Official Statistics

Main findings: Non-association independent schools inspections and outcomes in England: August 2023

Published 14 November 2023

Applies to England

This is the main findings report for the non-association independent schools inspections and outcomes in England as at 31 August 2023 release. The following are also available:

• underlying data and tables
• methodology
• pre-release access list

Summary

This release contains:

• the most recent inspections data and outcomes as at 31 August 2023
• provisional data for inspections carried out between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023
• revised data for inspections carried out between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2022; this includes inspections from previous academic years that might have missed the cut-off deadline for official statistics in that year

Ofsted has carried out inspections from 1 September 2019 under the education inspection framework (EIF).

Key findings

At their most recent inspection, 75% of independent schools were judged to be good or outstanding in their overall effectiveness. This is the same as last year.

The number of independent special schools we inspect is increasing. Special schools now make up 58% of independent schools compared with 45% in 2019.

Of schools inspected this year, 75% of independent special schools were judged good or outstanding compared with 49% of independent faith schools and 60% of other independent schools. This trend in judgements is consistent with 2021/22.

Introduction

There are around 2,420 independent schools in England. We inspect independent schools that are not part of an association, of which there are 1,154. The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) inspects the remaining independent schools, which are members of an association. We will refer to non-association independent schools as ‘independent schools’ for simplicity in this publication.

In previous publications, we have reported on independent schools as either special independent schools or other independent schools. Following consultation on how to make this clearer, in this and future publications we will group the independent schools we inspect into 3 broad categories:

• Independent special schools, which make up almost three fifths of independent schools, are often small schools that provide a combination of educational and therapeutic support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).^{[footnote 1]} Independent schools that are organised to cater specifically for pupils with SEND are normally registered with the Department for Education (DfE) as ‘independent special schools’; however, there is no legal definition of this term
• Independent faith schools, which make up a fifth of independent schools, are defined as schools with a declared religious character or ethos ^{[footnote 2]}
• Other independent schools, which are the remaining independent schools, have no declared religious character or ethos and are not special schools

Changes in the sector

In recent years, the make-up of the independent schools sector and the schools we inspect has changed. The number of independent special schools has steadily increased, and they now make up 58% of the sector compared with 45% in 2019. The number of independent faith schools and other independent schools has slowly decreased.

Figure 1: Number of non-association independent schools by school type over time

^{Note: Special faith schools are grouped with special schools.
View data in an accessible format.}

Since August 2022, the make-up of the independent schools we inspect have changed considerably, despite the total number of schools decreasing by only 15. The number of schools leaving Ofsted through closure (23 special schools, 21 independent faith schools and 21 other independent schools) or joining an association and being inspected by the ISI (11 independent special schools, 15 independent faith schools and 17 other independent schools) is higher this year than in previous years.

The number of schools no longer inspected by us has been offset by the number of new schools opening. In the same period, 92 schools have opened and one has re-joined from ISI. The majority (84%) of new schools are independent special schools. As a smaller number of special schools leave the sector and more special schools join, the proportion of special schools has increased by 5 percentage points since last year.

Figure 2: Movement of non-association independent schools over time

^{Note: The peak in the number of schools opening in 2020/21 may be due to COVID-19 and the suspension of inspections during 2019/20. Some schools had their pre-registration inspection, which is a requirement for a school to open, delayed from 2019/20 until 2020/21.
‘New schools’ includes a very small number of schools that returned to being inspected by Ofsted after previously being inspected by ISI. All schools will have a pre-registration inspection and first standard inspection with Ofsted before opting to join an association and be inspected by ISI.
The chart is based on a comparison with the same data in our statistics on 31 August the previous year.
View data in an accessible format.}

Inspections between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023

This year, we carried out 413 standard inspections of independent schools and 409 additional inspections. In 2021/22, we carried out more standard inspections (486) but fewer additional inspections (249).

Standard inspections

Of the schools we inspected in 2022/23, we judged 68% to be good or outstanding in their overall effectiveness. This is higher than in previous years. We judged 59% to be good or outstanding in 2021/22, and 63% in 2019/20.^{[footnote 3]}

Independent schools are also inspected against the independent school standards (ISS). In the standard inspections carried out this year, 23% of schools did not meet the ISS that were checked. This is less than 2021/22, when 28% of schools did not meet the ISS. Special schools were more likely to meet the standards. Fifteen per cent of special schools inspected this year did not meet the ISS, compared with 49% of independent faith schools and 30% of other independent schools.

