Guidance

School inspection data summary report (IDSR) guide

This guide provides an overview of the inspection data summary report (IDSR) for primary and secondary schools, including schools with a sixth form, and gives guidance on how to interpret the data.

• From: Ofsted
• Published: 8 October 2019
• Last updated: 1 September 2026 — See all updates

Applies to England

Overview of the Ofsted IDSR

Inspectors use the IDSR when they are preparing for, and during, school inspections. The IDSR summarises and analyses the data (statistical information) that is available about a school. It is designed to be used alongside our school inspection toolkit, to guide inspectors’ conversations with school leaders. It is not meant to provide a complete picture of a school or any judgement or assessment of a school.

The IDSR can contain sensitive information about schools and colleges. It is the responsibility of each user to make sure they store and share the IDSR appropriately and securely. Please see our IDSR conditions of use and storage statement.

During a school inspection, inspectors gather evidence of the quality of education from various sources. This includes nationally generated information about pupils’ progress and attainment. The IDSR only provides a starting point. Inspectors will want to see first-hand evidence of the quality of education that pupils experience and to understand how well leaders know what it is like to be a pupil at the school.

Example IDSRs

These example IDSRs contain made-up data for a fictional primary school and a fictional secondary school with a sixth form:

• IDSR example report: primary

• IDSR example report: secondary

IDSRs are generated based on school data at a point in time and will be different from school to school.

Access your school’s Ofsted IDSR

As a web page on our website

You can access the report directly through our Ofsted IDSR service or through the Department for Education (DfE)’s Analyse School Performance (ASP) service. You will need a DfE Sign-in account and associated permissions for the school(s). Users who want to look at data from more than one school should use our direct link.

Ofsted cannot give or take away access to DfE Sign-in accounts or add schools. But the approver for your school or organisation will be able to help. To find out who your approver is, log in to your DfE Sign-in account and click on the ‘Services’ tab. Then click on ‘See approvers at an organisation’.

Reporting data issues

The data in the IDSR is mainly provided by the DfE. If your question is about the values displayed, such as the Attainment 8 score or cohort, check whether the IDSR data matches the data on the Analyse school performance (ASP) website and Compare school and college performance in England websites. If the IDSR data matches the information on these websites, then please contact the DfE. If your question is about calculations that are only used in the IDSR, for example standard deviations and confidence intervals, please email the IDSR team. We will respond as soon as possible.

Link to a predecessor or successor school

If applicable, the Ofsted IDSR service will provide a link to a predecessor (or successor) school’s IDSR. Some schools with a predecessor will not have a link. This is because we do not include predecessor schools if there was no data on them.

School details

The information about the school at the beginning of the report comes from the DfE’s Get Information about Schools (GIAS) service.

The trust

Data source: the Ofsted inspection outcome data and the DfE’s GIAS service.

This section provides information about the multi-academy trust (MAT) that the school belongs to. It only applies to schools that are part of a MAT.

It has information about the number of schools in the trust and their latest inspection outcomes. Schools inspected under the renewed education inspection framework (EIF) from November 2025 onwards will be graded in up to 9 evaluation areas. Schools inspected in the academic year 2024/25 did not receive an overall effectiveness grade.

The grade profile of schools within a MAT displays the latest inspection outcome that schools have received under their current URNs or if they have not yet been inspected. It is split into 4 sections:

• schools inspected from November 2025

• schools last inspected in the 2024/25 academic year

• schools last inspected prior to September 2024

• schools not yet inspected

If a school was last inspected under a different URN before it joined the MAT, it will be counted in the ‘Not yet received graded or ungraded inspection’ group until it is inspected as part of the MAT. However, if it was last inspected before it joined the MAT and still has the same URN that it had when it was inspected, the outcome from that inspection will be counted in the grade profile of the MAT.

Context of the school

This section of the IDSR contains contextual information about the school and its pupils. This covers the following: school characteristics, ethnicity, special educational needs (SEN), year group, prior attainment and staffing.

School characteristics

Data source: the DfE’s January school census for 2026, 2025 and 2024 and children in need census for 2024, 2023 and 2022.

The table shows school-level information for the last 3 years. For a school that has a sixth form, an additional row will show information for Years 12, 13 and, where applicable, 14.

