You can read our news story on the changes here<\/a>, and a Q&A with Ofsted boss Sir Martyn Oliver here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s your usual handy Schools Week<\/em> explainer…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Report cards will judge schools on eight areas, plus safeguarding<\/strong>. Early years and sixth forms will also have their own categories \u2013 meaning a school could have 11 ratings in total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ofsted said these areas \u201crepresent the component parts of great education provision\u201d and \u201cprovide the nuance\u201d parents and professionals want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They will allow inspectors to \u201chighlight poor practice with more precision \u2013 pointing laser-like to specific issues, not shining a floodlight on the whole provider\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Each evaluation area will have a drop-down box that contains more information about the findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The inspection areas for schools (state and independent) are:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For initial teacher training, there will be six<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each of the new areas will be rated using a five-point, traffic light system<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ofsted said this will allow inspectors to \u201cvalidate and celebrate success\u201d, give reassurance where leaders are showing the \u201cfirst signs of improvement\u201d, and \u201cidentify where leaders\u2019 attention needs to turn next to avoid outcomes declining\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The five ratings will be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ofsted said the middle three grades would \u201ctypically capture where most providers would sit across the range of evaluation areas\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ofsted does provide a brief summary of other grading options. But they say a three-point scale wouldn\u2019t support continuous improvement, four ratings wouldn\u2019t allow them to \u201cbreak down\u201d \u2018good\u2019 into \u201cmore parts, and a 7-point scale was \u201cunnecessarily complicated\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is an example of what a new report card inspection will look like …<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inspectors can only recommend a school gets an exemplary rating<\/strong>. This will then be \u201cmoderated and confirmed\u201d by a \u201cnational quality and consistency panel\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consideration will include how the school\u2019s work is embedded and sustained over time, whether it is making a \u201ctangible difference\u201d to children\u2019s learning and is being shared with others to \u201csupport system improvement\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any schools with \u2018exemplary\u2019 will be invited to submit a case study to be published on the Ofsted Academy website, potentially through a series of \u201cnational best practice reports\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oliver said the new top grade will “help raise standards, identifying world-class practice that should be shared with the rest of the country”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From November, all inspections will be \u2018full\u2019 inspections<\/strong>. There will be no more ungraded inspections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This will \u201csimplify inspection: every school will know exactly what kind of inspection it will receive and how often\u201d, Ofsted said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An evaluation of the current inspection framework, published by Ofsted on Monday, found inspectors were \u201cless confident\u201d in their evidence base for the areas of focus on ungraded inspections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently most schools get full inspections roughly every four years. Ofsted has not said at what frequency they will happen under the new framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The definition for schools that fall into categories of concern is set out in law:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This will remain, but the lesser category will be renamed to \u2018requires significant improvement\u2019<\/strong>. This will prevent confusion, Ofsted said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schools will be be deemed to require significant improvement if<\/strong>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schools will be deemed to be in special measures if…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All schools that are either causing concern, or have *any* area graded \u2018attention needed\u2019 (amber), will get a monitoring inspection within 18 months<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Monitoring visits to the latter will focus on just the \u2018attention needed\u2019 areas. If schools show \u201csignificant signs of improvement\u201d, the area will be upgraded to \u2018secure\u2019. Monitoring will continue until all areas are secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ofsted said this will mean schools with a lower rating aren’t waiting years for another inspection to show they’ve improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schools deemed as \u2018requires significant improvement\u2019 will get five monitoring inspections within 18 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schools in special measures will get six monitoring inspections within 24 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Government has also published its own intervention plans today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n1. Report cards to judge schools on 9 areas…<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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2. … 5 traffic-light ratings from \u2018causing concern\u2019 to \u2018exemplary\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Report-card-proposal-grades--736x1024.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3. Inspectors \u2018recommend\u2019 exemplary \u2013 national panel decides<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Bye bye ungraded inspections<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. One red and schools will be put in a category…<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/schools-causing-concern-image.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n6. … one amber and it\u2019s a monitoring inspection within 18 months<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
7. <\/strong>Ofsted to publish number of SEND kids, absence data<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n