Schools with more disadvantaged pupils less likely to be judged ‘outstanding’

Schools with a high intake of disadvantaged pupils are less likely to be judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, according to new analysis from the Education Policy Institute (EPI).

The EPI’s analysis used data from from inspections that took place from 2005/06 to 2014/15 and found that secondary schools with up to five per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) are over three times as likely to be rated ‘outstanding’ as schools with at least 23 per cent FSM (48 per cent compared with 14 per cent).

Additionally, those secondary schools with the most FSM pupils were also much more likely to be rated ‘inadequate’ than those with the fewest (15 per cent compared with one per cent).

There is a similar trend in primary schools, with 11 per cent of schools with a high proportion of children on FSM rated ‘outstanding’, compared to 25 per cent of schools with low numbers of FSM pupils.

The least deprived schools were also most likely to improve their Ofsted judgement and least likely to be down-graded, even after accounting for their previous Ofsted judgement.

The EPI says that this analysis indicates the connection between value added and Ofsted scores is ‘significantly out of line’ for schools that are in, or might be placed in, the ‘outstanding’ category.

It also suggests that, if schools were rated using value added only, 22 per cent of the highest FSM primary schools would be rated ‘outstanding’, compared with 11 per cent as it currently stands, and 25 per cent of the highest disadvantage secondary schools, compared with 14 per cent as it currently stands.