Submitted Article 4 : OFSTED 96
Well well well, I think one of my most disillusioning memories of QE Boys has the be the infamous 96 OFSTED inspection (see Queen Elizabeth's Boys School web site for full report) - the planning for the impressive ofsted report started 4 months before the actual inspection took place - an assembly was called and all the pupils were informed there was to be an ofsted inspection and that everyone had to be on their best behaviour (which I am sure most schools do), however, the endless rules and reminders of when the inspection was due and what was deemed suitable behaviour in front of the inspectors seemed to take it a little too far.
One of the things surrounding the inspection that clearly sticks in my mind was in one of my science lessons, when we were told that the next lesson would be during the ofsted inspection. The teacher told the class a few questions - and answers, that he would be asking in the next lesson, in actual fact the same lesson was repeated twice so the students appeared to have grasped the theory behind the 'well-taught' lesson very quickly indeed. Sure enough in the next lesson, in front of the inspectors, the class all knew the answers, what brilliant teachers the school obviously must have - putting so much faith into their students as to feel the need to 'fix' the inspection for fear of a bad report.
I imagine that most schools try to put on a face for the inspectors, however, QE boys put up a completely false impression of the school - fuelled by students' fear of appearing in front of their year head for breaking one of the numerous rules laid down for suitable behaviour in front of the inspectors (after the inspectors had left of course) - I would be very interested to see if QE would like to comment on any of these points, though it is doubtful they would, even though we have already let the school know of this internet site's existence, but still received no comment from them.
