Overview
- Inspections under the new regime will begin in the second week of November, with no visits scheduled in the final week before Christmas.
- The five renamed grades will be urgent improvement, needs attention, expected standard, strong standard and exceptional.
- Schools will be scored across six areas with a dedicated inclusion judgment, and safeguarding will be recorded as met or not met rather than graded.
- Operational changes include a specific focus on disadvantaged and SEND pupils, an extra inspector on school visits, more frequent early‑years checks every four years and additional monitoring where standards fall short.
- Teaching unions and school leaders have urged ministers to halt or delay the rollout, while Ofsted cites a YouGov poll showing nearly seven in ten parents prefer the new report cards.