On 3rd February 2025, Ofsted published proposals for new inspection arrangements for schools in England. The previous single-word judgement system is planned to be replaced by a five-point grading system across eight to ten evaluation areas plus a ‘met or ‘not met’ judgement on safeguarding. There will be no overall effectiveness grade. The plan is that the new system will be introduced from November 2025, with an end to ungraded inspections and a new approach to monitoring inspections.
The proposed five-point scale is as follows:
- Causing concern (red): needs urgent action to provide a suitable standard of education for children and learners.
- Attention needed (amber): some aspects of provision are inconsistent, limited in scope or impact, and/or not fully meeting legal requirements or non-statutory guidance expectations. However, inspectors think leaders “have the capacity to make necessary improvements.”
- Secure (light green): offering a “secure standard of education” by meeting the legal requirements and expectations set out in non-statutory guidance as well as the professional standards required.
- Strong (green): practice is “consistently secure across different year groups and subjects”. Leaders “working above and beyond” what’s expected.
- Exemplary (dark green): all evaluation areas are graded at least secure, and, in an area that is “consistently strong”, there is “a feature of practice that could be considered as exemplary.”
Ofsted said the middle three grades would ‘typically capture where most providers would sit across the range of evaluation areas’.
One red judgement will mean schools will be put into a category of concern. One amber judgment will lead to a monitoring inspection within 18 months.
The proposed evaluation areas for schools are:
- Leadership and governance
- Curriculum
- Developing teaching
- Achievement
- Behaviour and attitude
- Attendance
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Inclusion
- Safeguarding
- Early years (where applicable)
- Sixth form (where applicable)
There is a plan to summarise information on the school context on the report card. Toolkits will be published for each evaluation area containing the standards Ofsted will inspect against and ‘describe the quality they would expect to see at each point on the scale’. Inclusion, along with leadership, will feature as a key question across all evaluation areas. Inspectors will no longer do deep dives. Report cards will ‘place more emphasis on children and learner outcomes’.
In parallel, the DfE has launched a consultation school accountability reform. These changes will be introduced alongside the Ofsted reforms. Schools judged by Ofsted to require special measures will continue by default to receive structural intervention (academisation for maintained schools, rebrokering for academies).
Schools judged to require significant improvement will also continue by default to receive structural intervention, however from September 2026 the DfE proposes a different approach whereby these schools will receive mandatory targeted intervention from a RISE (Regional improvement for standards and excellence) team. However, structural intervention will be the default where the necessary improvements have not been made.
Both consultations will close on 28th April. Findings will be reported in the summer.
