Ofsted Information 23/24

The Day the Suits and Boots Arrived.

Diagnosis.

It’s July again. I love July. I love it because happy shrieks of mischief and fun can be heard. The children have done their work for the year and now it’s their time to enjoy the last remaining days (well that’s if those teachers let them – some don’t you know). Teachers too are ready to wind down but they never seem to these days, they just sort of keep on going. It’s funny, you know, to see how well they all do, teachers, children and parents, and before you know it, it will be September again and the new school year will start and I will be ready again, to house them all and stand tall…

But wait. Who is this? Suits and boots. Decades of experience tells me that suits generally mean official persons of some sort.

Oh dear, that’s not good. There’s a big meeting and some unhappy faces. A sub-meeting in the photocopy room, most unusual indeed and some strange looks on faces. Well, there is a mild case of panic and some uncertainty in the air. What on earth have the suits and boots done? I wonder…

What’s that? No, seriously, What’s that now? Closure? As the funny ones say ‘does not compute’. It’s July 12^th and we are not due to finish until July 22^nd. That can’t be right – who are these people anyway? (Some time passes and silence hits the room, a stoney silence). Silence can be welcoming but it can also be foreboding; on this occasion, I would have to say that foreboding fits the bill. More huddles in corridors and the suits and boots are moving around checking my walls, bricks and ceilings. They have charts you know, record everything on those. I have to say this is unprecedented in my experience.

Same Day Results.

So as it turns out I have been… shall we say, under the weather. Dr Dfe has said that I have something called RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) and it’s imperative, vital, essential that it is removed – all of it. They’ve been very thorough. My crumbling, deteriorating ceilings need replacing although it’s important to point out that I feel fine; I look fine. If I am to be improved then that’s alright by me and so I close my doors to children, teachers and parents on this day, July 12^th 2023.

What about ending the year though? What about those traditions? What about?... Well, Year 6 did their play outside on my friend Flexible Field. They had their send off Mass too albeit slightly altered. What about the rest of KS2? Well, they had two weeks of remote learning - Boo!

My New Friends.

It’s a strange thing when you see the landscape change (metaphorically and literally speaking). Change can be a good thing; alternatively, change can be of a kind that makes you unsure and an uneasy feeling can arise. Change can also bring uncertainty knocking at your door; it arrived at mine in August. Whilst I knew I needed some attention, I wasn’t sure what was going on in the field that had been my companion for so many decades. I watched with interest when the obscurity that I saw clarified. Tents. Yes, August 2023 brought tents to the school field. Four of them to be exact. Vans, trucks and more trucks arrived, pitched up and off-loaded a multitude of items. In a ‘Generation Game’ style order there were: floorings, heaters, lights, extension leads, not to forget the arrival of teachers’ desks, teachers’ chairs, children’s chairs, light blue chairs, dark blue chairs, movable large whiteboards, storage drawers, cuddly toy…

The tents themselves were very pleasant beings. I wondered in awe at not having them close but needs must and so they were placed on my friend the ‘Field of Flexibility’ and off to the tents the teachers and children went. They were very welcoming those tents and in a small way I miss them. They did the job they were meant to do. They worked hard at keeping the rain off, working with the heaters who also did their job at keeping the children and teachers warm.

It never ceases to amaze me just how resilient you humans can be too. Mornings started off with teachers lugging heavy bundles of books, down the sage- green pathway, round the steely, metal barriers and up to their respective weatherproof temporary classrooms. Back and forth for some. Open it up and close it up every day and not a lock and key in sight, they had to tie at least a million knots before they could leave! I exaggerate but you get the picture. Next in line were the children and parents. Down the pathway and back again and heavens above don’t forget anything or it’s another mile to add! Daily school registers had to be sent up to the office but those tents looked after them all. A vague recollection of a green garden trolley used to haul books, pens and work for the children springs to mind but I could be wrong. Morning assemblies or worships were accommodated by my good friend St. Francis of Assisi Church – a welcomed gesture and warm too.

So everything was in place and the term started but there was an absence of what they call internet connection. Not a sausage of technology to start with. No sausage, no relish either, it was just plain old whiteboard and books. Now I have to tell you that some teachers loved this, yes, it was plain to see. I digress but you know, all in all, the children were back with me or at least near me and I sat and watched as it was all taken out of my hands. The internet connection devices arrived four weeks in, again welcomed and looked after by my friends the tents.

Diggers, Trucks, Cranes and Cabins.

Behind the metal railings, the diggers moved in and started to dig. They dug and dug and then lots of stacks were built. It was difficult at first to see what was happening; however, the meetings were still happening but faces had changed. Stress was still present, lingering and lurking in the corridors but you know, the children were here, the teachers were here and the tents were doing great. Many, many meetings with Dr Dfe’s team of problem solvers occurred. Many trucks arrived, a mini work cabin in the carpark, lots of movement and strange new noises to get used to and after brick stacks had been built, measurements had been taken, fences had been erected, pathways constructed (tarmac pathways), the day came when some seriously heavy machinery arrived with… portacabins. Cranes lifted and cabins were skilfully manoeuvred into place. So goodbye to my friends the hard-working tents, the tents that saved us from remote learning and enabled all to be together. Hello to the portacabins, equipped with technology which was welcomed by teachers and children alike. They continue to do their job well as are the teachers and children, creating a replica of me in the corridors and classrooms – it’s an incredible journey really and the learning and growing continues.

Meetings

Many meetings. Long meetings, short meetings, briefings, discussions, information exchanges, reports, diagrams, charts, data, a whir of information all about me. I am important though, I am needed.

Six Million Dollar School

I know my community is rooting for me and there is an inevitability in play here – what will be will be. I will let you know if I am to be made into the Six Million Dollar School or not but there won’t be anything artificial about healing me. I am sure to have updated electronics, maybe a new roof, maybe some new pipework, maybe… who knows? I will let you know as soon as I do.

(Last title based on The Six Million Dollar Man television programme from the 1970s)

1. Admission arrangements and information on how to access this information on the local Authority's website (RBWM).

Admissions

2. Information on where to access the school's most recent Ofsted report and the school performance tables as published on the DfE's website.

Ofsted and Performance Data

3. To find information about the school curriculum for each academic year, the content of the curriculum followed for each subject, plus guidance on how to find out more about the curriculum schemes in operation. Please see our Curriculum page.

Curriculum

4. The school's policy on behaviour and exclusions:

Positive Behaviour Policy

Child Friendly Child on Child Abuse Policy

5. Pupil Premium Allocation - please find here our strategy and approach on how we use our funding effectively to make sure that our Pupil Premium (PP) pupils do as well as all others at St. Francis.