For those of you who read last week’s diary entry and are waiting on tenterhooks to find out the outcome of our short inspection, I can now reveal that...
Ofsted didn’t come back the next day. They’d seen all they needed to see and they said they were happy – our school remains “good”.
The wait to hear the news was excruciating. Not because I was particularly worried about the result, just because I was going to have a lot of work to do that night if they said they were coming in for another day.
I had a five-period day the next day with a double year 11 lesson to start. I wasn’t worried about their books or their data, but I would have needed to spend some time preparing all of the lesson plans and making sure everything satisfied my school’s requirements to be “Ofsted-ready”.
At 5pm, most of the staff were still at school eagerly awaiting the news. We were in a state of suspended animation – either we had loads of work to do, or we could all head home and celebrate.
I was standing with two other teachers discussing what we were going to do for our year 11s if the big O returned. Every time the email pinged, we all turned in hope to see if we had any news.
Eventually the email came: “The inspectors will not be returning tomorrow.”
There was a lot of nice spiel about how they loved the school and all the lessons they saw etc etc – but the important bit for the three of us standing there was that it was over! We could all go home and not have to think about Ofsted for another couple of years.
Although it was a relief, I feel as though this inspection kind of passed me by. I didn’t even get a glimpse of them on the day. I can still wear the badge of honour and say I’ve experienced my first Ofsted, but I’m not sure it was representative of the pressure that is usually felt at such times.
The headteacher was calm, my head of department was calm, and even I was calm for the majority of the time. I know that’s not usually how it goes. Having said that, I’m glad that I was able to experience my first inspection at the kind of school where it could feel this way.
The next day, it was as if a tonne of bricks had been lifted off the shoulders of every member of staff. People had the spring back in their step again. The months of tension that were created as we waited for Ofsted to arrive had really worn everyone down, but now it was gone.
The head provided cake and sweets in the staffroom to say thank you and well done. I haven’t seen so many staff members in the staffroom for months (and I don’t think it was all to do with the cake). Staff were happy and laughing with each other in ways that I had not seen since September.
After that though, things went back to normal and the week continued as if nothing had happened. By the weekend it felt as though the Ofsted visit was a distant memory.
It came at a great time for me too because I was due to go away for the weekend. Knowing that Ofsted was over and we had (unofficially) got the “good” we deserved, I could properly relax and enjoy my weekend.
I did absolutely nothing other than drink wine and sit in the sun and I didn’t feel at all guilty about getting no work done!
- SecEd’s NQT diarist this year is a teacher of citizenship, RE and humanities at a school in England.