Ofsted is shaking up education with a bold new 5-point grading scale, including the elite ‘exceptional’ grade, and report cards designed to show parents exactly how schools and nurseries perform
Ofsted is introducing a new 5-point grading system, including an ‘exceptional’ rating, along with revamped report cards that provide a more transparent view of school and nursery performance. Launching in November 2025, these updates aim to provide parents with clearer insights, highlight strengths, and identify areas where schools need improvement, making education more transparent than ever.
Ofsted’s new approach to education grading receives parent approval
New independent polling from YouGov showed strong parental support for the new approach to grading. Almost seven out of ten parents surveyed said they prefer the new-look report cards to Ofsted’s current inspection reports. Only 15% said they preferred the old system, and almost nine out of ten parents said the report cards are easy to navigate.
Feedback from parents and education professionals has led Ofsted to rename the five grades to ‘urgent improvement’, ‘needs attention’, ‘expected standard’, ‘strong standard’, and the new highest grade of ‘exceptional’.
These changes form part of the reforms aimed at raising education standards for children and learners. Ofsted has committed to monitoring inspections of schools, FE, and skills providers where provision is not currently at the expected standard in all areas. This will ensure that, where areas for improvement are identified, action is taken quickly to raise standards.
In early years education, Ofsted will increase the frequency of inspections from every six years to every four. This increase will be accompanied by an enhanced focus on the quality of education and care, providing all children with the best possible start in life, beginning in their early years.
Improving education inspections for everyone
Ofsted is working towards improving education inspections and supporting its core purpose: to inspect schools, early years, and education providers objectively, in the best interests of children, their parents and carers, while accounting for the needs of education professionals.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said: “Ofsted exists to keep children safe and improve their lives.
Children deserve the best possible education; their parents deserve the best possible information, and education professionals deserve to have their work fairly assessed by experts. The changes we are presenting today aim to achieve all 3 of these things.
Our new report cards will provide parents with a clearer understanding of their children’s strengths and areas for improvement at the places where they learn. We will work with the professionals in schools, early years and further education to help them showcase the best of what they do – and help them identify where they can improve.”
NASUWT: “Ofsted has failed at the highest level”
Commenting on the publication of Ofsted’s response to the consultation on its new ‘report card’ inspection system, Matt Wrack, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said:
“If Ofsted hoped to win back the trust of teachers with their inspection reforms, they have failed at the highest level. Not only have they neglected to prioritise transparent communication with teachers and their unions throughout the consultation process, but the final reforms are disturbingly light on consideration of teachers at all.
“NASUWT remains gravely concerned that the new inspection regime is not fit for purpose and will harm the well-being of teachers and headteachers. Even though these changes were prompted in part by the tragic death of headteacher Ruth Perry – following a Coroner’s report that held Ofsted partially responsible for her death – the reform’s independent assessment on teacher wellbeing has not been made widely available to stakeholders for review. This lack of communication is evasive and demonstrates a failure to engage with educators.
“Sir Martyn Oliver came into office stating that he wanted to see Ofsted tread less heavily on the school system. However, instead of ‘less Ofsted’, it would appear that we now have more Ofsted than ever before. The new inspection system is bloated with buzzwords but dangerously low on clarity; for example, how will Ofsted judge a school’s approach to inclusion if it admits that it is ‘not their place’ to define inclusion? Who, then, will be responsible for defining ‘inclusion’ and other terms against which a school will be judged? At a time when inclusion demands weigh heavily on schools, but funding and external support are being reduced by the day, this seems particularly cruel to teachers and the pupils they are desperate to support.
“We and our fellow education unions asked Ofsted to delay the launch of its new regime to allow for further consultations and pilot schemes. We were all ignored. But we will continue to fight for an inspection system that prioritises teacher and leader wellbeing, alongside genuine partnership for school improvement – something that is in the best interests of teachers, pupils and parents alike.”
