Ofsted: Labour scraps single-word grades – here’s what this means for schools

The way Ofsted inspections work for schools will see a major change from today as Labour delivers on its pledge to revamp the grading system.

The headline reform the scrapping of single headline judgements, with schools now given more detailed reports. These will provide four grades on each of the existing criteria: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership & management.

From September 2025, this will become even more comprehensive with the introduction of School Report Cards, which the Department for Education says will a fuller assessment of how schools are performing. It says the move is supported by 77 percent of parents.

In its election manifesto, Labour said the overall cost its Ofsted reform plans would be £45 million, paid for with some of the £1.51bn raised from charging VAT on private school fees.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “The need for Ofsted reform to drive high and rising standards for all our children in every school is overwhelmingly clear. The removal of headline grades is a generational reform and a landmark moment for children, parents, and teachers.

“Single headline grades are low information for parents and high stakes for schools. Parents deserve a much clearer, much broader picture of how schools are performing – that’s what our report cards will provide.”

The changes come after a campaign by the family of headteacher Ruth Perry , who took her own life 54 days after Ofsted inspectors told her they planned to change her school’s grade from outstanding to inadequate – the highest grade to the lowest.

This was due to some problems with the school’s record-keeping for safeguarding, which led to the school’s grade for leadership and management being marked as inadequate. Despite scoring ‘good’ in five other criteria, the school was given an overall one-word grade of inadequate.

Although the inspector saying the record-keeping issues could be rectified within 30 days, Ofsted’s summary judgement policy meant the grade would remain until the next inspection. Under rules, schools with an inadequate grading can be served an ‘academy order’, which may result in them being transferred to new management.

The government has said it will change how it approaches struggling schools as part of today’s changes, working to get plans in place for improvement, rather than “purely” relying on looking for new management. This will be built on in September 2025 when Regional Improvement Teams are introduced to work with struggling schools.

As part of the changes, high performing schools could also be called in to help struggling schools, delivering on Labour’s manifesto commitment to “spread best practice” on a school-to-school level. However, asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if a school as inadequate could still be forced to become an academy, Ms Phillipson said: “It can do, or it could involve support being put in place. I retain the power to issue an order to convert that school into an academy.”

Mrs Perry’s sister, Professor Julia Waters, said: “We are delighted and relieved that the government has decided to take this important and long-overdue step.

“Single-word headline judgments are dangerous and reductive. They are unpopular with parents and teachers, and their simplistic impact has made the daily job of improving school standards harder for everyone except the bureaucrats.

“The shame, injustice, and high-stakes consequences of an ‘inadequate’ judgement, together with the rude and intimidating conduct of the inspection itself, were the cause of my sister’s mental deterioration and suicide.”