THE government has scrapped Ofsted grades. 

It means schools in the Crediton area will no longer get one- or two-word judgements of “inadequate”, “requires improvement”, “good” or “outstanding”. 

Queen Elizabeth’s School, Hayward’s Primary School, Landscore Primary School are all rated “good” as of 2022. 

The change follows the death by suicide in January 2023 of Ruth Perry, who was the headteacher at Caversham Primary School in Reading, after inspectors told her they would downgrade her school from “outstanding” to “inadequate”. 

A coroner’s inquest found the Ofsted inspection process had contributed to her death. 

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

"School Report Cards” will be introduced from September 2025, which will provide parents with a “full and comprehensive assessment” of how schools are performing. 

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “The removal of headline grades is a generational reform and a landmark moment for children, parents, and teachers. 

“Single-headline grades are low-information for parents and high-stakes for schools. Parents deserve a much clearer, much broader picture of how schools are performing – that’s what our report cards will provide. 

“This government will make inspection a more powerful, more transparent tool for driving school improvement. We promised change, and now we are delivering.” 

Paul Whiteman, General Secretary of National Association of Headteachers, said: “The scrapping of overarching grades is a welcome interim measure.  

“We have been clear that simplistic one-word judgements are harmful, and we are pleased the government has taken swift action to remove them. 

“There is much work to do now in order to design a fundamentally different long-term approach to inspection and we look forward to working with government to achieve that.” 

From early 2025, the government said it will introduce regional improvement teams that will work with struggling schools. 

In cases of the most serious concern, it will continue to intervene, including by issuing an academy order, which may in some cases mean transferring to new management. Ofsted will continue to identify these schools, which would have been graded as inadequate.