Official Statistics

Main findings: state-funded schools inspections and outcomes as at 31 December 2024

Published 20 March 2025

Applies to England

This is the main findings report for the state-funded schools inspections and outcomes as at 31 December 2024 release. The following are also available:

• underlying data

• methodology

• pre-release access list

Summary

This release includes:

• schools’ most recent inspections and outcomes as at 31 December 2024

• data for inspections completed between 1 September 2024 and 31 December 2024 where the reports were published by 31 January 2025

• revised data for inspections completed between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024

The proportion of schools judged good or outstanding for each key judgement were:

• 84% for quality of education

• 94% for behaviour and attitudes

• 97% for personal development

• 89% for leadership and management

So far in 2024/25, we have carried out 2,149 inspections.

Ninety-five per cent of ungraded inspections found that either standards had been maintained or the school may have improved significantly.

Number of providers

There are currently nearly 22,000 state-funded schools. 49% of these are maintained by local authorities and 51% are academies and free schools.

Of these, 53% have had a graded inspection under the current education inspection framework (EIF). A further 39% have had an ungraded inspection under the EIF.

We paused routine inspections from March 2020 until September 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant we had to extend the usual intervals between inspections. That is why 8% of providers have still not had a graded or ungraded inspection under the EIF. These providers should have received an inspection by the end of the 2024/25 academic year.^{[footnote 1]} The Department for Education provided Ofsted with additional funding to catch up on the inspections that were missed, and to inspect all schools at least once between April 2021 and August 2025.

Inspections between 1 September 2024 and 31 December 2024

So far in 2024/25, we have carried out 2,149 inspections.

This academic year, we have carried out 2,149 inspections, including 1,218 graded inspections, 862 ungraded inspections and 69 monitoring or urgent inspections.^{[footnote 2]} This is fewer than 2,611 at this point in 2023/24.

Graded inspections

The proportion of schools judged good or outstanding for each key judgement were:

• 84% for quality of education

• 94% for behaviour and attitudes

• 97% for personal development

• 89% for leadership and management

From 1 September 2024, graded inspections of state-funded schools no longer include a judgement on overall effectiveness. This is, therefore, the first official statistics release that does not report on overall effectiveness. In graded inspections, we make 4 key judgements as well as judging early years and sixth-form provision, where relevant. Outcomes for behaviour and attitudes and personal development are more positive than outcomes for other key judgements (94% and 97% good or outstanding respectively). This has been the case each year since the EIF started. As in previous years, primary schools achieved higher grades than secondary for all key judgements.^{[footnote 3]} The biggest difference between primary and secondary is for quality of education (86% good or outstanding in primary as against 74% in secondary).^{[footnote 4]}

Figure 1 shows a breakdown of the inspection outcomes from the 1,218 graded inspections we carried out this year.^{[footnote 5]}

Figure 1: Key judgements and provision judgements of graded inspections, 2024/25

<sup>1. Percentages are rounded and may not add up to 100.
2. Numbers of inspections are in brackets.
View data in an accessible table format.</sup>

Schools can get a range of different grades across the 4 key judgements. In the 1,218 graded inspections so far this year, 62% of schools received the same grade for all 4 judgements.  

In 90% of inspections, the school received the same grade for quality of education as for leadership and management, making these the most likely judgements to correlate. Those most likely to differ are quality of education and personal development, where only 67% of schools received the same grade for both.

Where the quality of education and personal development grades are different, 98% of the inspections have personal development judged as 1 grade higher than quality of education. The most common scenarios are where personal development is outstanding and quality of education is good, or where personal development is good and quality of education is requires improvement.

Figure 2: The proportion of graded inspections with the same grade for each key judgement, 2024/25

<sup>1. Each box shows the proportion of graded inspections where the outcome for the key judgement listed on the left matched that of the key judgement listed above.
2. Based on the 1,218 graded inspections carried out in 2024/25.
View data in an accessible table format.</sup>

Ungraded inspections

Ninety-five per cent of ungraded inspections found that either standards had been maintained or the school may have improved significantly.

Since September 2024, the 3 possible outcomes for ungraded inspections that did not convert to a graded inspection are:

• standards maintained – the school has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection

• improved significantly – evidence gathered during inspection suggests that the school’s work may have improved significantly across all areas since the previous inspection

• some aspects not as strong – evidence gathered during this inspection suggests that aspects of the school’s work may not be as strong as at the time of the previous inspection

In 95% of ungraded inspections carried out so far this year, inspectors found that either standards had been maintained, or the school may have improved significantly since its previous inspection (86% standards maintained and 9% improved significantly).