Schools inspected in a particular academic year are only a subset of all schools. They are unlikely to represent the sector as a whole. We should therefore be cautious in comparing outcomes across different academic years. This year, a higher proportion of our inspections were of independent special schools (62%) compared with last year, when 49% of the inspections carried out were of special schools. As discussed above, this reflects the growing number of special schools that are now in the sector.

Figure 3: Overall effectiveness of non-association independent schools inspected, by school type and academic year

^{Note: Total number of inspections is shown in brackets.
Excludes 2020/21, when very few inspections were carried out, due to COVID-19.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible format.}

We judged a higher proportion of independent special schools to be good or outstanding (75%) this year compared with independent faith schools (49%) and other independent schools (60%). This trend in judgements is consistent with 2021/22.

The proportion of schools judged good or outstanding for leadership and management (69%) was slightly higher than the proportion for overall effectiveness (68%). Behaviour and attitudes and personal development had the highest proportions of schools judged good or outstanding, 88% and 80% respectively. The proportion of schools judged good or outstanding for quality of education and leadership and management was 8 percentage points higher than 2021/22, whereas outcomes for behaviour and attitudes and personal development were similar to last year.

Figure 4: Overall effectiveness, key judgements and provision judgements of non-association independent schools, 2022/23

^{Note: Total number of inspections with an outcome is shown in brackets.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible format.}

Of the independent schools with either early years provision or sixth-form provision inspected in 2022/23, 79% were judged to be good or outstanding for their provision. For early years, this was 8 percentage points higher than in 2021/22, and for sixth forms, it was 6 percentage points lower.

The proportion of other independent schools and independent faith schools judged good or outstanding for leadership and management was similar to the proportion judged good or outstanding for overall effectiveness. In contrast, the proportion of other independent schools judged good or outstanding for quality of education was 6 percentage points higher than for overall effectiveness; for independent faith schools it was 9 percentage points higher.

Although a much lower proportion of independent faith schools were judged good or outstanding for overall effectiveness, 93% were judged good or outstanding for behaviour and attitudes. This was higher than both independent special schools (89%) and other independent schools (82%).

This academic year we inspected 325 schools (79%) that had previously received a standard inspection. This group included a high proportion of schools that had previously been judged good or outstanding (70%).

Of the 40 schools that were previously outstanding, over half (55%) retained their outstanding judgement this year. This is higher than in 2021/22 (27%), but lower than in 2019/20 (59%).

A number of schools showed improvement this year:

• Nearly two thirds (60%) of schools previously judged requires improvement improved to good. This is higher than both 2021/22 (43%) and 2019/20 (56%)

• Of the 31 schools previously judged inadequate, just over a third (11 schools) improved to good; 11 schools were judged requires improvement; and the remaining 9 schools continued to be inadequate

Additional inspections

In 2022/23, we carried out 409 additional inspections and 199 evaluations of school action plans at the request of the DfE.^{[footnote 4]} These included the following:

• 142 progress monitoring inspections
• 133 pre-registration inspections
• 106 material change inspections
• 28 emergency inspections

We continued to monitor schools that failed to meet all the ISS at either their most recent standard inspection or at an emergency inspection, through action plans and progress monitoring inspections. In 52% of the 142 progress monitoring inspections carried out this year, the schools did not meet the ISS that were checked.

Inspection outcomes profile as at 31 August 2023

At 31 August 2023, 1,057 (92%) non-association independent schools had received a standard inspection. The majority of these schools were inspected under the EIF. The remaining 97 schools are yet to be inspected, as they have recently opened and are waiting for their first standard inspection.

We have judged 75% of schools as good or outstanding at 31 August 2023, based on their most recent inspection. This is the same as last year.

Figure 5: Overall effectiveness and compliance with the independent school standards of non-association independent schools, 31 August 2023

^{Note: Total number of schools with an inspection outcome is shown in brackets.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible format.}

Independent special schools are more likely to be judged good or outstanding (82%) than independent faith schools (61%) or other independent schools (70%). A much lower proportion of special schools are judged inadequate (4%), compared with independent faith schools (19%) and other independent schools (14%).

