The week of reviews!

Now, I've been teaching year 7 to write book reviews. This involves the use of quotations, writing in the 3rd person (not first - that's too easy), using a variety of sentence structures and giving your opinion. I wish it was as easy as that when I'm being reviewed!

This monday was the "English Department External Review". This meant that someone from outside came in to have a prod and a poke and see how we were doing. We're ace! (obviously) I was observed and was "good". So all's well there.

Then, on Monday lunchtime we get a phone call from our old friends OFSTED.... with less than 48 hours notice... They'll be here Wednesday.... CRIKES!

My routine as a result has been work all day. Come home at 3:30 and work until 11pm everynight. Thank fully I'd been keeping on top of my marking or I think I'd be asleep right now! I just can't help myself with planning in situations like that; it takes me hours to get a potential "outstanding" lesson plan and as I plan for this to be my last ever OFSTED, i wanted to do well. So, what does hours of work get you? No OFSTED inspector!! LMAO I've managed to escape again without being seen. I did manage to get SMT to take a couple of exercise books away which demonstrated intervention and pupil progress but other than that ? Nada.

Mummy Moo, bless her, knew I'd not been "OFSTEDed" so came and did a lesson ob for me period 4. At least not all of my lessons went un-noticed! It's hilarious that I spend all night making the pretty files for OFSTED and then shove them in the recycling at the end of the day- the trees we have wasted! lol. It was nice to have Mummy Moo back in my classroom. She's not not normally the one who observes me. INfact we worked out the last time we'd had a chat like that was when I was an NQT! (I think that was 6 years ago!)We're trying to work out why I always get good with outstanding features... I think we've almost cracked the code too ;)

All that matters in the end though is that the pupils had fab lessons in which they're making good progress. It was fun bringing the new student teacher into year11 and tricking them into thinking he was the inspector!! MOAH HA HA!

So... the result?

We are now officially "A Good school with outstanding features"!!!! YAY!
That means we are just as good as St Thomas Aquinas, better than Bournville (which doesn't seem to mention outstanding in it's opening statement) and are one grade behind "Kings Norton Girls" We 'like' totally ROCK!
I hope the community "read all about it". We're working soo hard at that place it's ace that we have something to prove that we really are as good as we think we are!! lol