A DISTRICT union boss hopes that scrapping single-headline Ofsted grades for schools will “prevent knee-jerk reactions from parents”.

Schools will no longer be issued with one of four headline grades for overall effectiveness – outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate – when inspected.

Many have claimed single-headline grades fail to provide a fair and accurate assessment of overall school performance.

Tom Bright, Bradford district branch secretary of the National Education Union, said: "All schools receive reports of between 20-30 pages. Reducing the grade to a one-word headline results in people not bothering to read the full report; anyone who does read the report in full gets a better picture of what that school is."

For inspections this academic year, parents will still see the four grades across the existing sub-categories – quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership & management.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the Government could intervene if a school was rated as “inadequate” in any of the sub-categories – and the school could be forced to convert into an academy.

However, the reform will pave the way for the introduction of 'school report cards' from September next year.

On the report cards, Mr Bright added: “I think that is a good idea.

“One of the things we think would be helpful is to have 'here are three things you are doing well' and 'here are three things you need to improve on', which is very much what the report card would be.

“It would give a much fairer picture.

“It should be a more balanced way of supporting schools going forward, preventing knee-jerk reactions from parents.”

Carol Dewhurst – chief executive of Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, whose schools include Cullingworth, East Morton and Oxenhope primaries – also welcomes the measures.

She said: “I am pleased at some of the changes that are shifting away from broad, single-word judgements which can unfairly label schools.

“I'm particularly pleased to see the move towards a school report card format which will look at a more nuanced understanding of where a school is performing well and where improvements are needed.

“I would welcome a report card which focuses on a school’s inclusive approach to ensuring the needs of each child are well supported.

“As a trust, we will look to continue to support the Ofsted consultation on how a new framework could look and feel from September 2025.”