Kingsdale Ofsted

[MrsR]

As a parent of two children at Kingsdale I am pleased to note the results of the recent inspection. Good in all categories with outstanding for pupil behaviour. Well done pupils and teachers!

[Debster99]

Hear hear ! A great factual report that evidences the successes of the school but also clearly indicates that SMT are aware & have a plan to further improve where necessary. Was blown away as a parent to read the section on our amazing Kingsdale kids , what a credit they are & congratulations to all the staff that work so hard to make them so proud of their school. As a parent my child's well being and happiness is number one & tonight I feel great relief that our support & belief has always been correct.

[Jessie]

Good stuff

[brockleymum]

Thrilled with the report. Well done Kingsdale!

[shelly2012]

I have a daughter their . It might took me 5 months to get get in their but it really was wort the fight .

[westof]

I'm very happy with this report. If anything I have more confidence in it than the previous somewhat gushy full report from a couple of years back.

I'm glad they've noted specific things to be improved - always a bit sus if there's nothing to be worked on. Staff & pupils shoud be very proud!

[Skegness]

Agree, westof. Very relieved and pleased at this report. Was beginning to fear the worst on a no news is bad news pessimistic basis! It's nice to read a realistic but positive endorsement.:)

[Pondlife]

Coming back to point out that Kingsdale has a 36% A-C in the newly released figures. No wonder the head wouldn't tell us when we went to the open day.

I did not put Kingsdale down and I am glad I didn't.

[westof]

It's fair to point out though, that Ofsted (from reading the report) seemed to be aware of this years pass dip when they judged the school as 'Good' for teaching, which is interesting.

The report bears a detailed read, with that in mind.

As a parent whose child will be doing GCSE's in a couple of years, I am concerned about what happened this year, but I do have confidence in what they are currently doing with her cohort.

[Pondlife]

It was a slump from 2009 46%, 2010 58.7%, 2011 61% and 2012, 36%

How would you explain it? When the two years where there have been queries over the school are high figures, and now for 2012, a slump, not a dip.

[Curmudgeon]

The results are bad, extremely bad but I'm not surprised after the hellish couple of years they've had. Actually I am a little.

Not all schools suit all families, seems you made a good choice to discount it pondlife, although I'm not sure why you seem so vehement here.

My child is at Kingsdale, in year 7, doing extremely well in a supportive and happy environment with lots of academic and other extra-curricular activities.

I'm upset at these results for the cohort but pleased that OFSTED in full recognition of the issues, background and privy to lots more info on the school that can be garnered here, judged it as good in current teaching and achievement. Seems a good thing there's been a high turnover of staff to me.

As a family at the school I'm impressed at the work, marking, involvement of teachers, care and happiness of my somewhat shy child.

I will watch the next couple of years carefully and try to involve myself more with the school. Hopefully we can all become reassured over time that this is an aberration and that we have a decent choice of schools for our families in the area.

I'm sure that's all that everyone here wants

[Pondlife]

I don't think the children should have been affected by the troubles, but there were so many teachers leaving that must have been part of it. They have paid the price by the look of it. This summer's results will be the ones to look at.

Good luck to you and your child, Curmudgeon.

[Otta]

Ofsted reports don't really offer any real picture of what a school is like, and they never will until they start turning up unannounced.

[Curmudgeon]

You get the phone call the day before to ensure SMT are available. The new OFSTED is much more rigorous

[Curmudgeon]

Thank you pondlife

[intexasatthe moment]

Curmudgeon you say " Seems a good thing there's been a high turnover of staff to me. "

But surely these teachers were working at the school when the results were good ?

They left and the re results nose dived .

Why is it good they've left ?

Have I missed something obvious ?

[intexasatthe moment]

And does anyone know why the school had to change GCSE exam boards ?

The Ofsted report seemed ( to me ,maybe I've misunderstood ) to imply that this was partially responsible for the drop in results .

Poor kids who sat exams last summer ,it seems so unfair that their grades were affected .

[ianr]

The recent Ofsted reports are here: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/136309

[Ondine]

I had a child higher up the school and the staff I knew who left were fantastic. The school has managed to recruit very good replacements - I know this from my younger child's experience - so that may be why Ofsted were reassured looking forward. The real worry for me is the data on whether pupils made the expected progress - those numbers were very poor, especially for middle attainers IIRC. Of course there is always turnover in any institution but it's as if they lost a generation so will need very good management and development of the new teachers to make up,for the loss of experience.

[veggiepeter]

Curmudgeon wrote : 'Seems a good thing there's been a high turnover of staff to me.' Finally something in a Kingsdale thread that really is potentially libellous !!

Not quite sure how this could be evidence-based as you have said that your child is in Year 7. Presumably most of the many staff who left last year were also there the previous year - when the school's GCSE results were somehow more than 20% higher. Luckily Ondine, who has experience of both last year and this year's teaching staff, has given us a more balanced view.

I am very pleased that your child is happy and benefitting from their time at the school. My concern is for the 64% of last year's Year 11s who finished without a reasonable set of qualifications. Whatever the reasons for this, I think it's important to ask where the accountability for this failing ultimately lies.

[Otta]

veggiepeter you need to look up what libellous means.

