Ofsted Report Cards Explained — The New Inspection Framework

What Changed in November 2025

On 10 November 2025, Ofsted stopped issuing single-word overall grades. The familiar headline judgements — Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate — were retired. Inspections of state schools in England now produce a report card instead.

Rather than reducing a whole school to one word, a report card grades several evaluation areas separately on a five-point scale, and reports safeguarding as a distinct Met or Not met judgement. The aim is to give parents a fuller, more honest picture of where a school is strong and where it needs to improve.

Because the framework changed, old single-word grades are not directly comparable to the new report cards. Where you still see an Outstanding or Good label — including on this site — treat it as a historic grade from a pre-November-2025 inspection, not a current rating. You can read how we handle this on our methodology page.

The Report Card Scale

Each evaluation area on a report card is graded on a five-point scale. These grades describe individual areas — there is no single overall word for the whole school.

Safeguarding: a separate judgement

Safeguarding is not graded on the five-point scale. Instead it is reported separately as either Met or Not met. Effective safeguarding is a baseline expectation for every school, so it is judged as a clear pass or fail rather than placed on a spectrum.

The Inspection Areas

Inspectors look across the same core aspects of school life that have long underpinned inspection. Under the report card framework each of these is evaluated and reported on its own, using the five-point scale above, alongside the separate safeguarding judgement.

Quality of Education

Inspectors examine the school's curriculum intent (what they plan to teach), implementation (how they teach it), and impact (what pupils actually learn and remember). This goes beyond exam results to assess how well the curriculum is sequenced, how effectively teachers build on prior knowledge, and whether pupils develop deep understanding.

Behaviour and Attitudes

Inspectors assess whether the school creates a calm, orderly environment where pupils can learn. They look at attendance rates, behaviour policies, bullying, and how well pupils concentrate in lessons. They also consider the attitudes pupils have toward their education.

Personal Development

This area covers how well the school supports pupils' broader development. Inspectors consider character education, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, British values, careers guidance, extracurricular activities, and how well pupils are prepared for life in modern Britain.

Leadership and Management

Inspectors evaluate whether leaders have a clear vision, whether governance is effective, and how well staff are supported and developed. They also assess safeguarding arrangements, which are reported separately as Met or Not met.

Historic Single-Word Grades

For context, here are the four overall grades Ofsted used until 10 November 2025. They are shown here as historical information only. A school's last single-word grade tells you how it was judged at a past inspection under the old framework — it is not a current rating and is not comparable to a report card.

Where this site shows a school's Ofsted grade, it is the last single-word grade recorded before the framework changed. We label it as historic and link to our methodology so you can see exactly what it does and does not mean.

How Inspections Work

Most state schools receive a routine inspection approximately every four years, though the timing varies. Schools where inspectors have greater concerns are inspected more frequently.

What Happens During an Inspection

Inspectors typically spend one to two days in the school. They observe lessons, review curriculum plans, speak with pupils, staff, and governors, examine safeguarding records, and analyse the school's own self-evaluation. The lead inspector also considers data on attendance and examination results. Parent survey responses from Ofsted Parent View are taken into account too.

The school usually receives one working day's notice before an inspection, though some inspections are unannounced, particularly where safeguarding concerns have been raised.

The Report Card

After the inspection, the findings are published as a report card that grades each evaluation area on the five-point scale and states whether safeguarding is Met or Not met. This replaces the single overall grade and the previous practice of summarising the whole school in one word.

Limitations of Ofsted Judgements

The new report cards give parents more detail than a single word, but Ofsted judgements still have important limitations to keep in mind.

• Point-in-time snapshot. An inspection captures one or two days. It does not reflect the full picture of a school's performance over time, and schools can change significantly between inspections.
• Inspection frequency. Schools may go several years between inspections, during which standards can rise or fall.
• Old grades are not comparable. Single-word grades from before 10 November 2025 use a retired framework. They should be read as historical context, not lined up against the new report cards.
• Context matters. Schools serving different communities face different challenges. Two schools with similar judgements may be achieving very different things for their pupils.
• Professional judgement. Despite the inspection framework, individual inspectors exercise professional judgement, which can introduce variability.
• Not a league table. Ofsted judgements are not designed to rank schools against each other.

For a more rounded picture, consider Ofsted alongside Progress 8 scores, exam and SATs results, catchment, and your own observations from school visits. See our methodology for how we present Ofsted data.