Ofsted: the longest week ever!

[Waffler]

My daughter's school had Ofsted last week, and we think things went well. Most of us parents think its a fab little school. Laurens class was the only one observed because the rest of the teachers were out on strike and her class was the only one in school. (her teacher not in the union)

I'm amazed they inspected on a 'strike' day (our school didn't strike).

As far as Ofsted affecting my performance is concerned, I don't think this was the case as my Head knows the Head and pre-warned her, and even if I do say so myself, I think I was pretty good! I have a feeling I know what the potential reasons were behind me not getting it. It was a KS1 post and I made no bones about saying that my preference was up to Y1. It also transpired on the day that they were looking for someone to lead maths, which really isn't my thing (though they wouldn't have given that to an NQT if that's who they appointed - the other 2 interviewed were both NQTs.)

I'll definitely look into feedback as it can be very useful (we think the reason they sent letters is to get out of feedback though, which I think is a little naughty.) Since my Head knows the Head, I think I'll ask him to approach them first, as I'm more likely to get a true answer that way, e.g. they wouldn't turn round and tell me that they hired an NQT because I'm too expensive, but they might tell him!

C'est la vie! Time to move on and focus on the interview next week (3 day week at school for me then!)

[kirsty b]

My daughter's school had Ofsted last week, and we think things went well. Most of us parents think its a fab little school. Laurens class was the only one observed because the rest of the teachers were out on strike and her class was the only one in school. (her teacher not in the union)

[zazen999]

Waffler; sorry to hear about the job. Did you ask for feedback; my Other Half never does; I keep getting him to but until someone else at work asked him whether he got feedback or not he wouldn't ask. Sometimes they can pick up on things you aren't aware of and you can avoid them the next time.

We used to have Ofsted, as I used to work for a huge training organisation. they had the national contract for one single sector; about 7000 students that they farm out to colleges. The whole of that dept would go bananas but as I worked on the employer side, I didn't every have to endure. I think the impact of the whole week probably hindered you performing on the day; if they don't find anyone on this round perhaps ask for a re-interview as you have to take these things into consideration...

[Waffler]

The letter arrived this morning: I didn't get the job. I'm not that bothered about the job itself, but I'm really surprised and annoyed because the school had spoken to my head to ask whether I had any other interviews because they'd move theirs forward if I did; I thought I interviewed (and taught/presented etc.) well and my head had told me it was almost in the bag. I'm annoyed because I put in all that work ON TOP of having Ofsted and missed out on a chilled day at work! Bummer!
Still, I have another interview lined up for Friday, so I guess I'll just put my all into that one.
In what way did you suffer posted Ofsted Yancancook? How did it go?

[yancancook]

Congrats of surviving Ofsted, we had ours last November and I suffered for weeks afterwards... At least you get to chill in the garden, I had to suffer indoors. Hope you get the job you went for, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Waffler]

Boy am I tired!

I've missed you guys, but I literally have not had time to come on in the last week and a bit because we've had the dreaded Ofsted at school. The call came last Friday, so between Friday morning and Thursday night I worked 2 weeks in the space of a week. My poor hubby has barely seen me, and when he has it's been to briefly shovel the food he has lovingly prepared, before continuing with the work and falling into bed. However, the work paid off: they observed my lesson and it was graded as 'good' (which these days is really quite good, if I do say so myself) and the school overall got a 'good', which was more than we had expected, so great news all round.

Then... whilst everyone else was chilling yesterday and recovering from said inspection, muggins here had to go to an interview, so Thursday night was spent finally giving the preparation for that some attention and another stressful day yesterday! Phew! Plus... we had arranged to go out with about a million (ok maybe only 15 or so) neighbours to celebrate a birthday, so I didn't get to bed until 1am.

The interview went well but I haven't heard anything yet (as I said about a dozen times in as many minutes as I met up with the guys for a drink after school yesterday!)

So just to reiterate: boy am I tired! Thank goodness for bank holiday weekends! Finally I can pay my poor garden (and husband!) some attention!