Ofsted and the government are being warned that the shift to the new five-grade inspection framework risks “inadvertently painting a picture of decline” in schools by a sector leader.

Steve Rollett, deputy chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), has said that the move to a new grading system could mean some schools that felt they would be rated as “good” under the old framework may now receive one or more “needs attention” grades.

He has also urged the inspectorate to reconsider its plan for routine monitoring inspections for schools that get this grade.

Ofsted has launched a report card inspection framework that does not give schools an overall effectiveness grade, but uses a new five-point grading scale to rate schools in six different evaluation areas.

The five grades are “exceptional”, “strong standard”, “expected standard”, “needs attention” and “urgent improvement”.

This replaces the previous four-grade system of “outstanding”, “good”, “requires improvement” and “inadequate”. Before overall grades were scrapped, the vast majority of schools were rated by Ofsted as being “good” or better.

‘Recalibrating profile’ of Ofsted grades

Writing for Tes, Mr Rollett has outlined some of the initial reactions from CST members from the early weeks of inspections.

He said that it appears the “exceptional” grade will be a judgement reserved for just a few and that “expected standard” is a “higher bar than some had anticipated”.

Mr Rollett also said: “Schools that felt comfortably ‘good’ may find themselves receiving ‘needs attention’ judgements in one or more areas. This change means some schools will receive what feel like lower grades than before, when the quality of education has not deteriorated.”

He added that this change is going to “recalibrate the profile of grades nationally, most likely moving the centre of the bell curve to the middle of three grades, which looks - and feels - ‘lower’ than where it sat before when grades clustered in the top two of four grades”.

Around 90 per cent of schools were judged “good” or better by the end of the previous framework.

‘Work needed’ from Ofsted and government

Mr Rollett said: “Inadvertently painting a picture of decline in a school - or nationally - is in no one’s interests, including government, which could find itself having to answer for what is essentially a structural reclassification rather than a fall in performance.

“Work is needed from Ofsted and government to mitigate this risk, one exacerbated by the plan to monitor any school with an ‘needs attention’ area.”

Ofsted has declined to comment.

It has today published a frequently asked questions blog about its new inspections, in which it makes clear that the new grades cannot be directly compared to their predecessors.

Ofsted also said that when it has notified a school that it is about to be inspected, the inspector will send a letter to the school to send to parents and carers on its behalf.

That letter includes details of the changes to the report card and a link to a video, New Ofsted report cards and grades: a guide for parents, which explains the changes in more detail for parents.

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