Recent research by ‘Schools Week’ highlights that, ‘In an evolutionary shift, Ofsted’s 2019 framework looks more closely at what schools teach pupils, rather than just exam results.’ Ofsted are clearly crediting schools for their inclusivity and their ‘broad and balanced’ offer, validating approaches that TT Education has been passionately advocating for many years. Key findings included:

• Ofsted rated as ‘Outstanding’ a school where pupils achieved a third of a grade lower than expected, while the top grade has been removed from schools where youngsters scored a full grade more.
• One secondary school in the south was rated ‘Good’ despite a Progress 8 score of -1.33. Another school was downgraded to ‘Good’ just months before achieving a Progress 8 score of 1.1.
• Since inspections restarted in 2021, Schools Week found four downgraded ‘Outstanding’ schools within the list of the top 100 provisional Progress 8 scores nationally. Meanwhile, eight schools were rated ‘Good’ despite being in the bottom 100.

Common areas that were referenced in the downgrades gaps in how well pupils’ understanding was being checked, or in how schools used strategies identified to support pupils with SEND, and pupils not accessing material that was challenging enough.

If this is representative of all inspections, then it highlights a focus on a school’s daily offer and a move away from ‘hard’ data. We have been told repeatedly that such data is ‘only a starting point’ to an inspection: what really matters is that schools offer a broad and balanced curriculum for all pupils. The curriculum should be progressive, ambitious and connected, deepening pupils’ understanding in both skills and knowledge, and celebratory of ‘the best that has been thought and said’. Ultimately, schools should provide a quality education and not depend on the specific outcomes of externally moderated tests.

At TT Education, the country’s leading school improvement company, we can help you in several ways to achieve this goal. Our flagship courses Creating a broad and balanced Curriculum and Developing Outstanding Subject and Middle Leaders have both been fully updated for 2023, and are available as INSETs or in person at venues or on-demand. Alternatively, you might be interested in working with one of our subject specialist consultants to support you in developing your wider curriculum, or to guide you and your staff through the deep dive process in a supportive way.

To have time to reflect on your school ‘narrative’, and help you articulate your ideas to inspectors, you might be interested in our short course, The 90-Minute Phone Call. This course will push you to reflect on “why you do what you do, when you do it, in the way that you do it”, and how to explain that in an inspection.

For more information about any of the above, please ring 01206 625626 or visit tteducation.co.uk.