What do Ofsted's changes to grading mean for my school?

With changes to the Ofsted framework having taken place in September 2024, you may be wondering what the removal of an overall judgement grade means for you, and how Ofsted will now determine where further support is required to improve schools.

Around 60% of schools inspected during the academic year 2024-2025 are expected to receive a graded inspection, with 40% due to receive an ungraded inspection. If you believe you may be in the 'Ofsted window', it's beneficial to know what the outcome may mean for your school.

And while the guidance is out there, it's not the easiest to wade through and working out each and every scenario can be a little mind boggling, so we've broken it down in this blog for you. 

 

What will the outcomes of graded inspections be?

During a graded inspection, schools will still receive a grading for each of the four key judgement areas: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management. Where appropriate, inspectors will also evaluate schools against the provision judgements in early years and sixth-form provision.

Each of the key judgement and provision areas will be graded as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate, following the guidance set out in the School Inspection Handbook.

 

What do these outcomes mean for my school's next steps? 

For schools who receive gradings of 'good' or higher across all key and provision judgement areas, this will be reflected in the report alongside Ofsted's recommendations for moving forward.

If any key judgement is graded as inadequate and/or safeguarding is ineffective, the school will be placed in a formal category of concern. This means that inspectors will decide whether the school is providing pupils with an acceptable standard of education and whether they have capacity to improve, based on the evidence of those responsible for leading, managing or governing the school and the support around them. The evidence from this will determine whether inspectors decide the school has serious weaknesses or requires special measures.

We've summarised the possible outcomes below.

All schools causing concern will be monitored in accordance with the policies set out in the School Monitoring Handbook.

 

How is the capacity to improve decided? 

As part of the process in deciding whether schools have the capacity to improve, inspectors will look to see how leaders of the school:

• identify and prioritise the right issues;
• take appropriate and timely action to address the identified issues, including the effective use of internal and external support, where necessary;
• have a track record of improvement, even if the desired outcome has not yet been achieved;
• have done all that they can be reasonably expected to do in the time available and the circumstances in which they work.

What will the outcomes of ungraded inspections be?

During an ungraded inspection, inspectors may consider any of the factors set out in the grade descriptors for graded inspections; however, they will usually focus on the effectiveness of:

• leaders’ actions to sustain and/or improve performance across all areas of the school’s work since the previous inspection;
• leaders’ decisions, especially whether they are in the best interests of children;
• the school’s safeguarding culture;
• governors/trustees’ understanding of, and ability to carry out, their role.

There are four possible outcomes for schools who receive an ungraded inspection.

Outcomes	What does this mean?
Outcome 1 The school has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.	There is no evidence that any key or provision judgement would be lower if a graded inspection took place. There is evidence that one or more key or provision judgements may be lower if a graded inspection took place, but it would still be good.
Outcome 2 The evidence gathered during this inspection suggests that the school’s work may have improved significantly across all areas since the previous inspection.	At least one key or provision judgement would be higher. None of the key or provision judgements would be lower. All key or provision judgements would be outstanding.
Outcome 3 The evidence gathered during this inspection suggests that aspects of the school’s work may not be as strong as at the time of the previous inspection.	At least one key or provision judgement would be lower if a graded inspection took place. That judgement would now be requires improvement or inadequate.
Outcome 4 The school may now be inadequate in one or more of the key judgements under a graded inspection, and there are serious concerns about the quality of education, pupils’ behaviour or safeguarding.	The ungraded inspection will usually be deemed to be a graded inspection within 48 hours

 

 

 

What does ineffective safeguarding mean?

Safeguarding is ineffective when there are serious or widespread failures in the school’s safeguarding arrangements. This is where the school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils do not meet statutory requirements, or they give serious cause for concern, or the school has taken insufficient action to remedy weaknesses following a serious incident. Ineffective safeguarding will always mean that a school is placed in a formal category of concern.

If during a graded inspection, safeguarding is deemed ineffective, the following will apply:

• If, had safeguarding arrangements been judged effective, the school would still have at least one judgement graded ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’, the inspection will conclude as normal.
• If, had safeguarding arrangements been judged effective, all judgements would have been good or outstanding, inspectors will need to consider, based on the information available to them at that time, whether leaders are capable of resolving the issues identified with safeguarding within 3 months.
• If they consider that this is the case, the inspection will be suspended to give the school an opportunity to resolve those issues and an inspection team will return within 3 months.
• The school will not be placed in a category of concern at this stage, as the inspection will not have concluded.
• A letter will be sent to the school, copied to the Secretary of State, setting out what is taking place and explaining the next steps. A letter will also be sent to parents.
• If there are no wider concerns, but inspectors consider that there is not a realistic prospect that leaders will be capable of resolving the issues identified with safeguarding within 3 months, they will conclude the inspection as normal and judge the school to have serious weaknesses.

How can Honeyguide support me to prepare for the inspection process? 

From the Ofsted phone call to the inspection process itself, we have resources to support you in auditing your provision and preparing your team.

 

In addition, we have a range of safeguarding materials to support you in ensuring your setting have effective practices to safeguard children. A great starting point is a safeguarding deep dive, where you can explore your current procedures alongside designated safeguarding leads and governors. It's designed to give you the tools to gather a snapshot view of safeguarding in your setting, allowing you to gain insight into how others could view your safeguarding practice.  

We hope this has helped to clear up some of the confusion surrounding what the removal of overall effectiveness gradings could mean for the outcomes of your next inspection.