers who are friends of mine say it's down to the way the inpsection is done and the rules they have to apply, if the same criteria used that was applied as the last ofsted inspection the grade would be the same or higher.

It's the system used that is downgrading the schools, not the schools that are failing.

Edited April 2, 2014 by robdawn12
spelling punctuation

[AMR67 10]

If you look at any school which has been vistied by ofsted in the last 12 months or so, not one has kept the same grade, they have all been downgraded, My youngest goes to Westways and my Eldest to All Saints catholic high school, both have dropped a grade

Teachers who are friends of mine say it's down to the way the inpsection is done and the rules they have to apply, if the same criteria used that was applied as the last ofsted inspection the grade would be the same or higher.

It's the system used that is downgrading the schools, not the schools that are failing.

 

Exactly!!

[henny 10]

How is anyone able to tell what is a good school any more? If you can't trust OFSTED and I'm not sure that you can 'feel' a good school just by visiting then that just leaves test results.

 

Personally 'requires improvement' makes me want to flee for the hills (well deeper into S10 anyway which is roughly the same thing). You start to worry that they will come out far from their full potential.

[Ashcroft 19]

teachers have way too much to deal with, its a real rough time for them now.

[mrsb73 11]

If you look at any school which has been vistied by ofsted in the last 12 months or so, not one has kept the same grade, they have all been downgraded, My youngest goes to Westways and my Eldest to All Saints catholic high school, both have dropped a grade

Teachers who are friends of mine say it's down to the way the inpsection is done and the rules they have to apply, if the same criteria used that was applied as the last ofsted inspection the grade would be the same or higher.

It's the system used that is downgrading the schools, not the schools that are failing.

 

Brightside Infants maintained its Outstanding status in Sept 2013.

[fanfa 10]

Lots of schools up n down country have been downgraded. All political IMO. When they are re inspected they will go up again...then govt can say what a good job they've done...they found all that failure in the school system (that coincidentally supports their rhetoric that teachers are ****) and now look...because of Gove all the schools have improved. All just in time for the election!

 

As a teacher can I just say you can't trust Ofsted when looking for best place for your child. It should be one of MANY factors you consider. I know the 'cheating' that goes on in both schools and by Ofsted to try and play the game to win. Visit; talk to staff; talk to pupils; look at results; look at ofsted; look at enrichment activities; look at behaviour, bullying policies...the 'gut' feel is a very important one. Will your child be happy and do well there? Visit an open day/eve; talk to parents with kids already there. Please. Don't just rely on a frankly unreliable source like Ofsted!

[Bludragonfly 10]

If you look at any school which has been vistied by ofsted in the last 12 months or so, not one has kept the same grade, they have all been downgraded, .

 

 

You are wrong - three secondary's in the NE of the city went from Satisfactory to Good over the last 18 months (Sheffield Park, Hinde House 3-16 and Parkwood)

 

---------- Post added 02-04-2014 at 21:04 ----------

 

Brightside Infants maintained its Outstanding status in Sept 2013.

 

... and Limpsfield has just maintained its Good rating

 

 

Well done to both schools - brilliant news for the area

[Mr Bloom 10]

You are wrong - three secondary's in the NE of the city went from Satisfactory to Good over the last 18 months (Sheffield Park, Hinde House 3-16 and Parkwood)

 

Oooooh and guess what? They all have academy status!! :hihi:

 

The government should be ashamed of themselves. Opposition parties should be exposing this.

[bluecanary 13]

So ironic giventhat Westways is reputedly oversubscibed with potential new pupils this year!

[jemson 10]

If you look at any school which has been vistied by ofsted in the last 12 months or so, not one has kept the same grade, they have all been downgraded, My youngest goes to Westways and my Eldest to All Saints catholic high school, both have dropped a grade

Teachers who are friends of mine say it's down to the way the inpsection is done and the rules they have to apply, if the same criteria used that was applied as the last ofsted inspection the grade would be the same or higher.

It's the system used that is downgrading the schools, not the schools that are failing.

 

My school has kept the same grade but that is unusual. The system is rubbish. Take owt from Ofsted or league tables with a handful of salt and go and look at the school yourself if you have concerns. It is just gameplaying, monopoly, where only the very strongest schools survive and they will always be in the `best` areas.