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An Ofsted report card is the new way Ofsted reports on a school. Instead of a single overall word such as Good or Outstanding, it grades a school separately across several distinct areas of its work, shown on a colour-coded scale, so parents get a fuller picture than one label could give. Ofsted stopped awarding single overall grades in September 2024, consulted on the new approach through 2025, and is introducing report cards under a renewed inspection framework from the 2025 to 2026 school year. During the changeover you will see a mix: some schools with a report card and some still showing their last single grade until they are re-inspected.
If you have looked up a school recently and found no familiar one-word grade, this is why. The way Ofsted communicates its judgement is changing, and the shorthand many parents grew up with (a single "Outstanding" or "Requires improvement") is being replaced. This guide explains what report cards are, how to read them, and what to do while the old and new systems overlap.
The single overall grade was criticised for compressing everything a school does into one word, which could hide real strengths and real weaknesses and carried very high stakes. Following the phasing out of single overall effectiveness grades for state schools in September 2024, Ofsted developed a report card that reports separately on the different aspects of a school. The aim, in Ofsted's own words, is to give parents more nuanced, useful information rather than a single headline.
Rather than one grade, a report card sets out how a school is doing across several areas of its work. The exact set of areas is defined by Ofsted's inspection framework, and typically spans things such as the quality of what pupils are taught, how pupils achieve and behave, their attendance, personal development, inclusion, and how well the school is led and safeguards children. Reading each area separately lets you see, for example, a school that is very strong on teaching but working on attendance, which a single word would have flattened.
Report cards use a graded, colour-coded scale for each area rather than a single overall word. Broadly, the scale runs from the strongest practice down to areas that need urgent improvement, with a middle band for meeting the expected standard. Because Ofsted refined the exact labels and colours through its consultation, always read the school's actual report card and its key rather than assume; the point of the scale is that each area carries its own rating.
| Old single grade | New report card | |
|---|---|---|
| What you see | One overall word for the whole school | A separate rating for each area of the school's work |
| Format | Outstanding / Good / Requires improvement / Inadequate | Colour-coded scale per area |
| When awarded | Until September 2024 | From the 2025 to 2026 school year onwards |
| What it tells a parent | A single headline, but hides detail | Where a school is strong and where it is improving |
Takeaway: a report card trades one memorable word for a set of area ratings. That is more honest, but it means you have to read across the areas rather than glance at a single grade.
The timeline runs in stages: single overall grades stopped in September 2024; Ofsted consulted on the report card and a renewed framework through 2025; and report cards are being introduced under that framework from the 2025 to 2026 school year. Because schools are inspected on a cycle, not all at once, it will take time for every school to have a report card. In the meantime a school may still display its most recent single grade until it is next inspected under the new system.
For a while you will be comparing schools where one has a modern report card and its neighbour still shows an old one-word grade. Do not treat them as directly equivalent. Always note the date: an older single grade may be years old and predate changes at the school, while a report card is more recent and more detailed. Where a school shows only an old grade, look for the year it was given and any shorter follow-up inspection. Our report handles exactly this by showing every school near a postcode with its latest rating and the year behind it, so you can compare fairly across the transition. Read our guide to the 2024 grade changes for the full background, what Ofsted ratings mean for the old scale, and how to read an Ofsted report to get past the headline into the detail. You can find the current picture for the schools near you in the report built on Ofsted's own data.
We report what Ofsted has published for each school, including the date, so you always know whether you are looking at a report card or an older single grade. For the definitive framework and current scale, read Ofsted's own guidance on gov.uk.
