KCC schools’ boss blasts government ban on Ofsted grades

Cllr Rory Love says move by Labour as "deeply shameful"

The county’s education chief has lambasted the newly-elected Labour government for “banning” parents from seeing overall Ofsted single word ratings.

Cllr Rory Love, the Kent County Council (KCC) education cabinet member, said the move away from grades such as “good” or “outstanding” will damage parents’ ability to choose schools for their children.

The Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson announced on September 2 her intention to bring in a “School Report Card” scheme, claiming the present system is not fair or accurate.

Set against the latest figures, which indicate that primary, secondary and special schools in Kent are out-performing national averages, Cllr Love said the government’s actions are “deeply shameful”.

He a meeting of KCC’s Cabinet portfolio holders: “I think we should celebrate that while we can because the government has now banned us and parents from knowing those overall results.

“In a nutshell, while local government is working towards transparency and data, the new Labour central government is concealing from parents information that helps shape their choices of school for their children and I think that it is deeply shameful.”

The single word Oftsed grading came under intense scrutiny after the suicide of Ruth Perry, head of Caversham Primary School near Reading, Berks, in January 2023 after being told it was being downgraded from outstanding to inadequate.

The Department for Education (DfE) scrapped the single word grading system, claiming it does not provide a “fair and accurate assessment of overall school performance across a range of areas”.

The announcement said: “The change delivers on the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and demonstrates the Prime Minister’s commitment to improve the life chances of young people across the country.

“For inspections this academic year, parents will see four grades across the existing sub-categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.

“This reform paves the way for the introduction of School Report Cards from September 2025, which will provide parents with a full and comprehensive assessment of how schools are performing and ensure that inspections are more effective in driving improvement. Recent data shows that reports cards are supported by 77% of parents.”

Mrs 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.”