Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of schools that received an Ofsted inspection in 2023 and did not receive a grade of outstanding as a result of judgments on their SEND provision.

There is no central record of whether Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision alone is the cause of a school not receiving an outstanding overall effectiveness judgement.

Ofsted has confirmed that individual inspection reports will always provide detail on a school’s SEND provision, including strengths and weaknesses. Provision for pupils with SEND is looked at across all of Ofsted’s key judgements and through its safeguarding assessment, as set out in the school inspection handbook. In assessing the quality of a school’s education, inspectors will consider a number of factors, including; how well the school identifies, assesses and meets the needs of pupils with SEND; whether leaders are suitably ambitious for all pupils with SEND; whether the curriculum is coherently sequenced to meet all pupil’s needs starting points and aspirations; as well as how well pupils with SEND are prepared for their next steps in education, employment and training and their adult lives.

Where schools are falling short in their provision for pupils with SEND, Ofsted judgements will reflect this.