To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of small schools Ofsted judged to be (a) outstanding, (b) good, (c) satisfactory and (d) inadequate in each of the last 10 years. (258284)

This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the Library.

Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 2 March 2009:

Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) defines a small primary school as one with 100 pupils or fewer, while a small secondary school has 600 pupils or fewer, and these definitions are used in this response. Data identifying the total number of pupils on a school's roll in each academic year are derived from the DCSF Annual School Census. Schools for which the number of pupils on roll is not available have been excluded from this analysis.

Ofsted introduced a judgement of schools’ overall effectiveness in January 2000, and this response covers data since that point. Under the school inspection frameworks used between January 2000 and August 2005 (commonly known as Section 10), the school’s overall effectiveness judgement was made using a seven point scale: excellent, very good, good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory, poor and very poor. Since September 2005, the overall effectiveness judgement has been made under the current school inspection framework (commonly known as Section 5) using a four point scale: outstanding, good, satisfactory and inadequate. Tables A to D show the percentages of schools by grade for each academic year since January 2000.

It is not possible to operate a simple read-across approach from a seven- to a four-point scale. Ofsted's criteria for making inspection judgements about schools are clearly set out in our inspection guidance, which are available on the Ofsted website at:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofstedhome/Formsand~guidance/Browsealiby/Other/General/Guidance-for-inspectors-of-schools-conducting-the-inspection/(language)/eng-GB

A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners and will be placed in the library of both Houses.