Posts Tagged ‘Ofsted’

No notice Ofsted inspections – a logical progression?

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Ofsted’s new chief has announced the current two day notice before an inspection is set to be replaced with a no notice system for inspections for all schools in England from autumn.

Some schools believe these changes are a result of recent claims that schools attempt to portray a stronger impression during Ofsted inspections by sending “bad” pupils home or drafting in staff from other schools. There are also concerns that shorter or no notice inspections may stop schools properly engaging with the inspection process.

Ofsted has carried out 1,500 no notice inspections over the last 18 months and defends the new system by assuring that the sole aim is to provide a true picture of school performance. Schools should be able to trust the inspection process but no notice inspections may just aggravate the feeling that Ofsted is trying to catch them out.

Laura Richards

Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com

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New Ofsted questionnaire-initial analysis

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Covering over 22,000 schools across England, Ofsted launched a new online questionnaire, ‘Parent View’, in October 2011. The scheme was launched to provide parents with a voice and greater insight as they make choices about their child’s education on areas such as quality of teaching, bullying, behaviour and levels of homework.

The aim is that the anonymous system will provide Ofsted with information about schools that will help inform their priorities for inspection. Over 9,300 parents have completed the questionnaire since its launch. Initial analysis shows just under a third of families with children at the schools where results had been analysed said they would not make recommendations about their children’s school to other parents.

Parents often go by word of mouth when making important decisions about their child’s education, so this questionnaire provides a crucial portal for them to base their decisions. However, there is a danger that the anonymous system could be abused with schools being targeted unfairly, resulting in misleading results.

Laura Richards

Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com

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Evidence that federated schools improve outcomes

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Ofsted’s latest survey shows that schools who join together to raise standards, see improvements across teaching and learning, behaviour and pupils’ achievement. The survey found that the main reason for the improvements was effective leadership, underpinned by ‘rigorous procedures for holding staff accountable’ and ‘assessing the quality of teaching and learning’. Greater flexibility of increased resources was also listed as an important factor.

While hard federations are only appropriate for specific circumstances, schools and academies are increasingly looking at various ways to partner and collaborate with each other on a far more formal platform than they may have done in the past. Key reasons for this include ensuring the longevity of relationships and sharing resource and expertise to improve pupil outcomes. New governance arrangements, multi-academy structures, establishing trading companies and entering into formal partnership agreements are just some of the possibilities schools are looking into.

Increased school collaboration is high on the government’s agenda as part of the ‘self-improving school system’, and will undoubtedly be staying there for the foreseeable future.

Hayley Roberts

Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com

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Ofsted launch consultation on the inspection of further educational colleges

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

This week Ofsted have launched a new consultation on proposals to revise the inspection framework in relation to further education.

The changes are designed to streamline the inspection process. If implemented there will be fewer judgments but an increase in lesson observations. There will also be a greater emphasis on the elements that have the biggest impact on improving standards and increasing the job prospects of students.

Those judged good will be re-inspected within six years with those judged outstanding no longer being routinely inspected.

The proposals marry neatly with the inspection guidance and framework for schools, making it easier to compare and contrast educational providers. Ultimately, this assists both parents and students alike to make more informed decisions about post-16 education providers.

Hannah Bramhall

Hannah Bramhall
0121 237 4563
hbramhall@brownejacobson.com

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Have your say on local authority children’s services

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Today sees the launch of a consultation on changes to the inspection of local authority children’s services. Ofsted’s announcement flags the “No Notice” element of the scheme and reports that it is proposed inspection will include direct observation of services in action, including interactions with children and families.

Inspection will also consider whether the quality of early help could have prevented the child from entering the child protection system in the first place and the impact of the failure to provide such help might have had on the child.

It doesn’t take much to work out what triggers have prompted these developments, which, it is proposed, will be implemented May 2012. The consultation invites comment, but the closing date for this is very soon; 30 September 2011.

