Ofsted scores improve as it removes headline grade
Ofsted carried out 2,149 inspections, including 1,218 graded inspections, 862 ungraded inspections and 69 monitoring or urgent inspections
The number of schools granted good or outstanding judgements by Ofsted increased after it decided to ditch an overall headline score, according to the latest figures released by the watchdog.
It comes after it decided to abandon the use of single grade assessments this academic year following the suicide of Reading headteacher Ruth Perry after after an Ofsted inspection downgraded her school from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’.
Now Schools are graded on four individual judgement areas: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.
This academic year, Ofsted carried out 2,149 inspections, including 1,218 graded inspections, 862 ungraded inspections and 69 monitoring or urgent inspections. This is fewer than 2,611 at this point in 2023/24.
Overall, the proportion of schools judged good or outstanding by Ofsted was:
- 84% for quality of education, compared with 84% last year
- 94% for behaviour and attitudes, compared with 93% last year
- 97% for personal development, compared with 95% last year
- 89% for leadership and management, compared with 87% last year
As in previous years, primary schools achieved higher grades than secondary for all key judgements. The biggest difference between primary and secondary is for quality of education (86% good or outstanding in primary as against 74% in secondary).
Ofsted also found that in 90% of inspections, the school received the same grade for quality of education as for leadership and management, making these the most likely judgements to correlate. Those most likely to differ are quality of education and personal development, where only 67% of schools received the same grade for both.
Where the quality of education and personal development grades are different, 98% of the inspections have personal development judged as 1 grade higher than quality of education. The most common scenarios are where personal development is outstanding and quality of education is good, or where personal development is good and quality of education requires improvement.
