School Accountability and Intervention

Andrew Murrison Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

My hon. Friend is right to celebrate the good work being done by schools in her local area. We recognise that many schools, both in the trust sector and in the maintained sector, are working tirelessly day in, day out to deliver excellent outcomes for their children. Report cards will clearly identify what needs to improve, and it is important that they do so, but they will also encourage schools to work together to identify the exemplary practices that should be spread more widely. She is right to highlight the many examples in her area and to look forward to schools working across the system to drive improvement across the board.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

How will the selection of colour-coded performance areas on the report card be determined by the views and needs of parents as much as by Ministers and the education establishment? How do the exceptional schools that the Minister has described differ from the beacon schools that the then Labour Government created in 1998 and abolished in 2004?

[Catherine McKinnell]

The determination of the report cards is within Ofsted’s remit. It has launched its consultation. The right hon. Gentleman is invited to contribute to the consultation, and I encourage anyone within his local area to do so, too. We are open to feedback. In terms of the retro question, we are very much looking forward to how these reforms can support the Department for Education in its work to target reform where we know it is needed. Our system is not working well, and we know it needs to change. That is why we have introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. It is why we are designing a school system that supports and challenges every school to deliver for every child. Between our reforms and those that Ofsted is consulting on—we welcome feedback and are open to it—we are confident that together we can deliver those high and rising standards for every child.