Revealed: Ofsted publishes first school reports without headline grades

The first Ofsted reports for schools without headline grades have been published by the watchdog, offering a first glimpse at the new-look documents.

Reports for 15 schools inspected on September 24, just after inspections resumed for the current academic year, include one for the prominent Reach Academy Feltham.

All of the schools have received at least four sub-judgment grades – for quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.

Some have also been rated on their early years or sixth form provision.

But unlike schools inspected up until the end of last academic year, none have been awarded a single headline grade – after the government did away with them.

Several schools, including Reach Feltham, have been rated ‘outstanding’ across the board, while one – Langham Village School, Norfolk – had a combination of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ grades. In previous reports, it would have been ‘good’ overall.

Most of the rest were rated ‘good’ in every sub-judgment except one – Howletch Lane Primary School, County Durham – which had its quality of education rated ‘requires improvement’.

Under the previous approach, it would have been rated ‘RI’ overall.

However, its report noted that leaders “have made a number of improvements since the previous inspection. They have quickly identified key priorities and taken effective action to address these.”

Some schools not inspected for years

It is worth pointing out that reports that rate schools positively get published more quickly because they are less likely to be challenged. That should explain why only positive reports have been published so far.

Of the fifteen schools, nine were primaries, two were secondaries, two were special schools and one was an all-through school.

Six were council maintained schools, four were converter academies, three were sponsored academies, one was a voluntary-aided and another was a free school.

Four had not been inspected before in their current form, while some had not been inspected for a long time, including one not visited since 2011.

The first new school reports