Kingsdale School Ofsted?

[betterinthesun]

Is it true that the school is facing a 'no notice' Ofsted inspection? Anyone know anything about this?

[Metallic]

I wonder if its something to do with the trouble there about exams and there was supposed to be trouble about it but not heard anything since I saw it in some paper.

[Betterat50m]

Gang activity

[alice]

So what's the point of a no notice inspection if you seem to know all about it.

[Fuschia]

All schools are now subject to no notice inspections

[betterinthesun]

-- moved topic --

[Metallic]

Good. So if the rumours were true about the school they will find out what is happening won't they? Anyone heard what has been happening?

[ydrmdy]

My son goes to Kingsdale and he told me he witnessed staff helping pupils during gcse's. Luckily for my son he's not a cheat but suffered a misgrade because of it.

[Metallic]

WHAT???? Did you try to tell Ofsted?

[intexasatthe moment]

Shall we open a book on when ydrmdy's post will be removed ?

[Metallic]

I'm new on the forum, I only wanted to post about Luca's and my eye was caught by the other thing. So if you say something like ydrmdy why should it be removed .

[intexasatthe moment]

And i'm a bit :-S at the notion that this thread has been moved into the Family Room .

Education and discussion about standards at local schools is only of interest to "families " - yes of course ,a good education is not something to concern us all .

What's that you say - " children getting a poor shot at school ,schools setting their pupils the example of fiddling their admission policies might have wider social implications " ?

Oh well ,that's too large an issue for us all to worry about - lets leave it to the parents .

And while we're at it we can lay the blame for all that trouble we had last summer at their feet as well .

Right now lets get back to the EDF general thread and issues like the colour of recyling bins that concern us all .

edited to say - sorry admin to criticise your action so that I can get on my soapbox .

Of course it's sometimes difficult to draw a line about where posts go .Can't please everyone .

Obviously from the number of posts I'm making ,I think this is a great Forum .

[intexasatthe moment]

Sorry metallic ,last summer the whole issue of Kingsdale where a number of teachers left and allegations of exam misspractice was raised and discussed on the EDF .

Clearly it can do a school untold damage to have rumours circulating like that and several posts were removed .

The exam business has been investigated . I believe that there is some requirement that the findings are confidential .

I'm not completely sure regarding the confidentiality bit but it is unfortunate that there has been no public feedback ( or I've missed it if there has ) because it does rather still ( in my mind anyway ) leave a cloud hanging over the school - and the poor kids who took their exams at that time .

[Metallic]

Err teachers helping pupils in exams like ydrmdy said is hardly fiddling admission policies unless you are talking about going to college with a gcse you had help with.

[intexasatthe moment]

Sorry again metallic - was referring to a thread on here about the Charter school that for 10 years ( and despite succesful appeals including the issue and parents bringing the matter to their attention )refused to correctly implement their stated "safe walking distance " criteria for admissions .They relied only on routes that could be driven along .

[Metallic]

OK I see.

[prickle]

Metallic, no I don't think the cheating allegations was anything to do with admissions. Although there are issues with the transparency and clarity of KD's admissions policy?

[bluemusic]

so are we any closer to knowing whether there is an inspection there? I know that no notice inspections are quite normal now, but they were only Ofsted inspected a couple of years ago... Kingsdale and the management at the school/academy is one of my favourite topics on here, let's hope they do not remove these posts this time. If they hadn't done so in the summer they might not have looked so guilty, oh no I forget those that are guilty will always look guilty, silly me!

[prickle]

Agree, bluemusic. The mystery of those disappearing posts were as exciting as EDF gets!

[Metallic]

I wonder if it is true the school didn't take anyone from Langbourne for this year's intake and that there were quite a few kids wanting to go there who have to travel to school further away. That seems odd if its true.

Anyway if there is teacher cheating by helping in exams then it ought to be uncovered by the inspectors while they are there. Maybe there are other reasons for having an inspection so quickly that we dont know about, so does anyone on here know?

When it comes to choosing a school for my son I want to know everything about a school which includes knowing the bad as well as the good so we need to know why they are there. I can bet that the head of the primary my son goes to won't know and she should if she is going to give good advice to us all.

[espelli]

It could be a response to this on BBC News. Kingsdale's last inspection judged Teaching as Good which would put them into the group of schools likely to be re-inspected. Kingsdale's Ofsted Report

[susierose]

my son didnt want to go kingsdale school because of rumors or bad reputation, But i think its worth giving a school a chance. What the teachers did was worng i agree, but think when it comes to bad kids and gang stuff its in most schools. My son is thriving in his school, Doing GCSE's early and passed them at 14. His school have had its fair share of problems and being put down! but i cant falt The Acadamy in peckham.

[westof]

So that would be Kingsdale, Charter & another 150 or so 'Outstanding' schools in the country, now due to be re-examined under the new rules as their teaching was judged "Good"...

(Though not Harris Boys as they do have an "Outstanding" for teaching :) )

From the Ofsted website: Ofsted announces "No Notice" inspections for schools

"Ofsted already undertakes unannounced inspections in a number of circumstances, including where concerns are raised about a school and for some satisfactory schools that do not show enough capacity to improve."

I expect a "No Notice" inspection could also come under the category "concerns are raised about a school" - given that concerns were certainly raised in the summer about their exam processes, then (speaking as a layman) it seems perfectly reasonable for a "No Notice" inspection to be on the cards.

Either way, I doubt it means that anything new or exciting is happening regards the exam saga, or that the school is any less good than parent's own experience leads them to believe.

Still mildly curious as to why Betterinthesun has posted this thread now though.

[ydrmdy]

Why should my post be removed? i'm only saying what my son said he saw.

[Metallic]

Westhof, when your kid comes home saying the inspectors are in, and you know there is trouble about why wouldn't you ask for some info. I really need to know what is going on in the school as I don't want to choose a school that isn't honest when it comes to it. Open days dont tell you anything because it all looks perfect.