Single-headline grades for schools will be scrapped with immediate effect to boost school standards and increase transparency for parents, the Government has announced.

Reductive single-headline grades fail to provide a fair and accurate assessment of overall school performance across a range of areas and are supported by a minority of parents and teachers, the new Government has ruled.

The change delivers on the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and demonstrates the Prime Minister’s commitment to improving the life chances of young people across the country.

For inspections this academic year, parents will see four grades across the existing sub-categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.

This reform paves the way for the introduction of School Report Cards from September 2025, which will provide parents with a full and comprehensive assessment of how schools are performing and ensure that inspections are more effective in driving improvement.

A ‘generational reform’

Recent data shows that reports cards are supported by 77% of parents.

And the Government will continue to intervene in poorly-performing schools to ensure high school standards for children.

Bridget Phillipson, Education Secretary, said: “The need for Ofsted reform to drive high and rising standards for all our children in every school is overwhelmingly clear.

“The removal of headline grades is a generational reform and a landmark moment for children, parents, and teachers.

“Single-headline grades are low information for parents and high stakes for schools.

“Parents deserve a much-clearer, much-broader picture of how schools are performing – and that’s what our report cards will provide.

“This government will make inspection a more-powerful, more-transparent tool for driving school improvement.

“We promised change, and now we are delivering.”

As part of the announcement, where schools are identified as struggling, the Government will prioritise rapidly, getting plans in place to improve the education and experience of children, rather than relying purely on changing schools’ management.

And, from early 2025, the Government will also introduce Regional Improvement Teams that will work with struggling schools to quickly and directly address areas of weakness, meeting a manifesto commitment.

The Education Secretary has already begun to reset relations with education workforces, supporting the Government’s pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers, and reform to Ofsted marks another key milestone.

Striking a balance

The announcement follows engagement with the sector and family of headteacher, Ruth Perry, after a coroner’s inquest found the Ofsted inspection process had contributed to her death.

The Government will work closely with Ofsted and relevant sectors and stakeholders to ensure that the removal of headline grades is implemented smoothly.

Jason Elsom, chief executive of Parentkind, said of the move: “We welcome the decision by the Secretary of State to prioritise Ofsted reform.

“The move to end single-word judgements as soon as practical, while giving due care and attention to constructing a new and sustainable accountability framework during the year ahead, is the right balance for both schools and parents.

“Most parents understand the need for school inspection, but they want that inspection to help schools to improve as well as giving a verdict on the quality of education their children are receiving.

“When we spoke to parents about what was important to them, their children being happy at school was a big talking point and should not be overlooked.

Greater clarity

“Parents have been very clear that they want to see changes to the way Ofsted reports back after visiting a school, and it is welcome to see a clear timetable being set out today for moving towards a report card that will give parents greater clarity of the performance of their children’s school.

“We need to make sure that we get this right for parents, as well as schools.

“There is much more we can do to include the voice of parents in Ofsted inspections and reform of our school system, and this announcement is a big step in the right direction.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of National Association of Headteachers, added: “The scrapping of overarching grades is a welcome interim measure.

“We have been clear that simplistic one-word judgements are harmful, and we are pleased the Government has taken swift action to remove them.

“School leaders recognise the need for accountability, but it must be proportionate and fair and so we are pleased to see a stronger focus on support for schools instead of heavy-handed intervention.

“There is much work to do now in order to design a fundamentally-different, long-term approach to inspection and we look forward to working with government to achieve that.”

Where necessary, in cases of the most-serious concern, the Government will continue to intervene, including by issuing an academy order, which may in some cases mean transferring to new management.

And Ofsted will continue to identify these schools – which would have previously been graded as ‘inadequate’.

The Government also currently intervenes where a school receives two or more consecutive judgements of ‘requires improvement’ under the ‘2RI’ policy.

With the exception of schools already due to convert to academies this term, this policy will now change.

Driving up standards

The Government will put in place support for these schools from a high-performing school, helping to drive up standards quickly.

The changes build on the recently-announced Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which will put children at the centre of education and make changes to ensure every child is supported to achieve and thrive.

Jon Andrews, head of analysis and director of school performance at the Education Policy Institute (EPI), told Education Property: “The end of one-word judgements is a positive first step in reforming a school accountability system that has made leadership of some of the most-challenging schools even more difficult.

“Schools with low levels of disadvantage and high prior attainment are more likely to receive positive judgements from Ofsted and our own research shows that when schools consistently receive ratings that are less than good it is associated with an increase in teacher turnover, and an increasingly-disadvantaged intake, both of which make it more difficult to reverse the negative judgement.

“The current accountability system creates perverse incentives, including narrowing curriculum reducing the inclusiveness of admissions practices, and removing pupils from school rolls.

“The Government is therefore right to be looking more broadly at how school performance is measured.

“Our own benchmarking tool for multi-academy trusts and local authorities, which includes measures of attainment, progress, inclusion, the school workforce, and school finances could provide a blueprint for the new school report card.”