Sink or Swim? The Ofsted ‘Deep Dive’

Preparing:

Having recently stepped into the permanent role as Director of English, I certainly never underestimated the impact Ofsted can have: the impact on workload, mental health, and the day-to-day teaching in classrooms. There’s no doubt that even as an ITT, NQT, RQT, etcetera, the sound of ‘Ofsted’ is melancholic tinnitus to the ears. However, there has to be something monitoring standards, and actually, I’m going to express why I do think this new framework is a step to having something reasonably sensible to guide teachers across the country to obtaining the best progress for their students – regardless of demographic. Some schools I have worked in have held up the barricade so-to-speak, and challenged Ofsted’s demands, however, in this instance, there certainly is truth in the benefits of having a ‘knowledge rich’ curriculum.

“Ofsted” was already re-spawning in Teaching and Learning Twilight CPD sessions at school – and indeed, even before Summer 2019, in acting capacity at that stage, I was asked to completely overhaul our curriculum to address the requirements of the Intent, Implementation and Impact sections of the framework and create a rationale, justifying the sequencing of knowledge. This was the tricky part. Where to start? I’m new, passionate, reasonably intelligent and experienced, yes, but how on earth do you even begin to think about a curriculum that for English, is so broad, and arguably far more skill-based – skills imparted through knowledge? This was the first barrier. I’d say that on reflection, the only strength I really had here was my ability to collaborate with my TLR holders – and together we eventually after, I kid you not, 20 drafts, cobbled something together that I could share with the Principal.

To cut a very long story short, as this blog isn’t for me to moan – although I’d take great pleasure in doing so – this rationale document was revisited multiple times after this initial submission, as we began to realise the importance of the following:

• Having a vision routed in literary heritage
• Having a rationale underpinned by educational theory and pedagogy
• Having a clear sequence of topics, and with topics, a clear sequence of learning intentions
• Having reading and writing learning principles to underpin the sequencing of lessons

All four of these areas were addressed both directly and indirectly by the Ofsted Inspector assigned to me on the day of the ‘Deep Dive’. Thank goodness we are outward facing and have links with EduTwitter, PiXL and personal connections in the teaching sphere. The arrival of a very experienced Vice Principal, whose speciality is English, was certainly a massive help in refining and consolidating our vision. We were also very aware of the spreadsheets circulating Twitter about schools barricading the prospect of a 3-year KS3 (we currently have a 2-year KS3 and 3-year KS4) – our Principal picked up on this early too, and thankfully we worked with this idea and now have a curriculum model prepared to move back to a 3-year KS3 in September 2020. There’s no use fighting against the tide, sometimes.