Goose Green Primary: requires improvement (Ofsted Mar 2017)

[DulwichLondoner]

Ofsted has just (8-Mar-2017) published the report of its recent inspection of Goose Green Primary:

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/138842

The school was found to 'require improvement' in all metrics.

I'd like to ask for the opinions of those who are familiar with the school, who have children there, who applied or considered applying. We'll be applying for primary school places in about 18 months. I understand the school will be reviewed by Ofsted again in about 24 months, but by that time we will have applied already.

I couldn't find previous reports on the Ofsted website. Maybe because the school converted to academy? However, I found some just by googling:

It was found 'good' in 2012: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjqndeCyerSAhXKDJAKHUhzCLcQFggmMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Freports.ofsted.gov.uk%2Fprovider%2Ffiles%2F2027135%2Furn%2F132022.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGUWW7eNzN4jt5uOyA54tJwgRUBxw&sig2=emuqjnZlWOuUMkbwMCanoQ&bvm=bv.150120842,d.d2s

and satisfactory in 2010: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjqndeCyerSAhXKDJAKHUhzCLcQFgggMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.goosegreenprimaryschool.org%2Fviewer%3Furl%3D%2Ffiles%2Fschool-information%2Fofsted-report-june-2010.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEaC81XIlx3vzbnfdyfPQ5MNxFx4Q&sig2=dgb5kP32SLV6dtSXPAYz6Q

I think test results tend to reflect the families' socio-economic background as much as, if not more than, teachers' abilities, but this report seems quite, well, damning on a number of fronts.

Goose Green is the closest school for us, but with a bit of luck we might be able to apply to others. Bessemer Grange, Dog Kennel Hill and Belham seem better, according to Ofsted and to hearsay - acquaintances with children there. The Belham off Bellenden road and the new Harris on Lordship Lane are very new, have not been inspected yet, nor do I know any one with children there.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[GG governors]

Hi, we were disappointed with the overall assessment that Ofsted made in their recent report (although we were pleased that they recognised our Early Years provision as 'Good'). In large part this reflects challenges that the school has had adapting to the new primary curriculum and also the context of staff and headteacher changes in 2015 and 2016.

The whole school team has been working very hard this year to address issues we had already identified and in their report Ofsted highlighted that:

'Current senior leaders have an accurate view of the school?s strengths and where improvement is needed.

'Working closely together, they have put initiatives into effect swiftly that address the decline in teaching quality and pupils? outcomes.

'As a result, the quality of teaching and pupils? achievement are improving.'

We have a strong senior leadership team, an excellent teaching team, a firm commitment to a broad and inspiring curriculum, and will shortly be announcing our appointment of a new permanent headteacher who will take the reins from the beginning of the autumn term 2017.

We'd love to welcome you and your family to one of our visits for prospective parents later in the year, and we will also be arranging for extra opportunities for families who are offered places to join Goose Green in September 2017 to visit us after offers go out in the second half of April, so that they can see the impact our improvement work is having and ask any questions they might have.

You can see our response to the Ofsted report on our website here: https://www.goosegreenprimaryschool.org/school-information/ofsted. We expect Ofsted to visit to monitor our progress in c six months time and are confident that the inspectors will be able to see continued and sustained improvement as a result of the school's work.

Goose Green Governors

[MarianaTrench]

As an aside, I am not sure test results actually reflect the families' socio economic status. I have been looking at primary schools for my child to start primary school this September. I went to see three 'good' schools and they were the usual mix of all the different people that live here. I went to see one 'outstanding' school (a Harris school, on Peckham Road, not the one in ED) and I got the impression their intake is v challenging, a large proportion of children with behavioral, special needs etc, they get good test results because they manage all those challenges really well, and focus predominantly on the metrics that Ofsted focuses on. So yeah, anyway, my two cents.

[hpsaucey]

Hoping that the impact of the serious challenges faced by schools in introducing the new curriculum - resulting in worse than expected OFSTED's isn't going to be used as an excuse to turn basically good schools into Academies...

HP

[DulwichLondoner]

Could you please elaborate a bit on this point? I am not very familiar with the new curriculum (introduced when? For all schools?) nor with the differences between 'ordinary' state schools, free schools, academies, etc. , but I am very interested in the topic.

