If you didn’t know the Ofsted School Ratings existed before, you probably know they exist now. You have likely heard of the recent tragedy where headteacher Ruth Perry, took her own life after Ofsted officials downgraded her school’s rating.
But just because you’ve heard of them, it doesn’t mean you know what they are. Are you curious to know more? If so, read on. You’ll get the Ofsted School Ratings explained.
What Is Ofsted?
The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills or Ofsted main goal is to improve lives. It does this by inspecting and regulating certain individuals and organisations that give care, training, and education.
Ofsted contracts with more than 2,000 inspectors. After these workers do inspections, they share what they find. They give their reports to carers, parents, commissioners, and Parliament.
What Places Does Ofsted Inspect?
Ofsted reports that they inspect the following educational facilities.
- Colleges
- Some independent schools
- Maintained schools and academies
- Prison education
- Apprenticeship providers
They also inspect these care and training organisations.
- Teacher training and development
- Adoption and fostering agencies
- Local authorities
- Childcare
What Are Ofsted’s Responsibilities?
Ofsted divides the general “improve lives” goal into several different subgoals. You can learn more about them in the sections below:
Keeping Children Safe
Children are among the most vulnerable populations in the UK. Ofsted knows this and strives to protect their safety and welfare.
Standard-Raising Inspections
Education and social care facilities may often miss the issues that exist in their processes. Ofsted inspections can point out these errors and help the facilities improve themselves.
Skilled Workforce
Ofsted makes certain that it has the workforce necessary to tackle its responsibilities. It provides its workers with the tools, knowledge and expertise they need.
Staying Accessible and Engaged
Ofsted has a variety of different audiences. The organisation makes sure that it is open and accessible to them. It also makes certain that it understands the needs of its audiences.
Developing Life’s Start
Ofsted learns of the best curriculums, pedagogies, and more for early years education. Then they act on them.
Using Their Insights
Ofsted inspections become research and analysis. These insights inform the right authorities and lead to improvements.
Advancing Facilities
Ofsted’s regulations advance care, safeguarding, and education for children. This gives them the best start in life.
Changing as Needed
Social care and education sectors are constantly evolving. Ofsted changes with them. Its workers review the organisation’s approach and change that approach as needed.
What Happens During Ofsted Inspections?
Ofsted will usually give their targeted facilities a day to prepare for an inspection. In some cases, Ofsted will not give a warning. But this only occurs when a serious reason calls for it.
Ofsted inspectors use four key judgement areas to assess schools. These are the following:
- personal development
- quality of education
- behaviour and attitudes
- leadership and management
On the day of the inspection, Ofsted inspectors will do the following:
- Consider what it’s like to attend this school
- Take into account all four key judgement areas
- Don’t risk identifying individual pupils
- Think about the moral, social, spiritual, and cultural development of students
The Ofsted Ratings Explained
After an Ofsted inspection, the inspectors will create an Ofsted report or assessment. This report will often include one out of four school ratings. These are what experts refer to when they talk about Ofsted School Ratings.
The four ratings are the following:
- Outstanding (Grade 1)
- Good (Grade 2)
- Requires Improvement (Grade 3)
- Inadequate (Grade 4)
Each school grade has its own set of criteria. You can learn more about these below.
Outstanding
An outstanding school should receive a Grade 1 for most of the key areas of judgement. In this situation, school administrators should provide high standards of support and education.
One of the key judgements for an “outstanding” school can be rated as “good”. However, the inspectors must see that the school is working towards improvement in this area.
Outstanding schools often won’t need another inspection for some time. The next inspection typically won’t occur until parents raise concerns or the school appoints a new headmaster.
Good
Schools in this category should have received a Grade 2 in most of the inspection categories. It’s also possible for them to receive some Grade 1s or Grade 3s but still receive a “good” school grade.
Inspections for “good” schools should occur every four years. But this can change based on several factors. For example, Ofsted may inspect a school sooner if too many pupils suddenly start struggling.
Requires Improvement
It’s not a complete disaster if a school gets a “requires improvement” rating. Schools often resolve these issues quickly. Their school grades should improve come the next inspection in a few years.
Most key judgements for “requires improvement” schools will have Grade 3 ratings. But schools will often receive overall Grade 3 ratings if one of their key areas receives a Grade 3 rating.
Inadequate
Schools need to worry when they receive ratings of “inadequate”. This means that they are not providing their pupils with satisfactory support and education. They must make immediate and significant improvements to their procedures.
Sometimes a school will receive a Grade 4 rating in all four judgement categories. When this happens, Ofsted inspectors may put it in the ‘Special Measures’ category.
After inspectors do this, a team of approved consultants will visit the school. This team will work to get the school back on track.
Consider a Tuition Centre
So now you have gotten the Ofsted school Ratings explained. As you can see, Ofsted ensures that UK children remain safe and well-educated.
As a result, parents can trust institutions with the care of their children. They can also get the Ofsted ratings explained to choose which schools are right for their children.
Unfortunately, it may be difficult to get their children into a certain school. That’s where we come in. Our tuition centre, Ant Learning, can help your children succeed in key entrance exams.
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