Half of the “outstanding” rated schools inspected last term lost their top Ofsted grade with primary schools more likely to be downgraded, new figures published by the watchdog show.
Ofsted data also shows it had concerns over more than a third of the “outstanding” schools it inspected during the 2021 autumn term. This means they kept their top rating but will now face a full graded section 5 inspection when the watchdog next visits.
Overall, just under one-in-six schools previously rated “outstanding” were downgraded to less than “good” in the first term, after inspections resumed in full for the first time since the pandemic.
New figures show that, of 255 schools rated “outstanding” previously, 50 per cent retained this judgement between 1 September and 31 December 2021.
Ofsted had concerns about 19 per cent of the top-rated schools it inspected. These schools are among the half that retained their “outstanding” rating but will now face a full graded inspection next time.
The figures show 35 per cent of previously “outstanding” rated schools were downgraded to “good”, 13 per cent were judged “requires improvement” and 2 per cent went from “outstanding” to “inadequate”.
Primary schools less likely to keep top rating
Data broken down by phase shows that primary schools were less likely to keep their “outstanding” rating than secondary schools.
In the autumn term, 58 per cent of primary schools previously judged to be “outstanding” were downgraded, compared with 47 per cent of secondary schools.
Ofsted had concerns about 19 per cent of inspections this year, compared with 5 per cent in the 2019-2020 academic year.
However, this outcome only applied to nursery schools, special schools and alternative provisions, but this year it applies to primary and secondary schools too.
Between May 2012 and November 2020, primary and secondary schools judged to be “outstanding” in their overall effectiveness at their most recent section 5 inspection were exempt from routine inspections.
During this period, Ofsted only inspected an “outstanding” school if it was flagged through a risk assessment, or if it received other concerns, suggesting that an inspection was needed.
This year, previously exempt schools were prioritised for inspection according to the length of time since their last inspection. Those not inspected since 2015 had a full graded section 5 inspection, and those inspected since 2015 had a section 8 inspection.
Over half of the previously exempt “outstanding” schools inspected this year had not had a full section 5 inspection for 10 years or more.
Slight increase in proportion of schools retaining a ‘good’ grade
Ofsted is inspecting schools under the Education Inspection Framework, which places an increased emphasis on the school curriculum.
These inspections were introduced in September 2019 but were interrupted by the Covid pandemic.
Routine inspection was halted in March 2020 and resumed in September 2021.
The data shows more schools have retained their “good” rating last term than when schools were first inspected under this framework in 2019-20.
The figures show that, between September and December 2021, 87 per cent of schools rated “good” retained this judgement, compared with 83 per cent in the 2019-20 academic year.
The figures also show a marked improvement in outcomes for schools that were previously judged “requires improvement”.
This year, 71 per cent of schools previously rated “requires improvement” were judged “good” or “outstanding”, compared with 56 per cent in the 2019-2020 academic year.
However, these schools have had a longer gap between their full graded section 5 inspections than schools inspected in earlier years.
This was because of full inspections being on hold for 17 months during the pandemic.
