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Ofsted changes for the 2024/25 academic year: summary

Be clear on the changes Ofsted has made to its inspection handbook for September 2024, so you can keep on top of what's new.

Last reviewed on 17 September 2024See updates
School types: All•School phases: All•Ref: 42941
Contents
  1. Removal of overall effectiveness grades
  2. Changes to working out the likely date of inspections
  3. You'll be notified about routine inspections on a Monday morning
  4. Changes to ungraded inspections
  5. Inspections can be paused or suspended
  6. New focus on wellbeing 
  7. Ofsted won't use complaints to reach judgements
  8. Inspectors will consider whether schools requiring special measures can appoint ECTs
  9. Other minor clarifications and changes
  10. Other handbooks have been updated

Ofsted went through a period of change during 2023/24, with an update to its School Inspection Handbook in January 2024, and the latest update on 16 September 2024.

The inspection handbook was also updated in April 2024, but the changes were small clarifications only.

We’ve summarised the changes from those updates in this article, so you can be prepared for Ofsted in 2024/25.

Read about the key changes from September 2024 and in January 2024, and stay up to date with the latest updates from Ofsted in our other article.

Ofsted also has a summary of changes document.

Removal of overall effectiveness grades

Graded inspections will no longer result in schools being given an overall effectiveness grade.

Inspectors will continue to give grades (outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate) for the 4 key areas of inspection:

They will also make provision judgements for Early Years Foundation