I really don’t see how I can share my thoughts on headship without mentioning the sword of Damocles that hangs over all of us – OFSTED. I don’t intend to be political with anything I write, I am not a political person but I want to be honest and realistic.
Everyone in education should be accountable, we are, after all, a public service, but to have a system that publicly shames us and pits one school against another is fundamentally flawed.
My father was in education for 35 years and went through that whole time never having a school inspection. Now that isn’t right, for the last 15 years he was a headteacher and as such there should have been someone evaluating the work he was doing. What happens now is far too much the other way. I went through 7 Inspections, the last 5 under Ofsted and the last 3 as head. One of those was a curriculum and development visit with a focus on RE – now that was interesting.
After a while they all blur into one so I will focus on the last inspection we experienced, and I will share the things to do and not to do during that time.
It had been five and a half years since our last inspection and I knew they would be coming at some point, so I had prepared all stakeholders, especially teaching staff and we were ready. However, when that phone call comes in, you still go into overdrive and panic mode! We were having an offsite SLT day when I received the call from my office manager saying OFSTED wanted to speak to me. I told her off for trying to fool me, and slowly it dawned on me this was for real. **** was my expletive and the three of us on SLT at the time geared ourselves up to receive the call. It wasn’t the 90 minutes we expect these days, but I still needed to bring my A game to the conversation.
My first piece of advice is to have a team around you for the initial phone call. Having three of us listening and making notes and reminding you what questions to ask was a great help. I would also recommend having a whiteboard & pen so others can hold up questions and comments whilst you are the one doing the talking. And have the phone on speaker phone so that everyone can hear what is going on!
We returned to school immediately and started to get things organised. We had been expecting the phone call so previously I had said to everyone, ‘What is the one thing you will panic that you haven’t done when I tell you we have had the call? Go and do it now!’ So, I sort of hoped everyone was feeling more in control. However, it was unfortunate that our call came on the 3rd of December when we had just taken all out displays down to prepare for Christmas, so there was a bit of a panic about that!
There is no doubt it is all in the preparation! It is essential that your website is compliant and the more you tell them the less they will go digging! There is no doubt that inspections today rely upon ‘Show and Tell’ it is not a case of ‘Hide and Seek.’ Be proud of what you do and who you are and if there is something you want OFSTED to see, then show them!
The Inspection framework is forever changing, and the goalposts are moving all the time. When we were last inspected, as the head, I was very involved in the inspection from the off, these days it is more about the middle leaders, and can the inspector see happening, what we say should be happening? Therefore, know where your strengths are, know where work is still needed, but don’t tell the inspectors that. If you tell them there is a weakness somewhere, they will highlight it. Let them find the areas for development.
The pressure during the two days that our inspection lasted was intense. I had to fight every step of the way. I had been asked how I would grade the school and I said outstanding. I was instantly told that was highly unlikely and that good was very good. I wasn’t going to give in to that! It was all hands on deck; we produced writing across the curriculum, examples of Maths reasoning, learning outside the classroom, everything we could think of. If they asked for more evidence of something, we found it! There were some very low moments when I was made to feel we were heading towards RI and the team around me sent me into my final meeting being told ‘go and fight for the school!’
There was no need to fight, their minds were made up and we maintained our outstanding status. I was shell shocked and didn’t believe what I was hearing until the final team meeting with my deputy, Chair of Governors and local authority.
The hardest thing of all was keeping the judgement to myself. The team around me were passionate about the school and desperate to know the outcome. I couldn’t breathe a word – even harder when plied with shots at the staff Christmas party on the evening of the 2nd day.
There is so much in the press about OFSTED and the pressures it places upon heads, but no-one appears to be listening. Everyone would agree that safeguarding is the most important thing – in which case don’t leave it to OFSTED to find any mistakes or errors. The local authority should check schools on an annual basis, not wait for five years between inspections.
OFSTED should focus upon the teaching and learning – that is what schools are all about. Yes, I know these days they do so much more but that differs from area to area. Some schools are more social workers, others are community hubs, if we are going to be graded then focus on our core function. Better still, don’t have a grading system at all; Either schools are doing a good job or they aren’t. That’s what parents want to know. It is up to the individual school to sell their offer to prospective parents, it shouldn’t rely upon an OFSTED report.
I managed to end my time as headteacher on that ‘Outstanding’ OFSTED. When I left it had been eight and a half years since our last inspection and we had been expecting any day. I hope I left the school in a strong place, ready for the call, when it comes. Yes, I was mighty relieved I had managed to avoid them, but I also felt guilty that I wouldn’t be there to support my colleagues when the time comes.
Someone once told me to imagine the Ofsted inspectors naked, then they don’t seem so intimidating! That didn’t work for me, it just made me feel even more nauseous!
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