Ofsted cease one-word grading system
As of 1st September 2024, HM Government have announced that single-word headline grades for schools from HM Inspectorate Ofsted will be phased out immediately and that the new report card system will be in place by September 2025.
This is a significant change to how judgements will be published. Schools will still be inspected and assessed with a judgement on the current four key aspects, and there will be intervention if any of these areas are rated 'inadequate' or safeguarding is found not secure.
As part of this reform, HM Government has also decided to scrap the former policy on coasting schools - which led to intervention for any school that had two or more 'requires improvement' judgements in succession. Instead, the new system will identify those schools as 'struggling' and send in targeted help rather than immediately making them academies. However, Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson has been clear that the power to enforce academisation is retained.
Phillipson has described the change as a 'generational reform and a landmark moment for children, parents and teachers'. She highlighted that the challenge of communicating overall school quality to parents through single headline grades was limiting and created a ‘high-stakes’ culture for schools. The new report cards are designed to give a more complete judgement about how well or not each school is performing and is a step forward in ensuring that inspection used as a more efficient and transparent lever for school improvement.
This immediate removal of headline grades currently only applies to the state sector. However, it has been indicated that it will eventually be expanded for private schools, early years settings, colleges, social care workers, and with initial teacher training. Currently there has been no announcement of a timetable for this change phase.
The shift to the report card system is in line with a pre-election promise by the Labour party. The call for change gained momentum following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. A coroner found in November 2023 that an Ofsted inspection was a significant factor in her suicide following the placing of her school into special measures. HM Government has committed to having the new report card system introduced by September 2025. In the run up to their introduction there will be significant consultations underway involving parents, schools and other stakeholders.
Schools will continue to be judged under the current sub-judgements: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership management. Ofsted will use the current sub-judgements to identify schools requiring intervention, which may still include academy conversion or, for existing academies, a termination warning notice.
There are also plans to revise the controversial coasting schools policy, which targeted those schools with repeated ‘requires improvement’ judgements. Under the new approach, these schools will be reclassified as 'struggling' and will be supported over time by high-performing schools until standards are improved. Existing schools already marked for conversion under the old policy will continue to convert to academies.
There are also plans to create fresh regional improvement teams early in 2025 to support schools facing issues. These teams will quickly implement plans to improve the education and experiences of a school's children rather than just implementing change at school leadership level.
Paul Whiteman from the National Association of Headteachers and Pepe Di’Iasio at the Association for School & College Leaders have both welcomed these changes. They emphasised the need for a new report card system to be designed to address the issues of the previous system and for inspection to be a more supportive and comprehensive system for evaluation to provide a more holistic inspection process.
These changes indicate a significant move towards a new style of inspection and intervention in English schools, one that seeks to be both more rigorous than the previous arrangements. As the DfE states, their mission is 'to break down barriers to opportunity', whilst aiming to alleviate the immense stress a single-word judgement may have on all stakeholders.
As Professor Mick Waters said, 'It really shouldn’t be like this- it shouldn’t take a bereaved family member to push for change for such a long time, but yes, it’s a relief that no other headteacher will have to go through what Ruth (Perry) went through.'
Sara Spinks
SSS Author & Former Headteacher
