There has been a marked reduction in the number of previously “outstanding”-rated schools being seriously downgraded by Ofsted last term.
New figures published by the inspectorate today show that, for last term, there was a drop in the proportion of top-rated schools being downgraded to either “requires improvement” or “inadequate”.
An Ofsted commentary said that the proportion of schools that went from “outstanding” to less than “good” has dropped from 21 per cent in 2021-22 to 13 per cent last term.
Ofsted resumed routine inspection of “outstanding” schools last year after an exemption that had been in place for much of the last decade was lifted.
The watchdog has carried out full graded inspections of previously “outstanding”-rated schools if their last full check was before September 2015.
The new data for the autumn term of 2022-23 shows that a slightly higher proportion of the previously exempt schools have remained “outstanding” this year compared with 2021-22 (at 21 per cent compared to 17 per cent).
Last year, an Ofsted report into previously “outstanding”-rated schools warned that 83 per cent had been downgraded in full inspections in the academic year.
This led to education leaders warning Ofsted that it may have created a “misleading” picture of declining standards because it has “shifted the goalposts” on what is expected of “outstanding”-rated schools.
9 in 10 primaries now rated ‘good’ or better
The new data published today shows that the overall proportion of “good” or “outstanding” schools continues to increase.
In its annual report, Ofsted found that 88 per cent of all 22,000 schools inspected were judged to be “good” or “outstanding” at their most recent inspection - a small increase from 86 per cent in August 2021.
The new figures show that last term saw further small increases. At the end of December, 89 per cent of all schools were “good” or “outstanding”, including 90 per cent of primary schools and 81 per cent of secondary schools.
The data also shows that those previously judged as “requires improvement” have done particularly well last term, as 78 per cent of those inspected improved to “good”, compared with 70 per cent in 2021-22.
This means they avoided the risk of intervention from the government, which has extended its powers to issue academy orders to schools if they get two consecutive Ofsted ratings of less than “good”. Previously, it could only intervene in schools rated as “inadequate”.
Ofsted’s chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, said: “Every child deserves to attend a high-quality school and parents should be reassured that, despite some gradual rebalancing between ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’, the overall proportion of schools with one of the two top grades continues to rise.
“Overall, the picture since the pandemic is an increasingly positive one. I was particularly pleased to see so many schools that ‘required improvement’ move to ‘good’ last term. I’d like to thank everyone who is involved in helping these schools to improve.”
Tes revealed last week that a new analysis by SchoolDash suggests that the calendar year of 2022 saw the lowest proportion of schools given a “requires improvement” rating since it was introduced in 2012.
