Ofsted has renamed its controversial five new headline grades, reduced the number of core areas for inspection and will enlarge its inspection teams in response to its consultation on planned new report cards. The watchdog has also published a sample report card with narrative judgments and contextual information alongside grades. For the purposes of this round-up, we have focused on Ofsted is also pressing ahead with already-announced plans for all inspections to be full inspections, for increased monitoring activity, a replacement to its current deep dives approach and other measures consulted-on earlier this year. Here鈥檚 what you need to know鈥 1. ‘Confusing鈥 grades renamed Ofsted鈥檚 original consultation proposed that schools would be given one of five grades for each judgment area. These were going to be鈥 causing concern attention needed secure strong exemplary The watchdog has now renamed these grades as follows鈥 urgent improvement needs attention expected standard strong standard exceptional Ofsted said it had made the changes following 鈥渃oncerns from professionals and parents about the terminology used to describe grades, such as 鈥榮ecure鈥 being confusing and 鈥榗ausing concern鈥 being too harsh on providers鈥. It comes after Schools Week revealed earlier this year that Ofsted was considering renaming the 鈥榮ecure鈥 grade in proposed new report cards, amid concerns it won鈥檛 be clear to families where it sits on the new scale. The watchdog also said it had 鈥渢ightened the definitions of 鈥榚xpected standard鈥 and 鈥榮trong standard鈥 so the differentiation between both is clearer across all toolkits鈥. Schools Week ran a blind online survey asking readers to distinguish between the criteria for the 鈥渟ecure鈥 and 鈥渟trong鈥 descriptors. On average, the more than 3,000 respondents got two of the five wrong. The top of a report card 2. Core inspection areas reduced from eight to six The original consultation proposed eight core inspection areas for schools, plus early years and sixth form if applicable. The proposed core areas were: inclusion curriculum developing teaching achievement behaviour and attitudes attendance personal development and well-being leadership and governance Ofsted will now merge 鈥榙eveloping teaching鈥 with 鈥榗urriculum鈥 and the 鈥榓ttendance鈥 judgment will be merged with 鈥榖ehaviour and attitudes鈥. That means the new list of core areas is: inclusion curriculum and teaching achievement attendance and behaviour personal development and wellbeing leadership and governance As originally proposed, safeguarding will be judged separately, as either 鈥渕et鈥 or 鈥渘ot met鈥. 3. School context 鈥榥arrative鈥 to run alongside grades Ofsted has faced widespread calls from the sector to replace grading with narrative descriptions of schools. It has resisted these calls. But the watchdog said report cards will now have a 鈥渃ombined approach using both a 5-point scale and a narrative explanation for each grade across all evaluation areas鈥. A sample report card distributed by the watchdog shows that at the top of the page, visitors will see a colour-coded summary of how many inspection areas have met each grade. Below that, visitors will be able to click on each judgment area to see several paragraphs of narrative verdict. The report cards will also show contextual information about a school, such as whether its pupil numbers, prevalence of SEND and deprivation are above or below average. 4. Toolkits 鈥榯ightened up鈥 after backlash Ofsted pledged earlier this year to publish toolkits for each evaluation area to 鈥渢ake any mystery out of inspection, so providers can be clear about what we will and, importantly, will not look at鈥. These will 鈥渙rient around the 鈥榚xpected standard鈥欌 grade, the watchdog said today. The 鈥渓ikely three most commonly awarded grades鈥 鈥 鈥榥eeds attention鈥, 鈥榚xpected standard鈥 and 鈥榮trong standard鈥 will appear on one page. Then the 鈥渢wo extremes鈥 鈥 鈥榰rgent improvement鈥 and 鈥榚xceptional鈥 鈥 will sit on the following page. Ofsted said the 鈥榚xpected standard鈥 is in the middle of the page of the toolkit 鈥渂ecause this is what we would typically expect to see on inspections. 鈥淚t covers the statutory, professional and non-statutory guidance that providers are already expected to follow.