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OFSTED ICT Subject inspections

December 31, 2009 by chris 

 

What is it that OFSTED characterises as a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ in an ICT department, when it visits?. Looking at existing reports – these are from the last three years – it is possible to see in advance what sort of things they are likely to pounce on as unsatisfactory and what they are likely to praise.

For many schools good work is done but not well documented, during the stress of an OFSTED visit, it is easy to forget the detail that makes a difference. My school gets got 87% A-C and was classed as ‘inadequate’. The best preparation is to go through these reports and see what it is relevant to your school and document it if it is done well, and plan for change when it is weak. These reports are also useful to show the SLT and the Head if they need persuading to change things.

The first 20 reports that are on this site are from the first 50 pages of Reports. There are 10 schools to a page. These 20 are the only ICT subject reports from 500 schools reported so that gives the first statistic – about 4% of OFSTED inspections are ICT Subject inspections. That should give rise to a sense of relaxation if the visits were random, but they are most probably not.

The Reports are available as PDFs by clicking the School name

Grades: I – Inadequate, S – Satisfactory, G – Good, O – Outstanding

 

Achievement and standards

Quality of teaching and learning of ICT

Quality of curriculum

Leadership and management of ICT

Assessment of ICT

Overall

Saint Bede’s, Boston

G

G

G

G

S

G

Coleshill, Birmingham

O

O

G

G

O

G

Farnham Heath End, Surrey

G

G

G

G

-

G

Bay House School, Gosport, Hants

G

G

G

G

G

G

The Charles Read High, Grantham

O

O

G

O

O

O

Swadelands School Maidstone

I

S

I

I

I

I

The Pingle School Swadlincote

I

I

I

I

  

I

Walton, Preston

G

G

G

G

G
G

Chamberlayne Park School, Southampton

S

S

I

S

S

S

Wigmore High School, Leominster

O

O

O

O

O

O

Frederick Gent School Alfreton

I

S

S

S

  

I

Oldbury Wells School Bridgnorth

S

G

I

G

S

S

Ridgeway School Plympton

S

G

S

S

I

S

Trinity High, Redditch

S

G

I

G

G

S

Southfield, Cumbria

S

G

G

S

S

S
Aylestone Hereford
S
S
S
S
G
S
Bay House, Gosport
G
G
G
G
G
G
Northicote, Wolverhampton
G
G
O
G
S
G
St Benedicts, Bury St Edmunds
S
S
G
G
G
S
Trinity, Redditch
S
S
I
G
G
S
Walton, Preston
G
G
G
G
G
G

Best Practice

This is a small group of schools inspected as examples of best practice in a particular area. Three out of 500 schools examined, the same proportion as ‘Outstanding’

Kendal Primary Plasma Screen Knaresborough Mobile Technologies Oakwood Inclusion – Hospital
King James, Knaresborough Mobile Technologies        
           

Common themes

  • The level at which the students joined the school, if they started low a good or outstanding are more likely
  • Head and SLT – If they are actively committed good or outstanding is more likely
  • Lack of Cross Curricular organisation is frequently mentioned as an ‘Area for Improvement
  • ‘Outstanding’ schools tend to be small.
  • Most ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Satifactory’ schools have cross curricular cited as an area of improvement

See also: Wigmore, Leominster

See Also: Charles Read, Grantham

Filed Under: OFSTED
Tagged: ,
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Comments

2 Responses to “OFSTED ICT Subject inspections”

  1. James Hartridge on February 17th, 2010 8:41 pm

    Thanks for putting this together – just what I was looking for. Where did you find all the subject reports on the OFSTED website?

  2. chris on May 4th, 2010 6:00 pm

    James
    I got them the hard way, by ploughing through the ofsted site, but I have made a ‘freedom of Information’ request to OFSTED and asked for them all. They are not playing ball yet, but I will persist. OFSTED reports are a remarkeable resource, giving an insight into what ideas schools have both good and bad.

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