The proportion of schools being newly rated either “good” or “outstanding” by Ofsted has fallen significantly.

Official statistics, published by the inspectorate today, show that the proportion of full inspections resulting in a “good” or “outstanding” grade was 63 per cent in the 2015-16 academic year, but has fallen to 49 per cent in the current academic year, up to 31 March 2017.

In addition, the proportion of schools judged to require improvement which have subsequently improved to “good” or “outstanding” has decreased by 11 percentage points since last year.

Between 1 September 2016 and 31 March 2017, 29 per cent of short inspections of schools previously rated “good” converted to full inspections - a decrease from the 35 per cent of inspections that converted in 2015-16.

Sixty per cent of this year’s converted inspections resulted in schools’ rating declining to less than “good”, compared with 46 per cent in 2015-16.

However, when the outcomes of short inspections that did not convert to a full inspection are also included, the Ofsted figures reveal that a higher proportion of schools are “good” or “outstanding”: 75 per cent this year, compared with 73 per cent in 2015-16.

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