Independent school standards (ISS)

All independent schools are required to meet the ISS. There are 8 parts to the ISS, which cover areas such as quality of education, student welfare and leadership and management.^{[footnote 5]}

At their most recent inspection, 17% of non-association independent schools did not meet all the standards. This is slightly worse than 31 August 2022, when 16% did not meet all the standards. Independent faith schools are more likely to not meet the standards (31%) than independent special schools (10%) and other independent schools (22%).

It is possible for independent schools to meet the ISS and be judged requires improvement for overall effectiveness under the EIF. Of the 165 (16%) independent schools judged as requires improvement, 56% met the ISS and 44% did not. The schools that were judged requires improvement and met the ISS had met the mandatory standards laid down by the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, but the vast majority (95%) were not providing a good quality of education as evaluated under the EIF.

If a school fails to meet any of the standards in parts 1 to 7, it will normally not meet the standards for the quality of leadership and management of schools (part 8). As a result, the part 8 standards are the most likely to be failed (17%), followed by the standards for the quality of education provided (part 1) at 14% and the welfare, health and safety of pupils (part 3) at 9%.

Safeguarding

Effective safeguarding has been a specific judgement in inspections since 1 September 2015, when the common inspection framework was introduced.^{[footnote 6]} All inspected schools have now received this judgement.

We judged 6% (66) of schools to have ineffective safeguarding at their most recent inspection as at 31 August 2023. Only 3% of independent special schools have ineffective safeguarding compared with 11% of other independent schools and 10% of independent faith schools.

All schools with ineffective safeguarding were judged inadequate for leadership and management and overall effectiveness.

Revision of 2021/22 inspection data

Provisional data indicated that, between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, 455 standard inspections were carried out. This data included inspection reports that were published by 30 September 2022. Based on reports published by 30 September 2023, there were 31 further standard inspections during 2021/22, bringing the total number of inspections to 486.

The addition of these 31 inspections changed the profile of overall effectiveness for independent schools inspected in 2021/22. The proportion of schools judged outstanding remained at 5%. The proportion of schools judged good was revised to 54% from 57%. The proportion of schools judged requires improvement was revised to 25% from 24%. The proportion of schools judged inadequate was revised to 16% from 13%. You can find further details in the revised tables in the charts and tables file accompanying this release.

Revisions have been made to data in this publication in line with Ofsted’s revisions policy for official statistics.

Consultation on official statistics

Before this publication, we ran a consultation to inform users and seek views on the following additions to this release:

1. Addition of a new ‘school type’ category, to define all independent schools as one of the following: an independent special school, independent faith school or other independent school (not a special school and with no declared faith ethos).
2. Provision of revised in-year school level data; this will include all inspections from the EIF from 1 September 2019 up to a maximum of 5 academic years.
3. Inclusion of previous inspection details for the standard inspections carried out during the academic year dataset. In previous publications, we included previous inspection details in our most recent inspections dataset only.

All responses to the consultation were broadly positive for the 3 proposals. The proposals have been enacted in this publication, and proposals 1 and 3 will also be implemented in subsequent non-association independent schools inspections and outcomes management information.

Notes

The purpose of these official statistics is to provide data and insight on Ofsted’s inspections of non-association independent schools. They provide information about how the judgements have changed over time, and how they may vary across different regions and school types.

Data in this report is from inspections as at 31 August 2023, where the inspection reports were published by 30 September 2023. If an inspection report was not published by the cut-off date, then the previous inspection will be reported as the school’s most recent inspection, where applicable. Any data, charts and tables that refer to this academic year are based on inspections that took place from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023, where the report was published by 30 September 2023.

Data in this official statistics release reflects the judgements made for inspections carried out under sections 99, 109(1) and 109(2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008. The regulations in the act set out the standards that inspectors report on. This includes how far the school meets the requirements of the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (referred to as the independent school standards).

The methodology and quality report that accompanies this release sets out the main uses of this data, further contextual information and arrangements for quality assurance. It also provides information about a) the strengths and limitations of the statistics, and b) the accuracy and reliability of the underlying data.

We are in the process of correcting a minor data quality issue that affects individual independent school standards (ISS). The issue affects 6% of all standard and additional school inspections in 2022/23, but only those of schools where many standards were not met. Once this process is complete, and if necessary, we will revise and republish the underlying data set that accompanies this release.

Where we have quoted percentages in this report, figures in the charts have been rounded and may not add up to 100.