[reds]

I think it's a mistake to judge primary schools based on test results and ofsted report (the two are very much linked) alone. It is very easy to manipulate key stage 2 results and numerous schools will play the system and use various dubious practices to ensure excellent results. This certainly doesn't benefit the children who miss out on a balanced, all round education.

[GG governors]

Hi DulwichLondoner,

The government has made a lot of changes to the national curriculum over recent years, which includes a greater emphasis on academic subjects (including tougher spelling, punctuation and grammar)and new assessment arrangements during the year and at the end of each key stage. A lot of changes were made at short notice during the year, so schools have had to adapt quickly to those.

These articles might be of interest: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-changes-to-primary-assessment, http://schoolsweek.co.uk/dogs-breakfast-of-primary-assessment-is-increasing-teacher-workload/ and https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/26/spag-folly-condemned-by-teachers-in-nut-poll-of-primary-school-tests.

And I can understand why the different types of school can be confusing (I've discovered that I've had to learn loads since I started as a governor!). In short:

- Maintained Schools are traditional state schools managed through the local authority

- Academies are maintained schools which have converted to become independent of the local authority

- Free schools are new academies which have been opened by parent groups or other sponsors

- Multi-Academy Trusts are groups of academies (which can come in different shapes and sizes ranging from large groups working in a chain through to smaller partnerships of schools)

This article might help if you'd like to find out more: https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school/overview

I hope that's useful, Rob

[Pugwash]

OFSTED Results are not always indicative of a 'good all round school' as they do not include certain aspects.

My daughter, many years ago viewed a 'Very Good' school for her then young daughter. having been taken around the school by the head, she decided not to put her daughter's name down. When I asked why - she explained that the school was too quiet, and although children were set round in groups at tables, there was no interaction with each other and this was apparent throughout the infant section - she acknowledged that they were all polite - saying good morning to head and herself. As she worked with special needs young adults, she asked out of curiosity what their SEN provision was and support. She was horrified to hear that the head had confirmed that they had an autistic child but he looked 'normal' and was well behaved so he did not stand out.

Admittedly my grand daughter is now 18 so we are talking 12 plus years ago - she ended up going to a school which was rated good but needed some minor improvements. She was considered to be bright and eventually went on to achieve As and A* in 9 GCSEs.

[Coach Beth]

My son was in Year Six at GG last year. We had been at the school since reception and felt it important to support our local school which we did. We did have good years at the school and my son made many solid friendships with children from diverse communities that have carried on - this was really important to us as both myself and my husband grew up in prominently white areas and we wanted our son to have a different experience. Anyway, it was indeed rocky for that year group at GG last year - there can be no denying that as they had to put up with a very new curriculum right at the end of their school year and be assessed on things that hadn't been prioritised before (i.e. handwriting), AND have new leadership and other staff (both year six teachers changed after the first half term and there were supply teachers until replacements could be found which did not help their classroom experience and I think impacted on their results). From my perspective, it was an unfortunate combination of the new curriculum changes AND change in leadership and other staffing that was the problem. Although his first year at secondary school was abit rocky and I was initially worried that his academic performance would be far behind from where it should have been, now in the 2nd term of secondary school he has bounced back up and is doing well - both behaviourally and academically. Talking to friends with children at Goose Green school, things this year have stabilized and it sounds like there is a solid plan to get things on surer footing now.

[buggie]

Sounds very strange similar to Ivydale which has come out overall as "needs improvement"

Felt like that decision had already been made before Ofsted stepped over the threshold

as throughout the report they state the things they mark the school down on are already being addressed.

Feel fortunate to already have a child there and have enough involvement in the school to know it is a fantastic school

as I'm sure many GG parents know about their school.

[goosemum]

I've had children at GG for the past 10 years. I've seen it go through a number of twists and turns, both in terms of staffing and Ofsted reporting. But there has never been a single day when I have regretted sending my children to Goose Green. It has a wonderful 'heart', has introduced my children to a wide variety of friends and they have both grown into emotionally intelligent young people because of this. The sports, arts and music facilities are also a great bonus. I'd recommend you visit the school, as I did all those years ago and see if it's right for your child.