Come and Join the Ofsted Conversation And Put Your Mind At Ease

September 14th 2017

I am looking forward to the London OBC on the 19th of September at 2pm hosted by Bain London, 40 The Strand, Invitation attached.

It’s always a pleasure to meet Gill Jones and her team. Imagine we got to this position by having a very big conversation! It’s a long way from the antagonistic place we were in two years ago, when Ofsted ignored us, patted us on the head and told us to go away! 

Now, it’s different. I like working with Gill  She is thoughtful and open to hearing what we say.  A pleasant change in our current world.

The plan for the meeting is that we hear from Ofsted and they hear from us. In addition I have invited the very informed Dr. Julian Grenier to share his thoughts  about his recent book about the Ofsted inspection. I know Julian always give a coherent and thoughtful presentation.

The agenda is devised to frame the afternoon. However, our best OBC meetings are where we have great conversations or as I would say to LEYF teachers ”pedagogical conversations”!

Here is the agenda, and if you want to check out previous meeting look here 

Agenda

  • Progress with the in house Inspections
  • Satisfaction Rates and Complaints
  • Paid For Inspections
  • SEF Debate
  • Progress on Scrutiny Panels
  • British Values
  • Ofsted                              

The following items came from colleagues in the sector and from the Champagne And Lemonade campaign 

Name  Item
Keith Appleyard Invoicing. It would seem that Ofsted no longer send an email or ”real letter” reminder. Instead you are send a note telling you that  you have been deregistered. This causes panic although when you get through to Ofsted they say it’s a process so not to worry. This may have less issue for those paying by direct debit.
Kate Peach Wants to remind Ofsted to tell inspectors that ”conditions of registration” no longer in operation but inspectors still asking for them.
Helen Simpson Wants to know more about the progress for registering trustees.
Dawn Nasser Wants to check what guidance Ofsted is giving inspectors as to what to look for when inspecting how we are applying the 30 hours eligibility criteria.
Lala Manners  What we need from Ofsted is a revision of the assessment framework for PD (a ‘prime area’ of EYFSC) – it does not adequately support children’s health – the ‘exceeding’ for this domain is ludicrous (hop and skip in time to music – hold a pencil etc. – these are children entering year 1!) Developmentally – children would have to live in a cave not to achieve this – the bar is set that low. Assessment must be aligned with CMO guidelines launched – in response to the dire warnings re children’s physical health (mainly obesity related). These are primarily focused on the recommended amount of PA children experience (180 mins daily) – there is no stipulation re intensity – and no idea as to assessment -what we do know is that less than 10% of young children actually achieve this level. The CMO guidelines appear as a footnote in 2017 – The revised EYC – are not embedded in the curriculum therefore wasting a major opportunity to address children’s health issues because there is no incentive for all teachers to address levels of PA.

So this is a taster. Sign up and join the OBC. Never take granted the work we did to get Ofsted on side. Relationships take effort so in the words of Andre Maurois the French essayist a happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short! Or even better is a quote from Boyzone

”…all I need is a good conversation to put my mind at ease”.

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