Single headline Ofsted grades scrapped

The government has announced that single headline grades for schools will be scrapped with immediate effect.

They believe that reductive single headline grades fail to provide a fair and accurate assessment of overall school performance across a range of areas. Changes so far include:

• Single phrase headline grade removed for overall effectiveness for all state schools, however the existing four sub-judgements will remain; Quality of education, Behaviour and attitudes, Personal development and Leadership and management
• Schools will continue to be judged on whether their safeguarding is effective
• Report cards will be introduced from September 2025 and will be developed over the coming months
• The bar for intervention in failing schools will not change. Ofsted will still inform the government about schools that are ‘inadequate’ through the sub judgement grades. The law currently requires the Education Secretary to issue maintained schools in the ‘causing concern’ category with an academy order, or if they are already academies with a termination warning order
• Up until now schools that receive consecutive ‘requires improvement’ judgements faced academisation or rebrokering, from now on they will get targeted support from a high performing school. This new policy applies with immediate effect, but will not change for ‘coasting’ schools due to convert this term
• Schools that have an existing grade will keep it until their next inspection
• Regional improvement teams will provide support to schools from ‘early’ 2025’ but as yet there are no details about how these teams will work
• The changes are only for state schools, including those with early years provision and maintained nursery schools at the moment, the change will follow for colleges, some early years settings and teacher training, but no date as yet.