Press release

Ofsted sets out proposals for fairer education inspections and new, more detailed report cards

Ofsted is consulting on a new approach to inspecting education providers and the introduction of report cards.

From: Ofsted

Published: 3 February 2025

Proposals for a new inspection model include:  

• Introducing the Ofsted report card, giving parents detailed information about standards across more areas of practice in their child’s school, early years, or further education provider.
• Replacing the ‘single word judgement’ with a new 5-point grading scale for each evaluation area, including a new top ‘exemplary’ grade to help raise standards.
• Returning to schools with identified weaknesses, to check timely action is being taken to raise standards.
• Increasing focus on support for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and learners , including those with SEND.
• More emphasis on providers’ circumstances and local context.
• New toolkits to tailor inspections to the phase and type of provider.

Ofsted has today launched a major consultation, seeking the views of parents, carers, professionals and learners, on a new approach to inspecting and reporting on education providers, from the autumn.    

The consultation sets out a series of proposals that aim to serve the interests of the parents and children Ofsted works for, while strengthening the trust and cooperation of professionals working in the services it inspects and regulates.   

In the past 12 months Ofsted has already made some significant changes to support education providers’ wellbeing, but further reforms were promised in the response to last year’s Big Listen. Today’s proposals apply to inspections of early years settings, state-funded schools, non-association independent schools, FE and skills providers, and initial teacher education (ITE) providers.

Respond to the consultation

New Ofsted report cards

The Big Listen returned a clear message from parents, carers and professionals that the overall effectiveness grade should go, and that inspection reports should provide a more nuanced view of a provider’s strengths and areas for improvement. But there were different views on how to do that. Parents and carers favoured a clear assessment of a wider set of categories, while most professionals wanted narrative descriptions of performance.   

Today’s proposals aim to bring both preferences together. New Ofsted report cards will give better information to parents in a simple format, as well as driving higher standards for children and learners. They include a colour-coded 5-point grading scale to evaluate more areas of a provider’s work at-a-glance, accompanied by short summaries of inspectors’ findings in more detail. An overall effectiveness grade will not be awarded.

The 5-point scale will allow inspectors to highlight success when things are working well, provide reassurance that leaders are taking the right action where improvement is needed, and identify where more urgent action is required to avoid standards declining. As well as giving parents more nuanced information, this approach will help reduce pressure on staff – by presenting a balanced picture of practice across more areas, not a single overall grade.   

The proposed scale ranges from ‘causing concern’ at the lowest end, through ‘attention needed’, ‘secure’ and ‘strong’, to ‘exemplary’ – where a provider’s practice is of such exceptional quality that it should be shared with others across the country so they can learn from it.   

Disadvantage and inclusion   

Under the proposals, evaluation areas differ slightly by education phase (early years, schools, further education) but in all cases include a new focus on inclusion. This means inspectors will look at how well providers support vulnerable and disadvantaged children and learners, including those with SEND, making sure these children are always at the centre of inspection. 

Taking context into account  

Ofsted is also proposing to include more contextual data in inspections and reports, such as learner characteristics, performance outcomes, absence and attendance figures, and local area demographics. Inspectors will use this information to help understand the circumstances in which leaders are operating and to assess their work in context – for instance, whether they are working hard in a disadvantaged area facing particular challenges, or – if they have a high-attaining intake – whether they are stretching their most able pupils. This will help parents make national and local comparisons, and comparisons between providers working in similar contexts.

Tailoring inspections to each phase of education

Under the proposals, the inspection process will be better tailored to the phase and type of provider, to make sure the focus is on what really matters for children and learners in that setting. New inspection ‘toolkits’ list the standards that each type of provider will be evaluated against.   

These toolkits provide more detail and clarity about what will be considered on inspection. They are intended to help drive greater consistency on inspection and give providers clarity about the expected standards and what they need to do to improve.

Changes to monitoring arrangements for schools

From autumn 2025, it’s proposed that Ofsted will no longer carry out ungraded inspections of state-funded schools. This means every school will know that its next routine Ofsted inspection will be a full, graded one. Ofsted is also proposing that all schools with an identified need for improvement will receive monitoring calls and visits, to check that timely action is being taken to raise standards. This includes schools with any evaluation area graded ‘attention needed’. Ofsted will only monitor for as long as is necessary to see a tangible difference for children.

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said:   

Our mission is to raise standards and improve the lives of children, particularly the most disadvantaged. Today’s proposals for a new Ofsted report card and a new way of inspecting are designed to do just that. 

The report card will replace the simplistic overall judgement with a suite of grades, giving parents much more detail and better identifying the strengths and areas for improvement for a school, early years or further education provider.  

Our new top ‘exemplary’ grade will help raise standards, identifying world-class practice that should be shared with the rest of the country. And by quickly returning to monitor schools that have areas for improvement, we will ensure timely action is taken to raise standards. 

