Golden star or could

WHICH school your kids end up at can feel like such a lottery, especially if your postcode and salary dictate your options.

If you are a parent and thinking of moving house how good local schools are becomes a key consideration before an area is ruled in or out.

And one of the main factors that impacts our impression of how good a school is its Ofsted rating.

Ofsted inspectors have so much power. And the pressure schools come under when they know an inspection is on the horizon is huge. But it’s a hugely important job - helping to ensure kids get the best possible education.

So far in 2019 the inspectors have been rather busy, with reports being published on 19 West London schools across Hillingdon , Harrow, Hounslow, Ealing and Brent. Schools are rated as either inadequate, requires improvement, good or outstanding and inspectors write reports to justify their ratings.

Here are how schools fared in Hillingdon Borough:

The Yiewsley independent school had an additional inspection in January to check on welfare, health and safety of pupils and the quality of leadership.

The school has been rated “good” since 2011 and at this inspection “met all the standards that were checked”.

But it’s not all smooth sailing for the school, with the inspectors noting: “The school has continued to experience the turbulence reported following the previous inspection in March 2018.

“Since this time, there has continued to be a high turnover of senior leaders and staff; the most recent substantive head teacher left in October 2018.

“However, the new executive headteacher, with effective support from the proprietorial service manager, has worked effectively to settle behaviour, listen to stakeholders, and improve standards.

“A thorough review of the school’s strengths and weaknesses has been undertaken, and work is well under way to secure a range of necessary improvements.” Around five years after it was rated “good” in a full Ofsted inspection, a short inspection found that standards remained similar at the Ickenham school.

“Children make a good start in the early years foundation stage. The use of questioning is a real strength and extends children’s understanding of mathematics, mathematical vocabulary and reasoning skills,” the inspectors noted.

They added that at the primary school “experiments in science promote a depth of understanding and engagement”.

The report added: “Scrutiny of their work indicates that they have many opportunities for practical learning.

“These include, for example, measuring shadows in the playground and designing and making pizza with ingredients with the lowest possible number of ‘food miles’.”

This January, the school was rated as requiring improvement, a step down from its “good” rating in 2011 at the last inspection.

Ofsted inspectors blamed staff turnover for what went wrong at the school which was doing things right just a few years ago.

“Since the previous inspection,