{"id":18244,"date":"2024-11-22T08:52:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T08:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18244"},"modified":"2024-11-22T08:52:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T08:52:26","slug":"how-choosing-a-secondary-school-might-be-about-to-get-easier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18244","title":{"rendered":"How choosing a secondary school might be about to get easier"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"BBC\/CAMDENBBC\/CAMDEN LEARNING & MIME<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Local projects to create school report cards are already under way, including in Camden, north London<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Choosing a new school is one of the biggest decisions a parent makes, and is often based on a mixture of visiting, speaking to friends and looking at Ofsted reports.<\/p>\n

From September 2025 a new “report card” based on Ofsted inspections is due to be introduced, replacing the one-word judgements scrapped this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Three areas in England have already been looking at developing a more detailed local report in response to parents asking for more information.<\/p>\n

In the north London borough of Camden, a newly-styled school report card is being piloted, designed to be used on smartphones and tablets.<\/p>\n

It will allow parents to search in an area around them for schools, and go into a site where they can explore through words, pictures and data what the schools are like.<\/p>\n

A former head of Ofsted says the work in Camden, which has been shared with the BBC, should influence ministers thinking about what parents need in the national changes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The first section of Camden\u2019s school reports shows \u201cOur school in 100 words\u201d – a description of values and strengths, written by the school. <\/p>\n

This is closely followed by \u201cOur school in 10 photos\u201d, to show the facilities and activities available to pupils.<\/p>\n

The school’s latest Ofsted report, usually two to three pages of writing, is embedded within the site.<\/p>\n

But the report also pulls together some official statistics not included in Ofsted reports, such as GCSE results or those in primary national curriculum tests, often known as Sats, compared with both the local and national average. It also includes data on absence.<\/p>\n

Each school also has to set out its approaches to learning, pupils\u2019 wellbeing, its anti-bullying policy, and how it supports children with special educational needs.<\/p>\n

And all of the information has to be submitted and checked before being uploaded, so it is in a standard format allowing parents to compare schools.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Shabnam Eslambolchi, whose daughter is in Year 4 at Gospel Oak Primary School, really likes the way the new site combines descriptions, photos and charts to tell her more about the school than the current Ofsted report does.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a chance to read what the school is about, what they offer, you learn about the school community,\u201d Mrs Eslambolchi, who is head of the PTA, says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"BRANWENBRANWEN JEFFREYS\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Parents at Gospel Oak Primary School, in London, have had the chance to look at the pilot school report<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Marcus Goddard, who chairs the school\u2019s governors, is about to start looking at secondary schools for his oldest child.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven’t taken the time to read the Ofsted reports,\u201d he admits, adding: \u201cI think I would read the report cards, largely because of the way they’ve been formatted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pupils want a say in what school is best for them too – and the decision is a fresh memory for Year 7s at Regent High School.<\/p>\n

Savanna wanted to know \u201cif the teachers are good, and if the food\u2019s nice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Eros agrees, although he says the building and facilities also mattered. <\/p>\n

And Tyreese wanted to know what subjects were on offer and that \u201ceverybody can be loving and caring to one another\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"HOPEHOPE RHODES\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Savanna, Eros and Tyreese had different priorities when choosing their secondary school <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The report card project has been led by Camden Learning, a partnership between the local schools and the council, chaired by Dame Christine Gilbert, formerly England\u2019s chief inspector of schools, running Ofsted for five years until 2011.<\/p>\n

She says the \u201cbig idea\u201d came from parents who wanted something to give them a real flavour of the school, such as how important sport was or the approach to discipline.<\/p>\n

Dame Christine is \u201camazed at how it captures the ethos of the schools\u201d and how strong the personal reactions are of parents who have tried it out.<\/p>\n

In \u201cOur School in 100 Words\u201d, one secondary said it was feminist. And when that was shown to a focus group, one parent said they would \u201creally want\u201d their child to go there, while another \u201cabsolutely wouldn\u2019t\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dame Christine says ministers and Ofsted should learn from the Camden project, as well as similar work under way in Sheffield and Milton Keynes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important we listen to the voices of parents,” she tells me, “and here in a very simple cost-effective way parents will have more information.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘More authentic’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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A public consultation on what Ofsted\u2019s report cards should look like is due to start early next year.<\/p>\n

Leaks suggesting it will give schools coded ratings in 10 areas have proved controversial with education unions.<\/p>\n

The big difference with the Camden approach is it is created alongside schools, allowing them to have a say in what their strengths and weaknesses are.<\/p>\n

But this raises a question about whether Camden\u2019s reports would provide enough challenge to schools to improve.<\/p>\n

Regent High School head Gary Moore, who has been fielding questions from parents on open days this term, says inspection has a very important role but welcomes the scrapping of Ofsted’s \u201cbrutal” one-word overall judgements<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The broader, report-card approach is an improvement on \u201cquite dry\u201d Ofsted reports often not \u201cwritten in family-friendly speak\u201d, Mr Moore adds.<\/p>\n

Gospel Oak head teacher John Hayes says he wanted to collaborate on something \u201cmore authentic, more useful to parents\u201d while also recognising \u201cas public servants with an incredibly important job, we do need to be held to account\u201d.<\/p>\n

Camden intends to keep on including Ofsted judgements in the new national report cards from next year. Sheffield will publish a report on its work so far in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC\/CAMDEN LEARNING & MIME Local projects to create school report cards are already under way, including in Camden, north London Choosing a new school is one of the biggest decisions a parent makes, and is often based on a mixture of visiting, speaking to friends and looking at Ofsted reports. From September 2025 a new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}