Choice of primary
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Re: Choice of primary
Stroller wrote:Catseye, I suspect ToadMum was referring to your choice of the word "effluent".
tbh most of what I have to say is effluence as some members here would only too willingly testify to
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waytooearly
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:35 pm
Re: Choice of primary
Thank you all, it has been incredibly useful. Would anyone else like to add their opinion?
NS1, one of my pet rants of late is that ofsted's rating system should rate schools relative to each other (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grading_on_a_curve" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) rather than with absolute scores. The vast majority of the schools we look at seem to have an ofsted 2 or better -- surely these can't all be equally good and must have a position on the bell curve? More than any media outlet or newspaper, it's ofsted, with their extensive inspections that have the wherewithal to produce a ranking/league table that takes into account all sorts of soft, non-academic factors and yet all they produce for parents (the taxpayers) is outstanding/good/nah/you-must-be-nuts-to-send-dc-here.
Rant over.
Mandy, thanks for the plan B tip!
NS1, one of my pet rants of late is that ofsted's rating system should rate schools relative to each other (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grading_on_a_curve" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) rather than with absolute scores. The vast majority of the schools we look at seem to have an ofsted 2 or better -- surely these can't all be equally good and must have a position on the bell curve? More than any media outlet or newspaper, it's ofsted, with their extensive inspections that have the wherewithal to produce a ranking/league table that takes into account all sorts of soft, non-academic factors and yet all they produce for parents (the taxpayers) is outstanding/good/nah/you-must-be-nuts-to-send-dc-here.
Rant over.
Mandy, thanks for the plan B tip!
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kenyancowgirl
- Posts: 6738
- Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm
Re: Choice of primary
To be fair to Ofsted...and I'm not their biggest fan, they have to rate on SMART things...they have to be able to measure what they are rating, see targets achieved, exceeded or failed, it has to be specific not wooly, to take account for the many, many variables, not least the different geographical locations and the variations in affluence (or effluence!) there and the different people that make up the Ofsted team.
However, by focussing on the measurable, they miss a whole load of things that regular forumites on here, (me included!), bang on about ad infinitum. A school is so much more than it's targets - a lot of the "soft" support, the pastoral side is what really makes a school different from another and elements like that can vary so much. In smaller schools, where class sizes are tiny, a relatively "bright" cohort can hugely skew the results - in the same way that a relatively "less bright" cohort can....the "targets" and "results" get massively affected but parents cling onto them as concrete evidence...
Which is why we always say - go look round - get a feel - do it now if it makes you feel better - see what you think and then do it again when your child is much, much nearer transition and see if your thoughts have changed.
However, by focussing on the measurable, they miss a whole load of things that regular forumites on here, (me included!), bang on about ad infinitum. A school is so much more than it's targets - a lot of the "soft" support, the pastoral side is what really makes a school different from another and elements like that can vary so much. In smaller schools, where class sizes are tiny, a relatively "bright" cohort can hugely skew the results - in the same way that a relatively "less bright" cohort can....the "targets" and "results" get massively affected but parents cling onto them as concrete evidence...
Which is why we always say - go look round - get a feel - do it now if it makes you feel better - see what you think and then do it again when your child is much, much nearer transition and see if your thoughts have changed.
Re: Choice of primary
As Einstein is thought to have said
"not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted".
DDs primary school went down from good to needs improvement in the years she was there. In that time the number of children getting into the GS didn't particular change, and they still get more in than most schools in the area.
One thing they have always scored well on though was the pastoral/welfare side of things. The children feel happy and safe.
"not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted".
DDs primary school went down from good to needs improvement in the years she was there. In that time the number of children getting into the GS didn't particular change, and they still get more in than most schools in the area.
One thing they have always scored well on though was the pastoral/welfare side of things. The children feel happy and safe.
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waytooearly
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:35 pm
Re: Choice of primary
Cheers, thanks for your opinions 
