Latest Ravenestone Ofstead Report Locked

[Pud1]

Love your reply Livegreen! You're right, it must be a troll, and yes, bonkers indeed!

[Proudmumof2]

My friends are truthful but you could be correct. I may have been misinformed by them. But for what purpose? They stand to lose!
I am only going by what I was told. Apparently a letter was distributed to all parents informing them of the results. And for your information, we have a new addition to the family demanding a feed early this morning. I am not a troll.

[headshrinker]

I am another parent quite happy with the school. I found the report disappointing. I didn't recognise the lovely, vibrant, nurturing school my child attends. If this is the worst school in Balham (I think it might be now Ofsted-wise) then the others must be AMAZING. Whilst there are clearly some areas to work on, particularly in making the teaching more consistent, I am confident that they offer a good standard of education and excellent pastoral care. I would urge any prospective parent to visit schools and not place too much importance on Ofsted reports as they really do not give a complete picture.

[Sandimous]

I've heard that the grades a school gets is often a reflection of which people are writing the report - some inspectors give worse grades than others. It makes it hard to know how much stock to put in the reports.

It seems like the main problem in all the state schools is the big class sizes. It makes it hard to teach to the individual levels of the kids. From the report it sounded as if some teachers are better at dealing with this problem than others - but with 30 students per class, it must always be an issue.

Some school systems address this issue with gifted and talented classes, and special education classes. Kids are tested in various years and tracked accordingly. It seems like Wandsworth doesn't do this. I don't know if this is the best solution anyhow - just one way of dealing with it.

[papinian]

It seems like the main problem in all the state schools is the big class sizes. It makes it hard to teach to the individual levels of the kids. From the report it sounded as if some teachers are better at dealing with this problem than others - but with 30 students per class, it must always be an issue.

I spent all of my time in primary school in classes of at least 38. It was a fairly diverse mix - approximately half of the class lived in council housing. I do wonder why people think 30 pupils per class is so unmanageable.

All of the studies done show little or no correlation between class size and educational outcomes. Rather, it is the quality of teaching that children are receiving, in particular the educational attainment of the teacher, that is most important.

This is why the huge increase in the numbers and use of teaching assistants since 1997 has failed to improve educational outcomes and, one study has shown, has actually disimproved them.

[supergirl]

@papinian: i am sure you are right in your numbers but my experience (france) class size was an issue. Throughout my school life primary and secondary i was one among 30 at best and 35 at worst. Because i was muddle of the game and was not a "problem" i was happily left in peace. I got my dyslexia diagnosed 18 months ago, i will turn 37 early 2014. Once i knew for sure i was dyslexic it suddenly explained so much. Both my parents and I zgree that should have i been duagnosed earlier my entire experience if school life would have bern different. I remember vividly standing in front of the black board age 11 (first year of secondary school) in maths with the teacher mocking me in front of everyone because i couldnt understand where i was wrong... I had confused 2 numbers. I firmly believe school size matters as well as excellent teaching to pick up on all these little things!

[Miss Happy]

Ravestone is a great school, I would recommend it to anyone. The teachers are warm supportive and truly work very hard to maintain the ‘ ABOVE AVERAGE ‘attainment at the end of KS1 and 2. . ...something no one has mentioned from our Ofsted report...so the teachers must be doing something right? Don’t you think? Plus also check out the amount of Y6 kids that got into brilliant secondary state schools last year!!!!!

Ravenstone will be working very hard to put right all of Ofsted's 'small amount' of issues . I can assure you that the school will be functioning above ‘good’ by the end of term given this unnecessary scare. And there is no need to over react or start panicking everyone! Which is what online chat rooms tend to do!

I am not sure how anyone can judge a school by purely looking at Ofsted reports. Particularly as they get checked so rarely. It might give you some guide. But the only way to truly have an opinion about a school is to visit it. And witness how happy the kids are and how well they are doing. I can assure you they are not just playing in their class rooms. As my two kids are thriving and are full of new knowledge learnt from their fantastic school Ravenstone.

It is beyond me that three Ofsted inspectors after spending only two days in a very big school can come out with any idea of what the school is really like. They seem to have to just tick boxes to add to their government stats. There has to be a better way.

And lastly if you have any doubt as to the mixed diversity of our school . You need to spend 5 minutes at our school gates at pick-up! It has a vast cross section of the community attending our school. Which we love and embrace.

[SW12Mum78]

I am a current parent at Ravenstone and have a child who is in Year 1. Naturally we were disappointed with the results of the recent Ofsted report but have absolute confidence that the school has taken on board the feedback and will make amends and address its shortfalls. Surely this is what performance reviews are all about? The current headmaster is unbelievably passionate and proud of the school and there have been a vast number of outstanding achievements (eg Yr6 leaves going on to sought after secondary schools, fantastic sporting achievements and lots of social and cultural events).

Please do not be put off by the report if you are a prospective parent - in fact I truly believe that by joining the school now you can only stand to benefit as the school WILL make the specified changes and move back up the Ofsted rating scheme ensuring that our children will get an even better, all-rounded, education.