We also hope that this more balanced, fairer approach will reduce the pressure on professionals working in education, as well as giving them a much clearer understanding of what we will be considering on inspection.

Tom Rees, CEO of Ormiston Academies Trust & Chair of the DfE Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion said: 

It is right that Ofsted is putting disadvantaged children and children with SEND at the heart of their reforms. Inclusion should not be a secondary consideration, but a fundamental principle of schooling and education – a truly great education system serves the needs of all children. 

It is vital that schools, nurseries and colleges have the highest possible expectations for all children. Schools with expert teaching, a stretching curriculum, high standards of behaviour and attendance are the entitlement of every child – especially the most vulnerable.

Jason Elsom, Chief Executive of Parentkind said: 

We know that an effective partnership between school and home is a cornerstone of the most successful of schools, enhances pupil well-being, and can add the equivalent impact of up to 3 years of education. 

Schools increasingly face issues with attendance, behaviour, and the mental health and well-being of their pupils. Years of evidence shows that getting parental engagement right is vital to reducing these challenges, which is why we welcome Ofsted making parental engagement an important part of the process for inspecting schools.  

We are delighted to have supported Ofsted’s work on a new ‘report card’ for schools, which recognises the need for school leaders to focus on building sustainable, long-term partnerships with parents, as well as the role of parents in helping improve behaviour and attitudes to learning, attendance, and personal development and well-being. Getting this right will deliver significant benefits for schools and children.

The consultation will run for 12 weeks, from 3 February to 28 April 2025. As well as the online survey, Ofsted will hold focus groups during the consultation period. Formal pilots of the inspection approach and further user testing of report cards will also be carried out over the coming months, to help inform and improve the proposals.  

Ofsted will publish a report on the outcome of the consultation in the summer, reflecting on all feedback and challenge received. The final agreed reforms will then be piloted again across all education remits, before being formally implemented from autumn 2025.   

Changes to children’s social care inspections will follow in 2026.

Notes to editors  

1. In parallel with this consultation, the Department for Education (DfE) is consulting on proposed changes to intervention and support in maintained schools and academies. The plan is to put those changes in place in the autumn, alongside Ofsted’s new inspection approach. The Department is also seeking feedback on a product that could include Ofsted reports, along with other information about a provider.
2. Proposed evaluation areas for schools, including independent schools:

• leadership and governance
• curriculum
• developing teaching
• achievement
• behaviour and attitudes
• attendance
• personal development and well-being
• inclusion
• safeguarding (assessed as met or not met)
• early years in schools
• sixth form in school

3. Proposed evaluation areas for early years providers:

• leadership and governance 
• achievement 
• curriculum 
• teaching 
• behaviour, attitudes and establishing routine 
• children’s welfare and well-being 
• inclusion 
• safeguarding

4. Proposed evaluation areas for FE and skills providers:

Provider as a whole:

• leadership 
• inclusion
• safeguarding 

Provider as a whole, but only in colleges and specialist designated institutions:

• contribution to meeting skills needs

For each type of provision offered (education programmes for young people, provision for learners with high needs, apprenticeships and adult learning programmes):

• curriculum
• developing teaching and training 
• achievement
• participation and development

5. Proposed evaluation areas for ITE providers we inspect: 

• leadership  
• inclusion  
• curriculum  
• teaching  
• achievement  
• professional behaviours, personal development and well-being

6. Parentkind is one of the UK’s largest federated charities. It has supported parents and schools to build strong and supportive school communities for almost 70 years and has a network of more than 23,500 schools, parent teacher associations (PTAs) and parent councils.
7. The DfE is providing Ofsted with £6.2m to support development and delivery of the report card.

The full report, please click here

The Department of Education has presented a bill to parliament which will be relevant to safeguarding practitioners and is an important read for anyone involved in safeguarding. It is described as:

"A Bill to make provision about the safeguarding and welfare of children; about support for children in care or leaving care; about regulation of care workers; about regulation of establishments and agencies under Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000; about employment of children; about breakfast club provision and school uniform; about attendance of children at school; about regulation of independent educational institutions; about inspections of schools and colleges; about teacher misconduct; about Academies and teachers at Academies; repealing section 128 of the Education Act 2002; about school places and admissions; about establishing new schools; and for connected purposes"

For a full policy summary, please see here

What is the purpose of the Bill?

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is a key step towards delivering the government’s Opportunity Mission to break the link between young people’s background and their future success. It will put in place a package of support to drive high and rising standards throughout our education and care systems so that every child can achieve and thrive. It will protect children at risk of abuse, stopping vulnerable children falling through cracks in services, and deliver a core guarantee of high standards with space for innovation in every child’s education.

What are the main benefits of the Bill?

The ambitions of the Bill are set out in seven key parts:

• Making a child-centred government
• Keeping families together and children safe
• Supporting children in the care system to thrive
• Cracking down on excessive profit making
• Driving high and rising standards for every child
• Removing barriers to opportunity in schools
• Creating a safer and higher quality education system for every child

What are the main elements of the Bill?

