{"id":241640,"date":"2026-02-13T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=241640"},"modified":"2026-02-12T23:13:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:13:33","slug":"ofsted-reviews-data-shown-in-special-school-report-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/ofsted-reviews-data-shown-in-special-school-report-cards\/","title":{"rendered":"Ofsted reviews data shown in special school report cards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ofsted is considering removing national data comparators for special schools from its report cards, following concerns that labelling them \u201cwell below average\u201d for pupil numbers could confuse and mislead parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report cards<\/a> provide contextual data about schools to parents, but for metrics like school capacity and pupil demographics Ofsted compares special schools to mainstream schools within the same age phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, the report for Rotherham-based The Willows School shows 100 per cent of pupils have EHCPs. But it is unusual for pupils to attend a special school without a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the report card claimed this is \u201cwell above\u201d a national average of 3.1 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Warren
Warren Carratt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Special schools tend to be considerably smaller than mainstream schools, especially at secondary phase. Analysis of government data shows that an average state special school has 156 pupils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the report card for The Willows<\/a>, part of the Nexus academy trust, claimed its 190-pupil school is \u201cwell below\u201d an average of 1,067, which relates to secondary schools overall, including mainstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nexus chief executive Warren Carratt wrote to Ofsted during the fact-checking process post-inspection about this \u201cunhelpful and misleading\u201d issue. \u201cWe should be compared to the special school average,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the inspectors understood the school\u2019s context, the issue lies in the published report card, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating that something that was supposed to be about more transparency and simplicity for families will now confuse them further.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Room for improvement’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Steve Rollett, Confederation of School Trusts deputy chief executive, said: \u201cThis is an area where there is room for the report cards to be improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Things like proportion of EHCPs and pupil numbers will clearly be quite different for specialist provision, and so, while the current phase-wide comparisons on report cards may be technically correct, they are perhaps of limited use to parents in these cases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools Week <\/em>flagged the issue with Ofsted this week, questioning its approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, Ofsted said it will \u201creview what data is included in the report cards from published sources, including potentially removing national comparators for special schools\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The watchdog said: \u201cWe include this data in report cards to mirror the published DfE data available to inspectors during inspections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do not generate this data, but we do ensure that our reporting of it is consistent with how it is reported elsewhere, for example on \u2018compare school performance\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carratt said the response \u201cassures me \u2013 and will assure other special school leaders \u2013  that Ofsted are listening and are willing to continue to make common-sense changes to the report card in these early teething phases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a much-needed change that will help families more clearly understand special schools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofsted had already excluded performance data from special school and alternative provision report cards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New reports currently compare metrics like capacity of special schools to other schools in their phase, not other specialist settings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311127,"featured_media":241629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[25],"post-theme":[2378],"class_list":["post-241640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ofsted","post-theme-ofsted"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t