UK Scraps One-Word School Ratings

The UK government has announced the immediate scrapping of Ofsted's one-word school rating system, replacing it with more detailed report cards by September 2025. This decision follows the tragic suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life after her school was downgraded from 'outstanding' to 'inadequate'. The move has been welcomed by education unions and Perry's family, who argue that single-word judgments were reductive and harmful. In the interim, schools will be assessed in four sub-categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. Regional improvement teams will be introduced in early 2025 to assist struggling schools, ensuring a focus on comprehensive improvement plans rather than solely management changes. Critics, however, worry that the new system might reduce accountability and clarity for parents.