The measures in this Bill will deliver on manifesto and Opportunity Mission commitments:

• Make a child-centred government by enabling children with complex needs and who are at risk of or need to be deprived of their liberty to be placed in community provision; strengthening Ofsted’s powers in relation to children’s social care providers by giving them the power to issue fines for breaches of the Care Standards Act 2000, including to unregistered providers, and enabling them to hold provider groups to account for quality issues in the provision of care; limiting the use of agency workers in children’s social care; and protecting 16 and 17 year olds from ill-treatment or wilful neglect.

• Keep families together and children safe by mandating local authorities to offer family group decision making so that all families have an opportunity to form a plan of family-led care, improving information sharing across and within agencies, strengthening the role of education in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements and implementing multi-agency child protection teams.

• Support children in the care system to thrive by requiring local authorities to publish their local offer for children in kinship care and their carers, extending the virtual school head role to children in kinship care and those with a social worker, and strengthening our offer of support for care leavers by requiring local authorities to provide ‘Staying Close’ support to eligible care leavers where their welfare requires it – this gives support to help find and keep suitable accommodation and access services – and requiring local authorities to publish the arrangements it has in place to support and assist care leavers in their transition to adulthood and independent living.

• Crack down on excessive profit making by including a backstop law to give the government a new power to cap the profit providers can make should that be necessary; supporting the creation of regional care co-operatives to improve the forecasting and commissioning of placements; establishing a financial oversight scheme to increase financial and corporate transparency of ‘difficult to replace’ care providers and their corporate owners.

• Drive high and rising standards for every child by establishing core national standards on which schools will be able to build and around which they can innovate, by delivering on commitments on school admissions, qualified teacher status and the national curriculum. Further measures include proposals for all types of new schools, ending the academies presumption in favour of prioritising any local offer which meets the needs of children and families.

• Remove barriers to opportunity in schools by delivering manifesto commitments on providing access to free breakfast clubs for every primary school child and limiting the number of branded uniform items that schools can require.

• Create a safer and higher quality education system for every child by introducing Children Not In School registers to help ensure no child falls through the gaps when educated not in school. To help protect children who are most vulnerable, parents will have to obtain local authority consent to home educate if a child is subject to s47 enquiry of Children Act 1989 or under a child protection plan. It will also extend the registration requirements, already in place for independent schools, to more Independent Educational Institutions which could be expected to provide all or the majority of a child’s education and make changes to improve arrangements for the regulation and inspection of independent schools; and the consideration of cases of serious teacher misconduct to make sure help can be mobilised for every child that needs it.

Youth warnings, reprimands and cautions will no longer be automatically disclosed to employers who require Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificates from 28 November.

The changes, which come as a result of a Supreme Court judgment that found some elements of the existing filtering rules for Standard and Enhanced DBS checks were disproportionate, are intended to make it easier for people with certain convictions to find employment.

A county lines drug gang forced 40 children to deal cannabis and cocaine at a single school.

The teens, some as young as 14, had been supplied with drugs and dealing kits including deal bags and scales. 

Police say grown-up dealers had a network of 40 pupils dealing at the school which has just over 1,200 pupils - meaning one in thirty was possibly selling drugs.

It is suspected that girls as young as 14 at Kingsdown School in Swindon, Wiltshire, have been pestered for sex in exchange for cocaine.

And the dawn police raid yesterday - on the eve of GCSE results - revealed the extent of the teens coerced into the operation.

Wiltshire Police arrested a 27-year-old man during the raid. He has since been released under investigation.

Sgt Nathan Perry, who planned the 7am raid, said: "We found the person we're looking for, we've managed to safeguard the children who were at risk and we've found drugs.

"We all know about county lines and the risks associated with that.

"The difficulty with this type of drugs operation is that it's specifically targeting very young children in order to get them to deal drugs.

"Some of the information we've been passed is that children are not only being coerced into this activity, but they're also being physically threatened.

"If they go to police or teachers they'll be harmed," he added. 

Police were said to have been alerted to the gang at Kingsdown School.

A pair of older teen boys, both 16, are believed to have been supplying a network of up to 40 children in their mid-teens at the Swindon school.

The 27-year-old was arrested during the morning raid on suspicion of possession of class B drugs with intent to supply and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The raid came as Swindon police focused their sights on modern slavery.

Nationally, police have increasingly turned to modern slavery laws to target drug dealers who force children and vulnerable adults to peddle their product.

Sgt Perry said those convicted could expect sentences of up to 15 years imprisonment.

"You've got children being exploited and young kids being forced to run the drugs. We will take it seriously," he said.

"The sheer nature of the exploitation of these young people is unacceptable.

"If we don't do something to stop that they're potentially going to be at risk for the rest of their lives.