All schools where inspectors thought that aspects of the school’s work may not be as strong as at the time of the previous inspection will subsequently receive a follow-up graded inspection, typically within 1 to 2 years.

Figure 3: Outcomes of ungraded inspections that did not convert to a graded inspection, by phase, 2024/25

<sup>1. Percentages are rounded and may not add up to 100.
2. Numbers of inspections are in brackets.
3. Excludes ungraded inspections that converted to a graded inspection.
View data in an accessible table format.</sup>

Monitoring inspections

So far this year we have carried out 67 monitoring inspections of schools that are either in a category or concern, or those graded as requires improvement for overall effectiveness at their most recent graded inspection.

The majority of monitoring inspection outcomes are positive, with 93% finding that schools were taking effective action either towards tackling the areas requiring improvement, or towards removing a category of concern.

Figure 4: Outcomes of monitoring inspections, 2024/25

<sup>1. Percentages are rounded and may not add up to 100.
2. Numbers of inspections are in brackets.
View data in an accessible table format.</sup>

Revisions to previous release

The provisional data in the previous release related to inspections that took place between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024, with the reports published by 30 September 2024. Revised data for inspections in this period is provided in tables 1R and 2R of the data file accompanying this release: State-funded schools inspections and outcomes as at 31 December 2024, charts and tables.

This revised data includes an additional 22 graded inspections that had not been published by 30 September 2024 but were published by 31 January 2025. These inspections resulted in the following number of additional judgements for each overall effectiveness grade:

• 3 outstanding

• 5 good

• 10 requires improvement

• 4 inadequate

Table 1: Changes in overall effectiveness proportions for schools inspected between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024

Ofsted phase	Provisional % outstanding	Revised % outstanding	Percentage point change in % outstanding	Provisional % good	Revised % good	Percentage point change in % good	Provisional % requires improvement	Revised % requires improvement	Percentage point change in % requires improvement	Provisional % inadequate	Revised % inadequate	Percentage point change in % inadequate
Nursery	31	31	0	63	63	0	6	6	0	0	0	0
Primary	16	16	0	70	70	0	14	14	0	1	1	0
Secondary	21	21	0	53	52	-1	24	24	0	3	3	0
Special	23	23	0	54	54	0	17	17	0	6	6	0
Alternative provision	14	14	0	60	58	-2	16	17	1	10	11	1
All schools	17	17	0	66	66	0	15	16	1	1	2	1

^{Provisional data includes inspections published up to 30 September 2024, and revised data includes inspections published up to 31 January 2025.}

We publish revisions to data in this publication, in line with our revisions policy for official statistics.

Notes

The purpose of these official statistics is to disseminate the data on school standards collected through Ofsted’s role as an inspectorate. They provide information about how the judgements of schools have changed over time, and how they vary across different phases of education.

This official statistics release reports on the outcomes of state-funded school inspections carried out under sections 5 and 8 of the Education Act 2005. We carried out these inspections between 1 September 2024 and 31 December 2024. This release includes all inspections published by 31 January 2025. It also includes the most recent inspections and outcomes for all schools that we have inspected as at 31 December 2024.

Throughout this release, we use the term ‘schools’ to cover all local authority maintained schools, state-funded academies, free schools and non-maintained special schools in England that section 5 of the Education Act 2005 requires us to inspect.

We carried out inspections between September 2015 and August 2019 under the common inspection framework.

Since September 2019, we have carried out inspections under the education inspection framework.

You can find an explanation of the main uses of this data, further contextual information and the arrangements for quality assurance in the methodology report. The methodology report provides information about the strengths and limitations of the statistics.

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

Graded, ungraded, monitoring and urgent inspections

Ofsted carries out inspections under sections 5 and 8 of the Education Act 2005.

We are required to inspect all schools to which section 5 applies at prescribed intervals. The regulations set the interval for graded inspections from the end of the school year in which the last inspection took place. This interval was temporarily extended by 18 months when we paused inspections because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Section 8 enables His Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) to carry out inspections for a range of purposes. This includes making monitoring visits to schools that are in a category of concern following a graded inspection. Inspectors may also visit schools to aid HMCI in keeping the Secretary of State for Education informed or to contribute to reports on, for example, the teaching in a curriculum subject or a particular aspect of the work of schools.

