Schools minister Nick Gibb has said that the government and Ofsted will be considering whether limiting judgements is the right approach to inspection after concerns that otherwise strong-performing schools are being downgraded over safeguarding.
In an appearance on Times Radio today, Mr Gibb said this was an issue the government and the inspectorate would be looking at.
The schools minister was asked whether a school should be downgraded and face academisation as a result of safeguarding concerns in an Ofsted report that praises other aspects of the education it provided.
A parent phoning into Times Radio raised the case of King Edward VII School, in Sheffield, which earlier this year was rated “inadequate” by Ofsted inspectors who found that safeguarding was ineffective, and which now faces being placed into an academy trust despite a community campaign against the move.
Responding, Mr Gibb said: “It’s called a limiting judgement. If a school fails on safeguarding then the whole school fails regardless of the academic standards of the school because of the importance of safeguarding children.”
Ofsted inspectors check whether safeguarding is effective at a school. If it is found to be ineffective, the watchdog is likely to rate the school’s leadership and management and its overall inspection grade as “inadequate”.
There have been concerns raised about the role of limiting judgements in schools rated as “inadequate”, despite having strengths in other areas.
Former education secretary Michael Gove raised concerns about this following the outpouring of emotion from teachers after the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Ms Perry’s family said she took her own life after an Ofsted inspection. Her school had been downgraded to “inadequate” from “outstanding” overall despite the quality of education; additionally, behaviour and attitudes and personal development of the school were all rated as “good” in the new inspection.
In response, Mr Gove said: “There is one issue which I do feel we need to reflect on and look at which is that if a school is found to have failed its safeguarding criteria, then that is what is called a limiting judgment and if a school is found ‘inadequate’ in that area, that means it is ‘inadequate’ overall, even if it has strong teaching and learning and its other areas are good as well.”
Today, Mr Gibb indicated that the government would now be reconsidering this.
He said: “People are now saying, ‘well, is the limiting judgement the right approach?’ That is something we will look at.”
When questioned on this, he clarified: “Yes, we will look at that, or rather Ofsted will look at that in conjunction with us.”
