#12 Behind the Numbers: What the Ofsted Annual Report Means for Schools and Heads
Ofsted’s 2024–25 Annual Report and Accounts is a substantial document reflecting a year of disruption, reform, and tension. For school leaders, it offers more than dry data — it’s a document that shapes inspection realities in the coming year and sends important signals about Ofsted’s internal struggles.
From a headteacher’s chair, here’s what stood out — and why it matters.
Fewer inspections, but more uncertainty
The report acknowledges that Ofsted “carried out 6,471 of the 7,001 inspections planned (92%)” (p. 27), with pauses due to reforms (the abolition of single-word judgments) and delays from post-Ruth Perry mental health training.
This might sound like a reprieve to some heads — fewer inspections mean less immediate pressure — but the reality is more uncertainty for schools waiting their turn. The backlog means longer delays for long-overdue inspections. Schools that were ready last year may find themselves waiting until the new “report card” model beds in — a system that’s not yet fully defined.
For leadership teams, this prolongs the anxiety and planning required to stay ‘inspection ready’ even as the rules change beneath us.
Rising complaints: a sign of trust or fracture?
It’s notable that complaints from providers rose from 563 to 780 year-on-year (p. 38) — a significant increase.
Even more striking is that 26% of school complaints were at least partly upheld (p. 38). This suggests that schools are increasingly challenging inspections and that Ofsted’s own processes admit a quarter of these challenges have merit.
From a head’s perspective, this fuels concern: will inspectors arrive at our door with consistent standards and fair judgment? The volume of complaints doesn’t inspire confidence, and reinforces the need for leaders to meticulously document every aspect of their practice — not simply to run a good school, but to protect it in case of inspection error.
Ofsted’s own workforce stress and turnover
One revealing statistic: Ofsted’s average staff absence rose to 7.3 days, with almost a third due to stress or anxiety (p. 71).
Additionally, 113 inspectors left Ofsted this year (p. 25) and employee engagement fell to 64%, below the civil service benchmark (p. 24).
For heads, this is not just a staffing issue at Ofsted — it directly affects inspection quality. A stressed, disengaged, and revolving inspectorate risks inconsistency, variability in judgments, and the absence of experienced sector understanding when they visit our schools.
This means leaders will need to be doubly vigilant about preparation: checking inspectors’ interpretations, querying judgments appropriately, and ensuring that all feedback is properly challenged where necessary.
Relationships with schools identified as a “significant challenge”
Perhaps the most important line in the whole report, on p. 25, is this admission:
“A significant challenge for the next year will be our relationship wit65 key stakeholders… We will need to maintain the confidence of the sectors we inspect and regulate.”
This statement is blunt recognition that trust between Ofsted and the sector is at a low point. For headteachers, it reinforces the emotional load that inspection adds to our work: leaders are expected to engage respectfully with an organisation that openly acknowledges relationship fragility.
The challenge here is cultural as well as procedural: can school leaders maintain goodwill and professionalism when confidence in the inspectorate is so obviously strained?
The backdrop: a sector exhausted and reform-weary
Even though Ofsted paints a positive picture of “reforms to improve inspections”, for those of us leading schools, the landscape feels anything but clear.
The report card system is coming — but what exactly will it mean?
Deferrals and pauses have disrupted normal cycles — how will inspection readiness now be judged?
How are schools expected to navigate staff wellbeing, workload pressures, and recruitment challenges while dealing with inspectors whose own organisation is struggling with the same issues?
Reflection for heads and leaders
From a headteacher’s point of view, the Ofsted Annual Report is less about accountability and more about reading between the lines to anticipate how national turbulence plays out locally.
Some key questions to ask as we move into the next academic year:
How do we maintain focus on our culture and ethos while Ofsted refines its frameworks?
How can we help governors, staff, and parents understand that inspection outcomes in this period of reform may say as much about Ofsted as they do about schools?
How do we prepare calmly for inspections led by a workforce that is demonstrably stressed and stretched?
Ofsted’s self-reflection offers some encouragement: acknowledgment of sector concerns, plans for external review of complaints, and pauses for mental health training all suggest an organisation trying to listen.
But for headteachers, this is no time for complacency.
We need vigilance — calmly preparing our staff and governors, communicating clearly about what inspections really mean in this period, and ensuring that we continue to focus on the work that matters: excellent education and care for children.
As a headteacher reading this report, the most telling phrase may be this one on p. 25:
“We will need to maintain the confidence of the sectors we inspect.”
That confidence is not just their responsibility — it will be up to us, as leaders, to hold Ofsted to the standards they claim to uphold, for the sake of our pupils, staff, and communities.
What are your thoughts after another busy academic year?
