School Accountability and Intervention

Joshua Reynolds Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

My hon. Friend has correctly identified that we see the future of school improvement as very much driven by a whole school self-improving system, where schools will support one another to drive that improvement. We are putting the extra money in place and we really want to be laser-focused on those 600 schools that have been stuck on far too low a rating for far too long, to ensure that the more than 300,000 children in them are supported as quickly as possible with improved outcomes. As my hon. Friend says about peer support, it is important that we tap into knowledge and expertise from trusts that we know are doing an excellent job.

[Mr Joshua Reynolds (Maidenhead) (LD)]

I have spoken to a number of headteachers in Maidenhead today, who have told me that what Ofsted is proposing is incredibly overcomplicated, makes “exceptional” seem out of reach and will be a blunt tool that will not allow schools’ individual identities to be taken into account. They still do not believe that anybody can accurately judge a school’s strengths and areas for improvement within two days. What does the Minister have to say to those headteachers, and will she meet me and Maidenhead heads to discuss?

[Catherine McKinnell]

I encourage those headteachers to feed back to Ofsted as part of the consultation process. Obviously, it is Ofsted’s consultation process. It determines the mechanisms by which it will undertake the new inspections, and it sets the framework. As the Department for Education, we are responsible for implementing the findings of an Ofsted inspection, but we are interested in making sure that it achieves what we want it to achieve, which is to drive high and rising standards. We are confident that the new framework will do that. The Department for Education also has its consultation document out on how we see the reforms working in practice. If the hon. Gentleman would like to meet and discuss that, I would be happy to do so.

Ofsted

Joshua Reynolds Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

My hon. Friend puts it incredibly well, although those on the Opposition Front Bench seem to protest against his appreciation of the reality that schools up and down the country have been facing, which has been letting children down. That is our key focus today. Yes, it is about schools, it is about an inspection framework, and it is about the organisation, Ofsted, that delivers that, but actually this is about children. It is about ensuring the best outcomes for every child. If we get this system right and we put education back at the heart of national life again, we will deliver on our pledge to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child, wherever they are in this country.

[Mr Joshua Reynolds (Maidenhead) (LD)]

I welcome the announcement by the Government, as do many schools and parents in my constituency, who want more information rather than just one-word ratings. Can I urge the Minister to give parents more power through greater detail, while ensuring that ratings are easy for parents to understand?

[Catherine McKinnell]

The hon. Gentleman has very much set out our aim and intention, and that is why we will consult extensively on this. We have given ourselves till September 2025 to have the report cards in place, and we want to ensure that we have input from education experts, parents and children, and that we maximise this opportunity to, as he put it, maximise the information that parents will find useful and the information that schools will find useful, to drive the improvement that they want for their children.