Inspection data for the academic years before 2022/23 have been revised to include inspections that were published after the cut-off date for the publication in that year.

Glossary

Definitions of terms are in our glossary.

Further information

Contact for comments or feedback

If you have any comments or feedback on this publication, please contact the independent and unregistered schools analysis team.

Annual report

We will publish findings from our forthcoming Annual Report on 23 November 2023.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following for their contribution to this statistical release: Clare Wilkinson, Alison Bateman, Sarathkumar Kunaratnam, Rebecca Bills and Jay Kerai.

Annex: data tables for figures

This section contains the underlying data in an accessible table format for all figures.

Data for figure 1: Number of non-association independent schools by school type over time

School type	31 August 2019	31 August 2020	31 August 2021	31 August 2022	31 August 2023
Independent special schools	498	520	583	622	673
Other independent schools	320	298	304	290	255
Independent faith schools	283	279	276	257	226

^{Note: Special faith schools are grouped with special schools.}
See Figure 1

Data for figure 2: Movement of non-association independent schools over time

Movement type	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23
New schools	67	121	68	93
Closed schools	38	31	42	65
Moved inspectorate	33	24	20	43

See Figure 2

Data for figure 3: Overall effectiveness of non-association independent schools inspected, by school type and academic year

School type	Number of inspections	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires Improvement	% Inadequate
All independent schools 2022/23	413	9	58	19	14
All independent schools 2021/22	486	5	54	25	16
All independent schools 2019/20	254	9	54	21	17
Independent special schools 2022/23	255	11	63	19	7
Independent special schools 2021/22	239	7	62	21	10
Independent special schools 2019/20	111	7	59	23	12
Independent faith schools 2022/23	57	7	42	21	30
Independent faith schools 2021/22	125	1	48	30	21
Independent faith schools 2019/20	77	4	49	22	25
Other independent schools 2022/23	101	6	54	17	23
Other independent schools 2021/22	122	6	46	26	22
Other independent schools 2019/20	66	17	52	17	15

^{Note: Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.}
See Figure 3

Data for figure 4: Overall effectiveness, key judgements and provision judgements of non-association independent schools, 2022/23

Judgement or provision	Number of inspections	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires Improvement	% Inadequate
Overall effectiveness	413	9	58	19	14
Quality of education	413	10	62	19	9
Behaviour and attitudes	413	22	66	9	3
Personal development	413	23	57	16	4
Leadership and management	413	11	58	17	14
Early years provision	52	12	67	15	6
Sixth-form provision	66	14	65	14	8

^{Note: Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.}
See Figure 4

Data for figure 5: Overall effectiveness and compliance with the independent school standards of non-association independent schools, 31 August 2023

School type	Number of schools	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires Improvement	% Inadequate	% Independent school standards met	% Independent school standards not met
All independent schools	1,057	10	65	16	10	83	17
Independent special schools	595	11	70	14	4	90	10
Independent faith schools	220	4	57	20	19	69	31
Other independent schools	242	11	60	15	14	78	22

^{Note: Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.}
See Figure 5

1. Twenty-five special schools also identify themselves as faith schools. For the purposes of our analysis, we have grouped these schools with special schools and not faith schools. ↩

2. The faith of a school is defined by whether the school has declared a religious character or ethos on the DfE’s Get Information about Schools site. If the school does not declare a religious character or ethos, it is categorised in our statistics as ‘non-faith’, although it is possible that some of these schools also operate as faith schools. ↩

3. We exclude 2020/21 from year-on-year comparisons due to COVID-19, where there were a low number of inspections and the criteria for selecting schools for inspection focused on visiting schools with a higher risk assessment as well as those that were due a standard inspection. ↩

4. Additional inspections are inspections that occur outside the normal inspection cycle and cover emergency, progress monitoring, pre-registration and material change inspections. ↩

5. ‘Regulating independent schools’, Department for Education, August 2019;. The standards cover quality of education; spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils; welfare, health and safety of pupils; suitability of staff, supply staff and proprietors; premises of and accommodation at schools; provision of information; manner in which complaints are handled; quality of leadership in and management of schools. ↩

6. The impact of safeguarding arrangements will be tested under the EIF judgement on the quality of leadership and management. Inspectors will arrive at a judgement on whether the early years setting, school or further education and skills provider has effective safeguarding arrangements or not. This judgement will contribute to the overall judgement on the effectiveness of leadership and management. ↩