Ofsted: My Experience

Just a week and a half after running from a long period of absence Ofsted called to say they would be inspecting the school. Dammit. I didn't feel at all re-adjusted to being at work. It was going to be an interesting couple of days...

The team that came to inspect our school were incredibly thorough but they were fair and approachable. At 8.30 on the first day of the inspection they asked for the whole staff to gather together. They introduced themselves to us all. They wanted to remind us that they will be observing all teachers teach and that they would be giving feedback about the lessons. But they were very clear - their judgements were based on a snapshot of one lesson. We were certainly not to let their words define our careers. Their words made an instant impact on the body language of the staff as you could see people relax slightly. They were inspectors but they seemed human at least!

In the two inspections I've worked through before, I had not been at all worried about what inspectors had to say about my teaching. I don't mean to sound cocky. I knew I wasn't perfect, but I was sure I wasn't unsatisfactory. This team, however, after being out of the classroom for most of the term before it, I hadn't established routines and expectations properly yet. For this inspection I found myself becoming quite worried. Despite what the inspectors had said in the morning I was nervous that my teaching would be found to be not up to scratch. This would also undermine all of the judgements and observations I had made about my colleagues teaching. I was desperate to do well. The inspector arrived to watch a maths lesson. It seemed to go ok. I was aware that a few children hadn't found the task easy. I was sure that the majority of the pupils had made progress. It was such a relief when I was told my lesson was 'securely good'. Confidence restored!

The inspectors only observed Maths and English lessons, including a significant observation of phonics teaching. We sort of expected this, but we were disappointed that they were unable to observe teaching of other subjects, which we believe is s strength. Of course, they observed Foundation Stage as well. They mainly observed lessons on the first day, but on the second day they walked through maths and English lessons, just hanging around for a few minutes in each. Despite us leaving a selection of books in the classrooms for them to look at, they only looked at Maths and English books.

They gathered middle and senior leaders together for a lengthy discussion of various aspects of the school - leadership, teaching, English, Maths and more.

They listened to readers throughout the school. They had a meeting with a selection of children from the school.

The inspectors were rigorous but they were fair and approachable. This made the process easier. I'm delighted to say that they found the school to be Outstanding - amazing recognition for our pupils, staff, governors and the whole school community. You can read our report here.