Ofsted Report Card Explained
The new Ofsted inspection framework replacing single-word grades with detailed sub-judgements.
What changed in September 2024
From September 2024, Ofsted stopped issuing single-word overall grades (Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, Inadequate). Instead, inspections under the new framework report sub-judgements across multiple areas without a summary grade. This was introduced after sustained criticism that a single grade oversimplified school quality and created perverse incentives.
The sub-judgement areas
Under the current framework, inspectors assess schools across four areas: Quality of Education (curriculum, teaching, assessment), Behaviour and Attitudes (pupil conduct, attendance, bullying), Personal Development (character, RSHE, careers), and Leadership and Management (governance, safeguarding, staff development). Each area is evaluated but not numerically graded in published reports.
The Report Card (from November 2025)
From November 2025, Ofsted introduced a five-point scale graded across six areas — Curriculum and teaching, Achievement, Inclusion, Attendance and behaviour, Personal development, and Leadership — plus a separate Safeguarding outcome (Met or Not met). The five grades, highest to lowest, are: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, and Urgent improvement. There is no single overall grade and no legacy 1–4 sub-judgements. These inspections are now live in MATpulse and appear on school profiles and across aggregate views.
How we treat Report Card grades in aggregates
Ofsted is explicit that the new and old scales cannot be directly compared — "Expected standard" is a high, secure-fit bar (every standard must be met), not the old "Good", and "Needs attention" is not a fail. To keep Report Card schools visible in trust, league-table and local-authority aggregates, MATpulse uses a single neutral measure, "meeting standard or above": legacy inspections count when graded Good or better (1–2); Report Card inspections count when every judgement area is Expected standard or above (and safeguarding is not "Not met"). We always disclose how many schools in a group are on the new framework, and we never present the two frameworks as interchangeable. A lower new-framework rate does not by itself indicate decline.
Legacy grades on MATpulse
Schools inspected before September 2024 retain their legacy grades (Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, Inadequate). MATpulse displays these using coloured pills on school profiles. Post-September 2024 inspections are shown with sub-judgement detail only. On trust profiles, MATpulse aggregates legacy sub-judgements across all member schools as horizontal stacked bars.
Interpreting Ofsted data
Legacy grades were last awarded in July 2024. Schools with older inspection dates may have grades that no longer reflect current performance. MATpulse shows the inspection date alongside every grade so readers can assess currency. The proportion of schools rated Good or Outstanding is a commonly used aggregate, but it depends heavily on when schools were last inspected.