klc106 Posted December 3, 2014 Posted December 3, 2014 (edited) Hi everyone Last week we had a visit from our improvement advisor who slated everything we are doing- the planning was wrong, learning journeys were wrong (she didn't even look at them!), our indoor/outdoor environments were wrong, our partnership with parents was awful etc. She also said we wouldn't pass ofsted without major changes! This was a vey big shock to us and left us feeling very anxious. Well, this morning OFSTED turned up- to say we were worried is an understatement. But it went perfectly, she couldn't praise us enough and she was lovely! We are happy with our result but obviously can't share just yet. She had looked at our sef and website previous and got information from there, she checked all certificates, policies, insurance certificate. She spoke to all of our parents as they arrived and said our partnership with them was fantastic and can be seen throughout children's learning journeys too. She kept us informed all the way through. I did a joint observation on my deputy with her which was fine. We chose a child for her to track, she looked at her learning journey (said they were amazing!) and asked us about her progress. It honestly was a very stress free experience once we had gotten over the initial shock! And just in time for us to enjoy Christmas too! Edited December 3, 2014 by klc106 4
Susan Posted December 3, 2014 Posted December 3, 2014 Great news! Hope you feed back to your improvement advisor. 1
Inge Posted December 3, 2014 Posted December 3, 2014 Well done... ( just shows advisor's are just that.. can advise but if you know you are doing ok, no need to change.. ) 1
Guest Posted December 3, 2014 Posted December 3, 2014 congratulations - what a great way to end the term (and stick it to the advisor lol!) Thank you for the feedback too - good to know what's happening on the day
Fredbear Posted December 3, 2014 Posted December 3, 2014 Congratulations to you and your team. Just shows how different people look at things. I'm sure sharing your report with your advisor will be a sweet experience too. 1
Panders Posted December 3, 2014 Posted December 3, 2014 Oh well done! Have a fabulous Christmas now - and make sure that in the New Year you let your advisor know just how things have gone! 1
Wildflowers Posted December 3, 2014 Posted December 3, 2014 You must be so relieved that it went well and is over before the break. Enjoy! 1
Amina_Hussain Posted December 3, 2014 Posted December 3, 2014 Congratulations, hope you share the fab outcome with your early years advisor. Its actually really lovely to hear you had a good Ofsted experience. Well done ....... now you can relax and enjoy the end of term. 1
Stargrower Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 Hooray! Well done, give yourselves and big pat on the back! 1
eyfs1966 Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 well congratulations to you...so good to hear that you had asuch a positive experience. Very well done! Enjoy the relief now it's all over! 1
Cait Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 Well done! I hope your advisor doesn't think she can take all the credit because you changed everything on her advice! 1
woodlands1997 Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 We were in a similar situation about 4 years ago, advisor came out slated everything and said we would be lucky if we even got satisfactory from Ofsted. We know what we were doing deep down was great and worked well for us etc and thankfully had the confidence (after the initial shock, update, stress etc) to ignore what they said! A couple of months later we got outstanding so that showed them!!! We asked for our advisor to be changed and thankfully now we don't have to have their input at all! Well done you for sticking with what you do and it paying off :-) x 1
Guest Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 Just shows these advisors are not all they're cracked up to be. Most have set themselves up as 'consultants' because they can't manage a headship or get an inspectorate job. The so called advisor for our school referred in her action plan (for EY) to 'CLL', just shows how up to date she is...not. Hope you sent your advisor a copy of the inspection report!
zigzag Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 Huge congratulations to you and your team. We were done a couple of weeks ago, just in time to enjoy Christmas!! 1
lashes2508 Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 Well done Klc , I hope you will be going back to your improvement advisor and telling her those comments ! An improvement advisor should be encouraging and help you reflect not leave you feeling inadequate , so glad the inspection went well and you received so much positive feedback . 1
trekker Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 It sad, scary to see this isn't an isolated thing - Unfortunately I had a similar experience with advisors not so long ago - was left feeling shell-shocked, questioning my own beliefs and values and years of experience and training...couldn't get my head around what was happening and how I could have apparently got it so wrong...felt like the whole EY landscape had changed without me knowing it!!! I was pressured to make changes I didn't want to as everyone else in my setting took their word as gospel...that we were on our way to a 'inadequate' and when I tried to argue my case I was ignored - I was made to feel everyone held me responsible for the 'mess' they had to fix...I resisted as much as I could but they forced most of the changes anyway by getting other staff on board... however when Ofsted came they didn't exactly gush over what the advisors had put in place ... so although we could have done better It may help me in a way - I'm slowly rebuilding and improving even more on what was working ! 1
klc106 Posted December 6, 2014 Author Posted December 6, 2014 Yes I will definitely be informing our improvement advisor of our outcome. I am so glad I believed in what we were doing else the outcome could have been very different!
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