鈥 Meanwhile, the 鈥榮trong standard鈥 has 鈥渢ighter definitions鈥, and 鈥渓ooks for evidence of practice to be consistent, embedded and highly impactful鈥. 5. Exceptional WON鈥橳 need an Ofsted Academy submission Ofsted had planned to require inspectors to submit examples of 鈥榚xemplary鈥 practice to Ofsted Academy, the watchdog鈥檚 training and development arm, which would then sign off that a top grade could be awarded. But this plan has been dropped because 鈥渕any respondents found this too complex or were worried it would create an additional burden鈥. 鈥淚nstead, inspectors will evaluate 鈥榚xceptional鈥 practice in the same way as other grades: using their evidence and applying the toolkit during inspection.鈥 Ofsted said 鈥渁ll the 鈥榮trong standards鈥 need to be met鈥 for an 鈥榚xceptional鈥 grade to be considered. If they are, inspectors will then look at their evidence against the standards for the top grade. Ofsted said 鈥榚xceptional鈥 practice needs to be 鈥渟ustained鈥 and 鈥渆vident over time rather than a recent improvement鈥 and 鈥渘eeds to have a transformational impact鈥 on the outcomes of disadvantaged youngsters. 6. Extra inspector to 鈥榚ase anxiety for leaders鈥 Ofsted said it had 鈥渉eard concerns raised through the consultation about the additional workload that some feared the revised framework could generate, and the implications for the well-being of the professionals we inspect鈥. As a result, the watchdog said it was 鈥渋ncreasing inspection capacity for schools鈥 by adding an extra inspector to teams for one day of all full inspections. Having this extra inspector 鈥渟hould allow the lead inspector more time to focus on engaging with leaders, coordinating their inspection team, and overseeing and quality assuring the inspection鈥. 鈥淭his means we can reduce pressure on leaders through the inspection process. The extra inspector will enable lead inspectors and leaders to really collaborate across the inspection, and should ease any anxiety for leaders by acting as a regular point of contact, while allowing the wider inspection team the time to gather evidence to inform their evaluations.鈥 7. Inspections restart November 10 with volunteer schools School inspections will resume from November 10, Ofsted has confirmed, and said this will give providers 鈥渁t least a full two months to become familiar with the changes鈥. When inspections resume, Ofsted will 鈥減rioritise volunteers for full inspections in the weeks between November 10 and Christmas鈥. These inspections will result in a report card with a 鈥渃omplete set of grades鈥. Ofsted will then return to the normal schedule for state-funded schools, with full inspections every four years, 鈥渢owards the end of the period and not before December 1鈥. However, if there are enough volunteers, 鈥渨e will continue to prioritise them after December 1. We will not carry out inspections in the final week before Christmas鈥. *Editor鈥檚 note: Ofsted publicly discredited a Schools Week story in May that reported the watchdog was considering delaying the roll-out of routine report card inspections. However, the plans today reveal the return of routine inspection has been delayed until at least December 1, and potentially January. 8. Ofsted 鈥榚xplore an area鈥 to provide school context As well as providing more contextual information on report cards itself, Ofsted will introduce a new service called 鈥淥fsted: explore an area鈥. This 鈥渨ill bring together data to show what education provision is like in and around a local area鈥 and 鈥渆xplain how the provider鈥檚 performance sits within its local context鈥. It will replace Ofsted鈥檚 Area Insights service in November and be published publicly. Inspectors will get further training on how to use data as a 鈥渟tarting point for understanding context鈥. The watchdog has also started to develop a 鈥渟imilar schools鈥 comparison measure to help inspectors and schools 鈥渦nderstand how schools compare with those in a similar context鈥. 鈥淲e will discuss with stakeholders and experts whether this measure may be a valuable way of adding more contextual information for inspections. We will ensure that it is consistent with any approach the DfE adopts in this area and work closely together as we develop ours.鈥