Ofsted's New Report Cards

From November 2025 Ofsted stopped giving schools a single overall word like "Outstanding" or "Good". Here's what replaced it, and how we show both the old and new formats on FindGreatSchools.

What changed

Until late 2025, every inspected school in England was given one of four overall grades: Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate.

For inspections from 10 November 2025, that single headline grade is gone. Instead, Ofsted publishes a report card that grades several areas of the school separately, each on a new five-point scale — plus a straightforward "Met" / "Not met" judgement on safeguarding.

The change rolls out as schools are reinspected — roughly 430 a month, so it will take around four to five years for every school to have a report card. Until a school is reinspected, its most recent single-word grade still stands.

The five-point scale

Each area on a report card is graded from highest to lowest:

  • ExceptionalA genuinely exceptional standard, going well beyond what is expected.
  • Strong standardA strong standard, clearly above what is expected.
  • Expected standardMeets the standard expected of all schools.
  • Needs attentionBelow the expected standard; improvement is needed.
  • Urgent improvementFalls well short; urgent improvement is required.

What gets graded

A report card covers up to nine areas. The last two only apply where relevant — a primary school has no post-16 provision, a secondary has no early years:

Achievement

Curriculum and teaching

Attendance and behaviour

Personal development and wellbeing

Leadership and governance

Inclusion

Early years (where applicable)

Post-16 provision (where applicable)

Safeguarding is judged simply as Met or Not met. A school can also be placed in a formal category of concern (special measures, or requires significant improvement).

How we show it on FindGreatSchools

1

The full report card on each school page

For schools inspected under the new framework, we show every graded area with its grade, the safeguarding outcome, and any category of concern — exactly as Ofsted published it.

2

A single distilled grade for quick comparison

Ofsted no longer gives one overall word, so to keep cards and search comparable we summarise the area grades into one of the five new labels (e.g. "Ofsted: Strong"). We deliberately do not convert it back to Outstanding or Good — those judgements no longer exist under the new framework.

3

Fair sorting across both frameworks

When you sort by inspection, report-card and older single-word schools are ranked on one shared scale, so a "Strong" school sits between "Outstanding" and "Good" rather than dropping to the bottom of the list.

4

Safeguarding shown faithfully

Safeguarding and any category of concern are shown in full on the school page. They feed our overall Score rather than the distilled inspection grade, which reflects the quality of the graded areas.

Schools with an older grade

Most schools haven't been reinspected under the new framework yet, so they still show their last single-word grade — for example Ofsted: Outstanding. These grades remain valid until the school is next inspected.

A school on the new framework instead shows a distilled grade in the new wording, such as Ofsted: Strong. The softer colour is a small visual cue that it's a summary of a report card, not an old-style overall grade.

Find out more

FindGreatSchools is independent and not affiliated with Ofsted. Inspection data is drawn from Ofsted's published management information.