Bridget Phillipson will promise a “new era for school standards” as Labour and Ofsted replace single-word judgments for schools with more detailed report cards. In a major speech on Monday, the education secretary will vow to raise expectations of school leaders, with Ofsted’s new school inspections “shining a light on all the areas that matter, giving each their own grade”. She will vow never to return to “the dark days of weak accountability”, setting out how Ofsted’s changes will help the government break the link between children’s background and success.

Ofsted’s new report cards will see schools graded across nine different areas - including attendance and inclusion - using a colour-coded five-point scale for each. They would receive ratings - from the red coloured "causing concern" to orange coloured "attention needed", through the green shades of "secure", "strong" and "exemplary" - for each area of practice under proposals for Ofsted's new report card system.

The report cards will start to be rolled out from September and will be fully introduced in November. Ms Phillipson on Monday will say: “Never will we go back to the dark days of weak accountability. “Because it was the children from disadvantaged backgrounds who suffered the most. So today I am taking us into a new era on school standards. “Our searchlight on poor performance must now become brighter, to see the problems of today and tomorrow quickly and clearly.

“So a more rigorous system, raising the bar of our expectations, on what good really looks like when it comes to the futures of our children.”. Labour vowed in opposition to revamp the current Ofsted grading system following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry in 2023. But, in a blow to the plans, the sister of Ms Perry has said she is worried the new Ofsted proposals are a "rehash" of the "dangerous" system they are supposed to replace.

The Government announced last year that headline Ofsted grades for overall effectiveness for schools in England would be scrapped. Previously, Ofsted awarded one of four single-phrase inspection judgments: outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate. The reforms follow criticism of the inspection system following the death of headteacher Mrs Perry who took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her Caversham Primary School in Reading from the highest to the lowest overall effectiveness rating over safeguarding concerns.

Her sister Professor Julia Waters said that while the new model has some improvements, it "retains many of the dangerous features of the previous system, while introducing a series of changes with potential new risks to the wellbeing of teachers and headteachers". Prof Waters said: "My sister Ruth Perry died as the result of a rude and intimidating Ofsted inspection, and its disproportionate consequences on her and her school.

"It is two years since Ruth's death, and a year since Sir Martyn Oliver took charge of Ofsted. "Ofsted says it has listened, but it still does not appear to have adequately learned. "I am worried that this proposal is a rehash of the discredited and dangerous system it is meant to replace.". Prof Waters said the proposal appears to have fed the single-word judgments "through an online thesaurus", adding that "other elements of the report card design are ill-thought-through and potentially dangerous".

Under the proposals from the inspectorate, at least eight areas of a school's provision could be evaluated and graded - accompanied by short summaries of inspectors' findings - in a report card for parents. The proposed evaluation areas would be leadership and governance, curriculum, developing teaching, achievement, behaviour and attitudes, attendance, personal development and wellbeing, and inclusion.

Schools which have early years provision or a sixth form would also be graded separately on these areas. Safeguarding would not be graded with the five-point scale and instead it would be assessed as either met or not met under the plans. The proposals have been criticised by Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, who said they "suggest an inspectorate determined to hold on to a model of inspection that is long past its sell-by date".

And Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said the proposed school report cards "appear to be even worse than the single-word judgments they replace". Inspectors will look at how well schools support vulnerable and disadvantaged children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), as part of a new focus on inclusion. Previously, schools were judged on the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.