[Gwendolen1]

The huge dip in Kingsdale's results is concerning, especially as before resits they dipped below the gov floor target of 40% A*-C with maths and English, tho it's worth bearing in mind that ALL schools' results can shift rapidly over a few years (FWIW here is a very interesting piece of research which shows how much we should take league table positioning with a pinch of salt https://cerp.aqa.org.uk/perspectives/school-league-tables-revealing-or-misleading)

However, my impression of the school has been significantly adversely affected by its refusal to release the 2012 results to prospective parents last term. I rang the school and asked directly for results and was told they weren't being released due to remarking after the English GCSE fiasco. I felt at the time this was ridiculous: many schools were affected by remarking of English. It now feels that Kingsdale were hiding their very disappointing results. Parents have had to make choices about the school for their child without having all the information they wanted at their fingertips. I do not think an Academy should be allowed to behave in that way. Regardless of new legal status of 'independent' academies, parents view schools in a local system and need equal access to information across that system in order to make informed decisions. I don't think hiding that information has presented Kingsdale in a good light.

[Debster99]

HI Gwendolen1

I am guessing you are a prospective parent ? If not apologies

I have a son in yr 8 so have had 18 months of Kingsdale experience. Whilst I cannot deny they " the school " were badly advised in releasing results I think they had reasons : I sat thru a difficult parents meet when refusal to talk about results clearly indicated there were other issues. These issues relate to changes in cirriculum , adverse press attention including online OTT activity on social media. My opinion is the school has reacted , I guess like any public org , to try to protect their reputation , something that every local despite personal vendettas would do to protect a local school.

The results this year are shocking and for all of us of in the Kingsdale system are a major concern. However I am of firm belief that a reality check will sort things out. Ofsted agree & reference that teaching 2013 is on track so let's look to the future & build on great foundations. Outstanding for kids / attitude etc .. Surely thats what that what parents ultimately want?

JFI - I work in education in FE , my college is bottom of league in Camden but has highest retention & 80 % job conversion - stats are only relavent in context - So on paper academically thick kids but all employed - job done.

[Hollandforlife]

Hi Debster99,

Just wondering, whether you think the school was going to receive better/more positive press attention or less OTT activity on social media such as this by hiding the results? It made them look like they were hiding something and as we all know now...they were. I think this point has been raised time and time again so I don't want to rehash it but more transparency is needed. Then at least it would stop rumour mongering and silly speculation. You are obviously quite close to the management of the school and are very supportive. Have you suggested this to them? I am not saying your word will change the way the school runs, but it takes caring parents like yourself to make the difference.

The results were seriously shocking. I am not saying that the malpractice alleged definitely happened, please don't take this as me saying that. However, I think that does make the allegations more compelling. The year it was reported results were at their all time high for the school of 60% and then the following year when exam boards say they are monitoring examination practices (as a result of the allegations) that the results drop to 36%. Perhaps this is not a drop but where results should have always been. One of my good and oldest friend's sons was in the 2012 year 11 cohort and they are still at the school so I do not want to say too much, but it is definitely not his opinion or his parent's that this cohort was so much more weak than the previous 3 years, year 11 groups. I think the Value Added score would also show that the school have done badly by these students who would have been expected to get more than they did. Very jumbled thoughts here, but just trying to see sense in what seems like an unbelievable situation.

This school has low retention and low exam results, low in the league tables...I think that is pretty relevant. I am just utterly confused by this situation. As Ofsted have deemed the school 'good' and yet everything indicates that it is not 'good'. Also I think I would feel happier if Management and Leadership had received 'Outstanding' as at least I would then be left feeling that the school was on the way 'up' out of this drop, instead it has been lowered to 'good'. I just hope this management team are able to pull themselves together and sort this out.

I hope this does not come across as me having an axe to grind as so many others of mine might have done previously, I have had time to process more of my thoughts now and with time has come a little bit of not understanding but calm.

[Gwendolen1]

HollandforLife

I think your post sums up how many people feel. Overall, I want my children to go to a school whose lived values include integrity and transparency. It would have been much better for the school to be up front & say, 'Our results in 2012 are a disappointment; they include some unfortunate marking in English which we hope to challenge; but we have already worked hard to understand what went wrong, to make sure that it's just a blip and not a trend'. To most parents this would indicate bold leadership.

The other thing that has just felt 'weird' is the enormous gap between the school's own explicit rhetoric at open days: "This is the best school that any child could come to" (reiterated by the head, parents and children who presented formally on the day I went to) and the results (in any year, not just last year). To me this just gives a sense of unreality, of a school that doesn't have a feel for (or mind) that there's a reality gap. Most parents don't need to feel their child goes to the BEST school in the world. But for me the integrity and honesty thing IS important. How can you improve if your narrative is telling you you are better than everyone else already?

HOWEVER, notwithstanding the above, for parents whose children are at Kingsdale (or might be going) I would encourage them not to panic. Of course Kingsdale has got some great staff, and lots of other continuing strengths. And with all the scrutiny they will be working their socks off to improve - that's always a good time to join a school. (With results under the 40% threshold they will I think be on DfE's 'monitoring list' which means more [not necessarily helpful IMHO!] scrutiny from on high). Ofsted is always a very flawed process*, but I am sure we can trust that the strengths Ofsted observed at Kingsdale were genuine. I would hope that Kingsdale's governors would be pressing for evidence of sustainable improvements (ie constant upwards trend in basic quality of teaching and learning) not just jumping through hoops to squeeze the statistics up. All schools go up and down - look at the research I linked to above which showed that many schools at top of league tables will be at the bottom 7 years later (and vice versa).

*I actually think Kingsdale were pretty lucky to get away with a Good, given Michael Gove's (mistaken IMHO) view that schools should only get 'Good' if they have results that are above national average