Posted by Sarah Erwin-Jones, who specialises in social services, the care sector, education and negotiating legal costs; advises on risk management issues including data protection matters.

Sarah Erwin-Jones

Sarah Erwin-Jones
0115 976 6136
serwin@brownejacobson.com

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Definition of “persistent absence” to change

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

The Department for Education announced on Tuesday that they are to reduce the threshold at which a pupil is defined as “persistently absent” from 20% to 15% in an attempt to solve truancy in schools. This reduction in the threshold is set to incorporate an additional 246,000 pupils but the move has been criticised by unions for failing to tackle the root cause of truancy.

On a practical level, the reduction in the threshold will impact on Ofsted’s evaluation of pupil attendance, and in some cases this could result in a lower grade. Ofsted has advised that they will explore ways of taking into account the lower threshold within the new framework expected early next year.

The government’s attempts to tackle truancy are unlikely to stop here. Nick Gibb has advised that in the coming months stronger powers for schools to deal with truancy will be announced. It remains to be seen whether these changes will actually deter persistent absences in schools.

Hannah Bramhall

Hannah Bramhall
0121 237 4563
hbramhall@brownejacobson.com

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Academies conversion now open to all schools as total passes 600

Friday, April 15th, 2011

More than 600 schools are now academies (compared to 203 in May 2010), with nearly 500 waiting to convert having already applied to the Department for Education. Nearly 550 secondary schools are now academies, representing 16.5% of secondary schools.

Until now, conversion was open only to schools judged by Ofsted to be Outstanding or Good with Outstanding Features (which have been able to convert in their own right) and other schools if applying as part of wider chains, supported by strong schools.

However, in response to demand from other mainstream and special schools wishing to become stand-alone academies, the Government will now consider applications from any school that can make a compelling case for converting to academy status. Criteria include exam performance over the last three years, and comparison with local and national exam performance.

It is clear that academy status is so far very popular amongst schools, which, it would appear, consider the greater freedoms promised by the Government to be a great incentive.

Posted by Chris Emm, who specialises in commercial property work primarily acting for local authorities and also deals with development and commercial freehold and leasehold matters.

Chris Emm

Chris Emm
0115 908 4112
cemm@brownejacobson.com

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Nursery abuse report pulls no punches

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Safeguarding is back in the spotlight following the publication of the review into abuse by Vanessa George at Little Ted’s nursery.

The review pulls no punches, stating that Little Ted’s “provided an ideal environment within which George could abuse”. It comes as no surprise that the ‘usual’ recommendations were made following the review – safer recruitment processes, effective policies for safeguarding and communication of those policies and ensuring a robust whistle blowing policy is in place. With safeguarding being so high on the agenda for so long now, it comes as a surprise that some schools and nurseries do not have these policies in place.

What is equally surprising is the criticism levelled at Ofsted who inspected the nursery months before George began abusing. It is likely to mean that Ofsted will be applying even greater scrutiny to safeguarding polices and practices at schools and nurseries in the future. Now is the time to review your own practices.

Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises in defence claims for social services,education and care providers; risk management presentations and workshops on child protection in education.

Dai Durbridge

Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com

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Ofsted slammed by MPs

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Ofsted now oversees early years settings, colleges, children’s services and social care, as well as schools. In a new report the Commons schools select committee has attacked the breadth of Ofsted’s responsibilities and their overreliance on exam results when assessing schools.

Criticism has also been targeted at the “relentless pace of reform” that Ofsted is overseeing; saying that schools feel “coerced and constrained”. The select committee has urged Ministers to give schools and LAs a period of stability. The committee is supported by the Association of School and College Leaders General Secretary, Dr John Dunford, who commented that the obsession with accountability has led to a sense there is a crisis in the schools system.

With a general election campaign about to begin, is there really any likelihood of a period of stability?

Mark Blois

Posted by Mark Blois
0115 976 6087
mblois@brownejacobson.com

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