Ashfield schools downgraded as Ofsted re-inspects previously 'outstanding' schools

Schools judged to be ‘outstanding’ across England had been exempt from routine inspection, but this rule was lifted in 2020.

Since then, education watchdog Ofsted has inspected 371 of the schools again, with more than 80 per cent losing their outstanding status.

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, said: “Regular inspection gives parents confidence in the quality of their child’s school.

“Exempting outstanding schools deprived parents of up-to-date information. It also left a lot of schools without the constructive challenge that regular inspection provides.

“The exemption was a policy founded on the hope that high standards, once achieved, would never drop, and that freedom from inspection might drive them even higher. These outcomes show that removing a school from scrutiny does not make it better.”

In 2012, the Department for Education made outstanding primary and secondary schools exempt from routine inspection, in an attempt to remove the burden of inspection from highly performing state-funded schools.

The exemption was scrapped in 2020. Of the 3,400 schools graded outstanding at that point, 43 per cent had not had a graded inspection for at least 10 academic years.

One such school was St Mary Magdalene Primary School in Sutton. The school was deemed ‘outstanding’ back in December 2007, but following its latest inspection in March this year, it was rated ‘good’.

Another was Orchard Primary School and Nursery, Kirkby, which was not inspected between 2007 and 2022. Following the inspection this year, the school was rated ‘good’, from its previous rating of ‘outstanding’.

A Department for Education spokesman said the government had rapidly improved school standards, thanks to the tireless efforts of school leaders.

The spokesman said 87 per cet of England’s schools are rated as good or outstanding.

But a teachers’ union said the finding that inspection standards were often not maintained showed the system needed to be overhauled.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Far from demonstrating the value of Ofsted, this report shows that the inspectorate makes no material positive difference to schools.”

“Schools must be accountable, but Ofsted is thoroughly discredited in the eyes of school leaders, staff and parents. Its findings are frequently unreliable and invalid.

“We need to see a root and branch review of the way schools are inspected. At the moment, Ofsted is driving good teachers away and making education worse.”