Ofsted will grade pupil attendance for the first time in school ratings revamp following headteachers suicide
Pupil attendance will be graded by Ofsted for the first time under new plans to shake-up the way schools are judged.
Pupil attendance will be graded by Ofsted for the first time under new plans to shake-up the way schools are judged.
One-word ratings are set to be replaced by a scorecard containing ten separate grades based on key areas, The Telegraph has reported.
Attendance will be one of these new performance ratings, as well as how well schools instill British values and prepare children for the outside world.
Other key areas will include the content of the schools curriculum and the quality of teaching.
Labour announced back in September it would scrap one-word Ofsted judgements with immediate effect following the tragic death of Ruth Perry.
The headteacher took her own life after an inspection downgraded her primary school in Caversham, Reading, from outstanding to inadequate with a coroner concluding that it had contributed to her death.
Labour announced back in September it would scrap one-word Ofsted judgements following the tragic death of Ruth Perry (pictured)
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, pictured in July during a visit to a nursery
Single-headline Ofsted grades for schools were scrapped with immediate effect in September (file image)
The government is expected to introduce the report card system in September 2025 with details of the plans laid out in the new year.
Currently schools are being graded across four existing sub-categories – quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.
The particular focus on attendance in the new system comes amid soaring truancy numbers since the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the 2022/23 school year, more than 25 per cent of pupils missed at least one day each fortnight - meaning they were persistently absent.
While Ofsted has always considered pupil attendance when grading schools, under the new system it will be more prominent.
Schools will be expected to have a clear strategy in place to encourage high attendance among pupils.
In August, the government tried tackling the problem by increasing fines for unauthorised absences from £60 to £80 for the first offence.
But a poll earlier this month suggested that the penalties were not enough to deter parents from taking their children out of school during term time.
Professor Julia Waters, the sister of Ruth Perry, said the family are delighted and relieved
Shadow education secretary Damian Hinds said the headline inspection is a vital indicator
Ofsted previously awarded one of four headline grades to schools it inspects: outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.
The scrapping of this system in September delighted teaching unions, while the family of headteacher Mrs Perry said they were relived.
Her sister Professor Julia Waters, said it was a relief that no other headteacher will have to go through what Ruth went through.
She said: She [Ruth] had a really bruising inspection that left her very fragile and that word inadequate — she just went over and over it, she kept repeating it, she wrote it down.
It was that feeling not just that shed had the terrible shock and trauma of a completely unexpected bad Ofsted, but that she was still anticipating the public humiliation that came with that.
However, the plans have been criticised by members of the Tory party.
Shadow education secretary Damian Hinds previously said that scrapping the vital headline inspection outcome is not in the best interest of pupils or parents.
Former Tory schools minister Nick Gibb added: If the Ofsted judgments are not crystal clear, the danger is they cease to be something parents look at when choosing a school. You run the risk of overall standards declining.
MailOnline has contacted Ofsted and the Department of Education for comment.
