Progress

Late one for me tonight - the second night of our school performance: an incredibly hot experience in the infant classroom as parents came to see their children do Olivia - a musical based on Oliver. I was juggling the music, trying to cool down and taking pictures at the same time. Got some nice ones that show how much they enjoyed it - they were great.

It does kind of bug me that Ofsted don't really look at things like this in the depth they should. This little angel has always been shy - she's an absolute delight, but has never been comfortable with talking or doing anything in public, even in class with things such as reading out work. I remember a few years ago she was beside herself because she was in a group of forty children performing a short Tai Chi demonstration: she was terrified of being on show. Tonight she stood up in front of over sixty people to sing, act, deliver clear dialogue in an accent and control her timing perfectly with her funny lines. This is her backstage just as she's about to go on.

As they look intensely into progress made with such things as spelling scores, grammar, calculation methods and the ability to perform mental calculations under strict timed limits, I think Ofsted overlook the real progress that children make whilst at school: the kind of progress that is more valuable than any academic-focussed statistic - they grow in so many ways that ready them for later life. They progress with self-esteem, confidence and independence.

Maybe we should be testing for that instead?