Yahoo News Map shows Surrey secondary schools set to 'lose' their Outstanding title after Ofsted changes
More than a dozen top-performing Surrey secondary schools are set to lose their Outstanding titles - after Ofsted introduced a new system for grading schools. The practice of issuing an overall one or two-word grade - either Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate - has been scrapped with immediate effect.
Ofsted will continue to inspect schools, but will now only issue gradings related to individual aspects of a school’s performance. As of July 31, 495 schools in England had achieved the highest possible rating of “Outstanding” at their last Ofsted inspection. However, these Outstanding ratings will be lost after the school's next inspection.
That includes 14 of 58 inspected schools in Surrey - which means one in four secondary schools in our county were graded Outstanding (25%). Five of those schools were graded Outstanding at inspections carried out during the last school year.
Read more: ‘Exceptional’ Surrey school loved by Ofsted where students get 'FOMO' if they don't attend
For the most recently inspected and future inspections, parents can see a breakdown of how their school fared in four to five different areas: quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; leadership and management; and, where relevant, sixth form provision.
You can see the schools near you that were rated Outstanding at their last inspection using our interactive map.
Ofsted will continue to inspect schools against the same standards, but will now only issue gradings related to individual aspects of a school's performance.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “The need for Ofsted reform to drive high and rising standards for all our children in every school is overwhelmingly clear. The removal of headline grades is a generational reform and a landmark moment for children, parents and teachers.
“Single-headline grades are low information for parents and high stakes for schools. Parents deserve a much clearer, much broader picture of how schools are performing - that’s what our report cards will provide. This Government will make inspection a more powerful, more transparent tool for driving school improvement. We promised change and now we are delivering.”
The changes come after several years of debate within education about whether one overall grade can sum up the complexity of a school. That debate intensified after an inquest in 2023 found an inspection contributed to the death of Berkshire headteacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life after learning her school was set to be graded Inadequate.
The Department for Education said the old system did not give a fair assessment of schools and was only supported “by a minority of parents and teachers”.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, said: “We have been clear that simplistic one-word judgments are harmful and we are pleased the Government has taken swift action to remove them. We are equally pleased that the Government intends to place a stronger emphasis on supporting schools to improve where they need help, rather than defaulting to heavy-handed intervention or knee-jerk changes of governance structures.”
Please note an earlier version of this story stated schools would lose their Outstanding titles with immediate effect. We would like to clarify this is not the case, they will keep the title until their next inspection.
Surrey secondary schools rated Outstanding
Inspections during the last school year:
St Andrew's Catholic School, Leatherhead- 22/05/2024
Glyn School, Ewell - 12/9/2023
Hinchley Wood School, - 03/10/2023
Tomlinscote School, Frimley - 14/11/2023
St Peter's Catholic School, Guildford - 15/5/2024
Inspections earlier than September 2023
St Bede's School, Redhill - 18/1/2017
All Hallows Catholic School, Farnham - 05/06/2014
Rosebery School, Epsom - 03/05/2017
Gordon's School, West End - 12/11/2014
Guildford County School, - 17/1/2017
Hoe Valley School, Woking - 12/6/2018
Salesian School, Chertsey - 11/9/2013
St John the Baptist Catholic Comprehensive School, Woking - 5/08/2014
St Paul's Catholic College, Sunbury - 31/10/2017
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