Inspections carried out under section 8 in this release include:

• ungraded inspections of schools judged to be good or outstanding for overall effectiveness at their most recent graded inspection

• monitoring inspections of schools that are either in a category of concern, or those judged as requires improvement for overall effectiveness at their most recent graded inspection

• urgent inspections, such as those with no formal designation and unannounced inspections in response to concerns about behaviour in a school

Ungraded inspections

Ungraded inspections are usually 2-day inspections, although some small primary schools may have a 1-day inspection. The ungraded inspection focuses on determining whether the school has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection. It does not result in individual graded judgements. If there are serious concerns, we convert the ungraded inspection to a graded inspection, at which inspectors will make the full set of graded judgements.

Since November 2017, some previously good schools have received a graded inspection instead of an ungraded one if our risk assessment tells us that an ungraded inspection would be highly likely to convert to a graded one. This may apply if a school has undergone significant change, such as changing its age range, or if we have concerns that the quality of provision may have deteriorated significantly.

Since January 2018, ungraded inspections have only converted to graded inspections if there have been serious concerns. If an ungraded inspection is not converted, but inspectors find evidence that suggests aspects of the school’s work may not be as strong as at the time of the previous inspection, they will specify that the next inspection should be a graded inspection.

Between May 2012 and November 2020, primary and secondary schools graded outstanding for overall effectiveness were exempt from routine inspection. In November 2020, the government lifted the exemption. We restarted routine inspections of previously exempt schools in September 2021. The school inspection handbook provides further details about inspections of formerly exempt outstanding schools.

Glossary

Definitions of terms are in the statistical glossary.

Further information

Contacts

If you are a member of the public and have any comments or feedback on this publication, please contact Louise Butler on 03000 131 457 or the schools data and analysis team on inspectioninsight@ofsted.gov.uk.

Press enquiries should be sent to our press team, at pressenquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following for their contribution to this statistical release: Chris Foley, Edward Giles, Venkata Madupuru and Matthew Spencer.

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Data tables for figures

Data for Figure 1: Key judgements and provision judgements of graded inspections, 2024/25

Judgement	Number of inspections	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires improvement	% Inadequate
Quality of education	1,218	16	67	15	1
Behaviour and attitudes	1,218	29	65	6	0
Personal development	1,218	35	63	3	0
Leadership and management	1,218	20	69	10	1
Early years provision (where applicable)	901	25	69	6	0
Sixth-form provision (where applicable)	152	36	58	5	1

See Figure 1

Data for Figure 2: The proportion of graded inspections with the same grade for each key judgement, 2024/25

Key judgement 1	Key judgement 2	Proportion where grades match
Quality of education	Behaviour and attitudes	76%
Quality of education	Personal development	67%
Quality of education	Leadership and management	90%
Behaviour and attitudes	Personal development	82%
Behaviour and attitudes	Leadership and management	81%
Personal development	Leadership and management	75%

See Figure 2

Data for Figure 3: Outcomes of ungraded inspections that did not convert to a graded inspection, by phase, 2024/25

Phase of education	Number of inspections	% Improved significantly	% Standards maintained	% Some aspects not as strong
All schools	862	9	86	5
Nursery	22	0	100	0
Primary	646	9	86	5
Secondary	120	11	82	8
Special	62	11	87	2
Alternative provision	12	8	92	0

See Figure 3

Data for Figure 4: Outcomes of monitoring inspections, 2024/25

Monitoring inspection type	Number of inspections	% Yes	% No
Total monitoring inspections taking effective action	67	93	7
Taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement	30	93	7
Taking effective action towards the removal of serious weaknesses	11	91	9
Taking effective action towards the removal of special measures	26	92	8

See Figure 4

1. This applies to schools that were open continuously between 1 April 2021 and 31 July 2025, or that were previously exempt from inspection. It excludes, for example, former local authority maintained schools that became an academy after that time. It also excludes any schools that underwent a significant change on or after 1 September 2024. ↩

2. Based on events carried out by 31 December 2024 where the inspection report was published by 31 January 2025. Additional inspections were carried out but not published by the cut-off point; see the “Published inspections” sheet of our monthly management information datasets for details of the number carried out by the end of each month. ↩

3. Based on inspections under the EIF in 2019/20, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24. 2020/21 is not included, as graded inspections were largely paused due to the pandemic. ↩

4. See Table 2 in the accompanying Excel file for the key judgement outcomes broken down by phase of education. ↩

5. See Chart 1 in the accompanying Excel file for data on the grades for each key judgement in each academic year from 2019/20. This data was already available in the official statistics releases for each year, but this release pulls together the full EIF time series for the first time. ↩