Agenda item

To receive and consider a report containing School Performance Indicators and Ofsted Reports.

Gilian Cole, Service Manager Schools presented the School Performance Indicators and Ofsted Reports.  Some of the comments made during her presentation are listed below.

·           There had been a change in practice by Ofsted.  This was in relation to the inspection of schools that had previously been deemed outstanding, those schools were now back into the inspections schedule;

·           Some of those outstanding schools in the Borough had not been inspected for up to 14 years.  Ofsted’s Chief Inspector of schools, Amanda Spielman was very clear of her view that a school should be inspected at least once during a child’s journey through that establishment;

·           There was some work to undertake with outstanding schools to bring them up to date with the inspection framework;

·           Those schools that had had their last inspection prior to 2015 would receive a full section 5 inspection, which could change the overall grading at the end of the inspection process.  Other schools would receive a monitoring section 8 inspection;

·           The challenge for schools previously judged outstanding was that the Ofsted framework had changed significantly since the last time they were inspected; particularly in relation to the expectation for outstanding;

·           Ofsted had clarified that an outstanding grading was ‘exceptional’. It was expected that a school would have to achieve outstanding in all areas of judgement in order to achieve an outstanding grading;

·           Officers had been in conversations with schools in preparation for these inspections, and help to understand expectations;

·           One important factor for Ofsted was that school leaders were required to make an accurate judgement call with regards to the school’s quality of education.  Officers were having conversations with school leaders explaining this requirement;

·           A number of Ofsted inspections had been carried out since September 2021, and the details and outcomes were as detailed in the report;

·           It was pointed out that Highwood Primary and Radstock Primary had now achieved positive outcomes of ‘Good’ ratings;

·           There was no national data set for 2021, the last published data set was for 2019.  However, it was anticipated that there would be data for KS4 for 2022, this would be brought to the Committee when available;

·           Primary school assessments would take place, but the results would not be published at national level, they would be shared with schools and parents.  It was still to be understood how this information would be shared with the local authorities.

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

·           Members were pleased to note the progress and the achievement of ‘Good’ ratings by schools in the Borough;

·           In response to comments, Gillian Cole stated that it was important to acknowledge the challenges being faced by school communities and their leaders in relation to the new Ofsted framework and potential Ofsted outcomes;

·           Gillian Cole informed that schools were being alerted to factors that influenced Ofsted inspection outcomes, such as the importance of the quality of education, an accurate self-assessment and continuous focus on safeguarding;

·           Ofsted recognised the impact the pandemic had had on schools’ ability to drive change, in relation to curriculum changes for example;

·           In response to a question about how to deal with staff absences during an Ofsted inspection, Gillian Cole stated that there were mitigations in relation to staffing shortages.  For example, it could be that senior leaders had left the school because they were moving to more senior positions after a good succession growth programme;

·           Gillian Cole informed that Ofsted had increased its focus on deferral of inspections.  Some schools within the Borough had successfully applied for a deferral in their inspections (particularly due to covid);

·           A member stated that some of the Ofsted ratings in the report needed updating, Gillian Cole agreed to check.

RESOLVED That:  The report be noted.