We have been parents of the school for just over 1 year - my child has learnt a huge amount. As the second youngest in the whole school when we joined we have had additional support with regards to reading and handwriting - what more could we ask for? My child has started to read, count and write so there is lots of good teaching going on. Not to mention all the questions we get asked about the various topics they discuss/ learn about in the class room.

All I can say is please go and look for yourself before making any decisions about this school. We are delighted to be part of it and it really is a good school.

[papinian]

there have been a vast number of outstanding achievements (eg Yr6 leaves going on to sought after secondary schools

Could you give some details of this? Are you referring to (i) entry to the Sutton grammar schools or the Tiffin schools in Kingston, (ii) entry to Graveney on the Wandsworth test, (iii) entry to academically-selective independent secondary schools at 11+.

As regards entry to other sought after secondary schools, whether a child is admitted or not won't have anything to do with how they are doing academically so is irrelevant.

I will keep repeating that attending "lots of social and cultural events" isn't of much value if children leaving aren't up to their potential standard of reading, writing and maths. This is where Ravenstone has gone astray.

[LauraBrown]

Is the Ofsted report available online anywhere so people can judge for themselves? For some reason I can only find the old one?

Good teachers can differentiate their lessons to address the needs of different ability groups even within a class of 30. The fact that a child learns to read and count does not mean that they are making as much progress as they could. The parents on this thread who say the school is brilliant regardless seem to be missing the opportunity to reflect on what could be improved. There is no shame in needing and trying to improve. And it is great that there is a broader set of cultural/extra-curricular activities underway too. It is my personal belief that a lot of less well-loved schools in Wandsworth have better teachers within them as a more challenging intake necessitates it...

[papinian]

Report now available on Ofsted website:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-rep ... ELS/101017

"Progress for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, is not consistently good."

"This variability in progress is because teachers do not always use accurate assessment information to set work at the right level for these pupils."

"The pace of learning in lessons is not consistently fast enough. This is because teachers sometimes spend too long explaining tasks or do not adapt them in response to pupils’ needs. As a result pupils sometimes spend too long on undemanding tasks."

"While there are targets in pupils’ books, these are not always challenging because they are not based on accurate up-to-date assessment information and they are not always reviewed."

"Behaviour is not yet outstanding because some pupils in particular year groups reported that their learning is sometimes disrupted by a few pupils who become bored in lessons where teaching is not strong."

"More-able pupils, pupils with special educational needs and from minority ethnic backgrounds do not always make as much progress as they should."

"Governors are not as well informed about the achievement of all groups of pupils as they need to be in order to offer effective challenge to the school, or hold staff fully to account for pupils’ achievement."

"some parents and carers who responded to the Parent View survey indicated that they were not satisfied with the way the school had responded to their concerns"

"Governors have formalised the way in which they carry out their visits to the school. They show some understanding of the school’s performance, and of the quality of teaching in the school, but until recently they offered limited challenge to the school. This is partly because they are not provided with enough information about the progress and attainment of all groups of pupils across the school and partly because much of the governing body’s attention has been focused on matters relating to staffing and the increasing number of disabled pupils and of those with special educational needs."

[Cronut]

Thank you for that, what an interesting report...

And no mention of the thousands and thousands of pounds raised by the parents during all those extra curricular activities that we have read so much about above, fancy that

[Sandimous]

The quotes from the report Papinian listed above are only the negative ones. Parents interested in the school should read the full report, look at the school's test results and take a tour.

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-rep ... ELS/101017

The report focuses on specific issues, which are currently being addressed. The report in itself doesn't give a complete picture.

[papinian]

The quotes from the report Papinian listed above are only the negative ones. Parents interested in the school should read the full report, look at the school's test results and take a tour.

The report focuses on specific issues, which are currently being addressed. The report in itself doesn't give a complete picture.

- Ravenstone's test results have been consistently mediocre.

- You say that the issues in the Oftsed report are being addressed. Are we to take your word for this, or will you be giving details?

There are lots of claims made in this thread by those defending Ravenstone, but very little substance to such claims. One of the core themes of the Ofsted is significant failure by the board of governors of Ravenstone to hold the head to account. Are we going to see some accountability happening now?

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[Cronut]

Papinian, you are spot on (again!)

Unfortunately, what we will witness now is a lot of excuses (very reactive) and nothing about why standards were allowed to fall in such a way- let us be clear you do not slide from Good to Needing Improvement unless there are major failings, so why were the school and the leadership not more proactive, especially as parents were feeding back their concerns (so I am told)?

I don't think we will get the answers that I seek but probably more of what an excellent school this is etc- Ofsted seems to think otherwise.

Anyone at the school going to put their hands up and take responsibility here? Or will it be a case of closing ranks and saving jobs...

Gosh, it seems my initial first page posting is still very valid after 40+postings...

What I would really like to know is who is taking responsibility and what is the outline of their plan, rather than more excuses about what a great school this is...