Blog

At the end of the 2023-24 academic year, we published the findings of our survey of 236 headteachers in our ‘Labouring to Love Headship’ report. The picture presented was gloomy around preparation, induction, training and support for those taking up headship.

Overall grades from inspections are on their way out in 2024-25 and, by 2025-26 we will see more changes as the much-heralded ‘report card’ system takes effect (possibly seeing the end of the four-tier grading system, but who knows with any certainty). As we step forward into this new and slightly uncertain future around inspection outcomes, I thought it would be of interest to school leaders to have another delve into the weeds of SSAT’s inspection tracker.

When Sarah Dowdle, Assistant Headteacher at Dormers Wells High School, took on the role of overseeing Student Leadership, she knew change was needed.

In the village where we live, the primary school sits at the top of a hill. Alongside the main footpath runs an unofficial walkway, worn by small feet over many years. It marks out a more adventurous route along the top of a muddy bank, passing through bushes and behind a large oak tree.

In the past week, I have been looking at the regional variations in the 2023-24 inspection data with some interest and so I wanted to share them with you. Hopefully you will find them fascinating too.

Thirty eager faces, hands shooting up in the sky as soon as you ask a question, soon makes way for smirking furtive glances around the classroom, rocking back on two legs of the chair, and volunteering a reluctant answer only when asked directly! So how do we maintain the eagerness, the love of learning, and the hunger to answer questions and still look cool?

Implementation matters. Even the greatest idea remains only an idea until it is successfully implemented. Effective implementation is the cornerstone of all meaningful and sustainable change in education, whether your focus is classroom, curriculum or culture.

Within this learning space, there is a hugely diverse group of young people from all different walks of life. You have around thirty pupils for a lesson and you have to teach a complex concept.

The independent learning review for Ofsted conducted by Dame Christine Gilbert, commissioned by His Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) and the Chair of Ofsted in April 2024, examines Ofsted’s practices and accountability in light of the tragic suicide of Ruth Perry in January 2023.

My previous blog queried whether the data about ‘need to improve’ comments from inspection reports since January might be pointing towards an ‘Oliver effect’.