If you were to question one hundred teachers about what they dreaded most about the job I reckon Ofsted would be one of the most popular answers.
As a trainee I'd managed to dodge the school inspection regime by rotating between placements. I knew that the school where I got my first full time teaching job had received a mediocre Ofsted report and were expecting a follow up visit in the not-too-distant future.
No more than six weeks into my first year of teaching and the Head got the phone call we'd all been expecting - Ofsted were coming to conduct their monitoring visit some time in the next 20 days. An emergency staff meeting was called and everyone huddled in the staffroom to await our orders from on high.
Ofsted had requested a copy of the School Improvement Plan, which would take at least a couple of days to reach them and a couple more for them to digest. This meant we had about a week's breathing space before they could potentially turn up on our doorstep. Cue frantic dash to get everything ship shape and Bristol fashion.
One of the first instructions was to get our classrooms tidied and displays up to speed. The school had walls that had been damp, crumbling and bare for years. These needed to be spruced up with colourful backing paper and eye-catching work. This was a challenge for me because with only six weeks under my belt eye-catching work was pretty thin on the ground. Next step was to make sure all our assessment data and planning was spot on, with particular emphasis on differentiation for SEN and gifted and talented youngsters.
In the office the secretarial staff were feverishly working away to ensure that everyone's personal file was updated. The caretaking staff were replacing pieces of non-slip flooring, PAT testing all electrical appliances and making sure the fencing and doors around the site were safe and secure.
About two weeks later I arrived at work to find "Ofsted here" scrawled on the staff noticeboard. My heart sank. I had my three lessons well planned and thankfully had two hours of PPA time. The inspector had a lot of documents to check and meetings to attend, so the chances of him coming to observe one of my lessons was pretty low. My first two lessons went smoothly with no sign of the inspector. During my first PPA hour I visited the staff computer room to find senior colleagues frantically bashing out lesson plans and comparing notes on their inspection experience so far.
It was now the last lesson of the day and my final chance to be observed. The bush telegraph told me that the inspector was having a meeting with the Governors for the last hour of the school day. To my great relief I had again managed to avoid Ofsted. Amazingly it turned out that lessons in my core subject had not been observed at all.
I won't be at the school the next time they inspect it.
As a trainee I'd managed to dodge the school inspection regime by rotating between placements. I knew that the school where I got my first full time teaching job had received a mediocre Ofsted report and were expecting a follow up visit in the not-too-distant future.
No more than six weeks into my first year of teaching and the Head got the phone call we'd all been expecting - Ofsted were coming to conduct their monitoring visit some time in the next 20 days. An emergency staff meeting was called and everyone huddled in the staffroom to await our orders from on high.
Ofsted had requested a copy of the School Improvement Plan, which would take at least a couple of days to reach them and a couple more for them to digest. This meant we had about a week's breathing space before they could potentially turn up on our doorstep. Cue frantic dash to get everything ship shape and Bristol fashion.
One of the first instructions was to get our classrooms tidied and displays up to speed. The school had walls that had been damp, crumbling and bare for years. These needed to be spruced up with colourful backing paper and eye-catching work. This was a challenge for me because with only six weeks under my belt eye-catching work was pretty thin on the ground. Next step was to make sure all our assessment data and planning was spot on, with particular emphasis on differentiation for SEN and gifted and talented youngsters.
In the office the secretarial staff were feverishly working away to ensure that everyone's personal file was updated. The caretaking staff were replacing pieces of non-slip flooring, PAT testing all electrical appliances and making sure the fencing and doors around the site were safe and secure.
About two weeks later I arrived at work to find "Ofsted here" scrawled on the staff noticeboard. My heart sank. I had my three lessons well planned and thankfully had two hours of PPA time. The inspector had a lot of documents to check and meetings to attend, so the chances of him coming to observe one of my lessons was pretty low. My first two lessons went smoothly with no sign of the inspector. During my first PPA hour I visited the staff computer room to find senior colleagues frantically bashing out lesson plans and comparing notes on their inspection experience so far.
It was now the last lesson of the day and my final chance to be observed. The bush telegraph told me that the inspector was having a meeting with the Governors for the last hour of the school day. To my great relief I had again managed to avoid Ofsted. Amazingly it turned out that lessons in my core subject had not been observed at all.
I won't be at the school the next time they inspect it.