Remote Ofsted inspections: Dr Victoria Carr, Headteacher at Woodlands Primary School

EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with returning guest Dr Victoria Carr: Headteacher of Woodlands Primary School. Victoria’s school was recently inspected remotely by Ofsted and she talks about how their preparations stood the school in good stead for their monitoring visit. The school had previously focused on improving attainment in maths and English so, when Victoria became headteacher, she led the staff in creating a whole new foundation curriculum. A lot of time and effort was invested in planning a thematic approach which provided enjoyable experiences for children and ensured they were happy and engaged in their learning. This overhaul of the curriculum, which began in 2019, ensured coverage and progress in all subjects. Leaders created progressive statements of expectation within the theme-based provision and these were transferred onto the school’s tracking system to assess pupil attainment. Once she had received ‘The Call’, Victoria briefed her staff over Zoom and provided an opportunity for everyone to remind themselves what they had done, as a school, since the last inspection. This realisation of how much work had already been completed allowed staff to feel more prepared for the inspection.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Ofsted will access a school’s website prior to making initial contact.During the initial telephone call with Ofsted, the school’s website formed a key part of the discussion. Here, Victoria talks about schools needing to have their remote learning provision outlined on their website. Ofsted may well, and are very likely to, peruse a school’s website long before they notify leaders about the inspection. “If you train hard, then you fight easy.”Victoria knew that, unfortunately, the monitoring visit would not change the school’s Ofsted grading. Whilst this was disappointing, she realised the benefit of this ‘dress rehearsal’ and that the work involved over the next four days, both in preparing for the inspection and the inspection itself, would be worthwhile. The importance of preparation.Victoria discusses how being prepared beforehand - in terms of being able to retrieve saved work to send to inspectors, or by pulling together evidence - was instrumental in avoiding additional stress following the notification of an imminent inspection.   BEST MOMENTS “You can’t buy a real Ofsted experience. People can come and do ‘mock-steds’ until the cows come home but it’s not relevant until you feel that level of pressure and manage that really in a sensible way.” “The inspector explained to me they wouldn’t be in in person unless they had any specific safeguarding concerns, which thankfully they didn’t. Everything was conducted remotely.” “It wasn’t a deep dive where Ofsted dictated to us who they wanted to talk to; they were very pragmatic and very understanding of some of the constraints that we had.” “These remote inspections are limited, naturally, because they’re not able to just pick things up in a classroom or wander around school.” “It was quite hectic, that first bubble closure, because it was quite a shock to everybody. But we managed it, which then informed us for how we would do it in January when we actually locked down as a whole school.” “Our art teacher was actually off school with Covid and not teaching at all. I thought a nice way of involving her in the process was to submit to the inspectors her overview of the subject, the progression statements that were on our tracking system for art and some of the exemplar of the work that had been created as a result of her curriculum plan.” “I wanted to show our school off in the best possible light. I wanted to give people a chance to talk [to the inspectors] and go through that experience as a coaching experience.” “We were already quite far on in our journey, despite Covid [and] despite the lockdown.” “The staff said they’ve never felt more ready. Which is great because they’ve said that in the last two inspections I’ve done with them.”   VALUABLE RESOURCES School website: http://www.woodlands.cheshire.sch.uk Dr Victoria Carr – Twitter: https://twitter.com/HappyHead74 Dr Victoria Carr – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-victoria-carr-0190157b/ Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/   ABOUT THE HOST 'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing.  Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide. In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance. Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion. In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks. The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.