Academy trusts and councils have been told to “particularly” take into account ‘leadership and management’ and ‘quality of education’ Ofsted sub-judgments when deciding whether to expand schools.
Previously, Department for Education guidance stated that additional places would only be provided in primary and secondary schools rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall.
However, headline Ofsted judgments were scrapped last month by the new government, ahead of the introduction of new broader report cards next September.
It means schools inspected this academic year won’t receive an overall grade, though they will continue to be rated from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’ for the four existing sub-judgments.
A Department for Education guidance update for both academy trusts and councils states that “it is expected that, where possible, additional new places will only be provided at schools with strong performance records, particularly taking into account Ofsted sub-judgments on leadership and management and quality of education”.
“Schools that are not currently performing strongly should only be expanded where there are no other viable options.”
The tweaked guidance did not say what else will be considered when assessing schools’ performance.
Plans to expand schools without “strong performance records” should be discussed with the regions group, the guidance says.
At long last the focus is on what our schools are about!!!
Great progress and great schools led by leaders who have passion, compassion and an over riding focus on the children.
Connectivity is the most potent feature where leaders have enlisted the entire staff team to work together to realise the ambitious commitment of this new government and in particular the Secretary of State for education.
Not forgetting the tireless work of all our professional bodies namely our unions who behind the scenes have put children first.