What schools can learn from Ofsted report cards so far...
Hundreds of schools have been inspected under Ofsted’s 2025 inspection framework since November last year. The new-look report cards include a ‘traffic-light’ grade system, detailed explanations for each evaluation area and suggested next steps for improvement.
We’ve analysed 206 report cards, published on Ofsted’s Find an inspection report website between 12 January and 10 February. Read on to find out what patterns we’ve seen, and what these early insights suggest inspectors may focus on when they inspect your school.
Grading patterns
Under the 2025 education inspection framework, Ofsted now grades schools on a 5-point scale for each evaluation area: ‘exceptional’, ‘strong standard’, ‘expected standard’, ‘needs attention’, and ‘urgent improvement’.
Most schools inspected in our sample received a combination of ‘expected standard’ and ‘strong standard’ for all evaluation areas (with safeguarding ‘met’). Overall, 63% of the report cards we analysed fell across these 2 grades, meaning that most managed to meet or exceed expectations in every area of their provision.
Where schools received lower or higher grades, the vast majority only had grades spread across 2 evaluation areas – for example, ‘exceptional’ and ‘strong standard’, or ‘expected standard’ and ‘needs attention’. Only 13 schools in our sample (6%), were graded over 3 separate grade boundaries.
This speaks to a pattern of consistency – where a school is doing 1 thing well, it’s likely to be delivering consistently well across all areas of school life. But it also shows how closely linked the different evaluation areas are. Inclusion, for example, is a theme that runs through multiple evaluation areas and, in some schools, similar factors influenced several grades. For example, lower pupil attendance affected both achievement outcomes and curriculum delivery.
Meanwhile, 140 schools (68%) in our sample received the same grade in both achievement and curriculum and teaching, suggesting that similar factors to do with the effectiveness of teaching had an impact on both.
Schools are performing well in several evaluation areas
Inclusion is a new evaluation under the 2025 framework, and focuses on how well your provision works for all pupils, including those with barriers to their learning and/or their wellbeing. As part of inclusion, inspectors will carry out ‘case sampling’ – looking closely at the experiences of several specific pupils who face barriers, and how you support them.
Eight schools in our sample received an ‘exceptional’ grade for inclusion (only 12 schools received 1 or more ‘exceptional’ grade in any area) and 84 achieved ‘strong standard'. Themes Ofsted identified in schools graded ‘exceptional’ for inclusion include:
- Staff quickly and accurately identifying pupils’ needs
- The use of the pupil premium to remove barriers to pupils’ achievement
- Schools working effectively with external professionals and AP settings
Personal development and wellbeing was also a high-scoring area. Seven schools in our sample received an ‘exceptional’ grade, while 93 were found to be working at a ‘strong standard’. This means that almost half the schools in our sample are performing better than simply what’s expected of them in personal development and wellbeing. Inspectors reported that these schools:
- Equip pupils with the tools to keep themselves safe, including online safety
- Have high-quality pastoral support
- Make sure pupils understand and embrace British values, and treat each other with respect
The data also shows that almost all the schools in our sample got it right on safeguarding, with 99% meeting the safeguarding standard. This means they met all the statutory requirements, and inspectors also saw evidence of an open and positive safeguarding culture. This is encouraging, but safeguarding must remain a year-round priority. Failing to meet safeguarding requirements can still lead to a school being placed in a category of concern.
Get your team up to speed on everything they need to know to keep pupils safe with our library of eLearning content on The Key.
The secure fit model is making other areas harder to achieve
The 2025 school inspection framework uses a ‘secure fit’ model to grade schools. This means that, for each evaluation area, your school needs to meet every standard in the schools inspection toolkit to meet that grade. As a result, some schools in our sample missed out on grades due to very specific areas of provision.
In the attendance and behaviour area, for example, several schools who missed the ‘expected standard’ were advised on the report card of the need to improve attendance, but received positive feedback for behaviour in the school.
In achievement, feedback for schools that received a ‘needs attention’ grade often highlighted that pupils’ attainment in assessment is below average. The requirement for pupils to achieve “broadly in line with national averages” contributed to achievement being the lowest-scoring evaluation area in our sample, with around 23% of schools receiving a grade below the ‘expected standard’.
After the inspection, make time to highlight the positive feedback in your report card, even where this may not be fully reflected in overall grades.
Find more support on how to talk to your team about inspections, and find tools to help you look after the wellbeing of your staff.
Inspectors will take your context into account
Even though your school has to meet specific standards, inspectors will also take your context and pupils’ needs into account during inspection.
Inspectors will familiarise themselves with your data, including your IDSR, ahead of inspection, and use the planning call to get an idea of your context. Use this opportunity to explain the barriers your pupils or community face, and begin sharing your school’s improvement narrative.
In many of the report cards we’ve seen, inspectors made reference to pupils progressing well from their starting points, or acknowledged how changes in school leadership have impacted provision. For one school that achieved a ‘strong standard’ for attendance and behaviour, inspectors wrote that: “published information on attendance rates, which currently sit below the national average, does not truly reflect the school’s highly effective work to ensure that every pupil attends school each day.”
Make sure you have clear evidence to demonstrate how your provision supports pupils where headline data may not tell the full story.
Common themes on next steps
Ofsted’s report cards include a section on the next steps that school needs to take, to improve its provision. While these are specific to each school’s needs and context, we’ve seen common themes across the schools in our sample. Some of the most frequent areas of feedback are:
- Improving outcomes for specific pupil groups – schools are being advised to focus (or continue to focus) on identifying and supporting groups who face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing. Find tips for identifying which groups these might be in your school
- Strengthening writing and literacy skills – this is key foundational knowledge, often identified as needing to improve by inspectors. While this feedback is more common for primary schools in our sample, it appeared on report cards for all phases
- Developing staff knowledge – CPD was also a common theme for suggested next steps. Schools should make sure that all staff have the necessary subject knowledge and pedagogical skills to deliver teaching consistently for all pupils
You’ll already know where your own school’s areas for improvement are. But if you’ve identified any of these common themes, be ready to show inspectors how you’re working to improve your provision.
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