Last year we ran our first Friday forum, a 10-part series on behaviour. It wasn’t about the big stuff, more the low-level disruption that mars many of your days. We opened up discussion on our website, and your responses encouraged us to start a second forum, this time a three-parter on inspection.
Some newly qualified teachers live in fear of their first Ofsted visit, but that doesn’t mean experienced staff are immune from stress. Can you afford to ignore the pressure? After all, many parents look at Ofsted reports before choosing a school, and teachers have been known to use them to help decide whether to apply for a job.
But do the inspectors see what a school is really like? Or do they simply see the right bits of paper produced at the right time? There is no correct way to prepare, go through and recover from an inspection. But, as we discovered with our first forum, there are common threads, ideas and survival tactics. We visit three schools before, during (yes, they let us in) and after an inspection.
Over the next three weeks, we want you to share your Ofsted experiences with us. We’re not telling you how to do it: it’s about you telling us how you did it and talking to each other.
Headteachers John Claydon and Valerie Woollven, chair of governors Alison Shepherd and Year 12 pupil Matthew Holehouse join the debate. You can too, by going to www.tes.co.ukinspection.
First up is Grove Church of England school, Oxfordshire. The staff say they’re looking forward to meeting the inspectors. But should they beI?
