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School inspections in England: Ofsted

Warning: this briefing mentions suicide, which some readers may find distressing

Scope of briefing

This briefing covers:

• Reform to how Ofsted inspects schools, including the decision to stop using one- or two-word overall effectiveness judgements such as ‘outstanding’ and ‘inadequate’
• How Ofsted has inspected schools to date
• Practicalities of inspections – their frequency, focus, and their consequences for schools

It applies to England. Separate school inspection arrangements apply in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

Ofsted’s remit

Ofsted inspects all state-funded schools in England, and around half of independent schools, in line with the relevant inspection framework. It also inspects a wide range of other services, including childcare, social care, further education, secure education and prison education.

Labour government announcements

On 2 September 2024, then Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson announced an immediate halt to one- or two-word overall effectiveness judgements (‘headline grades’) for state-funded schools.  She also said the government was committed to removing headline grades for many other types of settings.

Historically, Ofsted described a school’s overall effectiveness as either outstanding, good, requires improvement, or inadequate. Inadequate was further subdivided into two categories, serious weaknesses or requiring special measures.

Ofsted now uses a colour coded report card system for grading schools, with several separate judgements, which are then each graded on a five point scale from exceptional (highest) down to urgent improvement (lowest). Ofsted also assesses whether schools meet safeguarding requirements.

Implementation of the new ‘report card’ system

The new Ofsted report-card system has now been operating since November 2025. Research commissioned from YouGov during development found that 67% of parents preferred the proposed report card to the old reporting system.

There has nevertheless been substantial criticism from the profession. The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said in October 2025 that it was exploring options for legal action about the report card system, citing concerns about teacher and leader mental health and wellbeing.

The results of polling by Teacher Tapp published in September 2026 pointed to a drop-off in teacher support for removing single-word judgements. 2% of surveyed teachers strongly supported the removal of single-word judgements, and 19% somewhat supported this, down from 17% and 39% respectively, in January 2025.

Ofsted has acknowledged practical concerns raised by schools, including the potential for additional workload for leaders during inspections. In response, it made changes to inspection guidance from September 2026.

Intervention following Ofsted inspection

Poor Ofsted inspection outcomes have long been linked to intervention for state-funded schools.

Schools may be placed into one of two ‘categories of concern’ by Ofsted following an inspection. They can either be deemed to require significant improvement, or to require special measures. Being placed in either category will mean the school receives support to improve, and if it’s a maintained school, it may be converted to an academy.

Developments prior to the 2024 general election

The changes to inspection follow calls by teaching and leadership unions and others for reform. These calls were amplified following the January 2023 death of head teacher, Ruth Perry. Ms Perry’s school in Berkshire was inspected and the resulting report graded the school as inadequate, on safeguarding grounds only.

In their 2024 general election manifesto, Labour committed to “replacing a single headline grade with a new report card system telling parents clearly how schools are performing”.

There were also other, earlier changes. In 2023, Ofsted announced that where schools were judged inadequate on safeguarding grounds only, and would otherwise have been graded good or outstanding, they would be re-visited within three months and could be regraded at that point.