The table contains the following measures:

• the number of pupils on roll

• the percentage of pupils receiving free school meals (FSM): those pupils who were eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any time during the last 6 years – referred to as FSM6 (FSM data is not collected for sixth forms)

• the percentage of pupils who are children in need: this is defined under the Children Act 1989 as a child who is unlikely to reach or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or their health or development will be significantly impaired without the provision of children’s social care services, or the child is disabled. Children in need include pupils on child in need plans or child protection plans, looked after children, care leavers and disabled children. It also includes children waiting for a referral to be considered or an assessment to be completed. These are pupils who were a child in need at any point during the reporting year, for example between 1 April and 31 March inclusive. Referrals leading to no further action or assessments that have been closed with no further action, or where the case has been referred to early help are not included in the IDSR children in need data

• the percentage of pupils who receive special educational needs (SEN) support but do not have an education, health and care (EHC) plan

• the percentage of pupils who have a statement of SEN or an EHC plan

• the percentage of pupils whose first language is not English or is believed to be other than English

• the stability percentage for the school

• the pupil deprivation level

• the school deprivation level

For each measure, the school’s figures are shown for each of the last 3 years. Other than for special schools, text and shading are used to show where the school sits within the national distribution of all schools.

Other than for special schools, there are separate rows for each measure, which show the average for the local area of the school. Text and shading are used to show the banding of the local area average within the national distribution of all schools. The local averages are based on the DfE spring census of pupils at schools in the same phase. Local area averages are not shown for the school number on roll, location deprivation or stability measures.

Local area is based on the middle-layer super output area (MSOA) in which the school resides. MSOAs are made up of usually 4 or 5 groups of lower-layer super output areas (LSOAs). LSOAs are geographical areas designed to improve the reporting of statistics on small areas in England and Wales. They are made up of between 400 and 1,200 households and have a population of between 1,000 and 3,000 people. MSOAs comprise between 2,000 and 6,000 households and have a resident population of, generally, between 5,000 and 15,000 people. MSOAs fit within local authorities. The MSOA used in the IDSR for each school will be displayed at the top of this section. For more information about MSOAs, visit the Office for National Statistics website.

Below are the possible bandings for this section:

• Well above average (blue shading)

• Above average

• Close to average

• Below average

• Well below average (orange shading)

National distribution banding shows how the school or local average figure compares with the national figure. Except for the school location deprivation measure, if the value is more than 0.5 standard deviations (SDs) above the national rate, it is classed as ‘Above average’. If it is less than 0.5 SDs below the national rate, it is classed as ‘Below average’. If it is more than one SD above the national rate, it is classed as ‘Well above average’ and highlighted in blue. If it is at less than one SDs below the national rate, it is classed as ‘Well below average’ and highlighted in orange. Otherwise, it is ‘Close to average’ and shown in grey.

More information about these statistical concepts and how to interpret the tables and charts in the IDSR can be found in the Understanding the data in the IDSR section.

Except for the school location deprivation measure, schools are compared with schools in the same phase: primary (including middle deemed primary) or secondary (including middle deemed secondary, and all-through schools).

The banding for the school location deprivation measure is based on quintiles rather than SDs.

Stability is a measure of the percentage of pupils who were admitted to the school at the standard time of admission. The stability percentage is calculated by dividing the number of pupils who meet the stability criteria by the number of all eligible pupils (pupils in Years 1 to 11 with a single or main dual registration at the school at the time of the January school census). The stability measure is not available for school sixth forms.

A pupil is counted as stable if they joined the school:

• in or before September in Year 1

• in or before the month by which at least 5% of their year group also joined the school

• in a month/national curriculum year combination in which at least 40% of the year group joined the school, which must equate to at least 10 pupils in primary schools or 20 pupils in secondary schools

• in a month/national curriculum year combination in which at least 10% of the year group joined the school, which must equate to at least 10 pupils in primary schools or 20 pupils in secondary schools, and the same month/national curriculum year combination met these criteria in at least one other year group in the school

The school location deprivation refers to the level of deprivation in the school’s local area, which is based on the 2021 LSOA that the school falls within. The pupil deprivation level is about the deprivation of pupils who attend the school. Each deprivation indicator is based on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI). The IDACI is based on 2025 English indices of deprivation.

The IDACI measures the proportion of all children aged 0 to 15 living in income-deprived families. It is a subset of the income-deprivation domain, which measures the proportion of the population in an area experiencing deprivation relating to low income. The definition of ‘low income’ that we use includes those people who are out of work and those who are in work but have low earnings and who satisfy the respective means tests.

You can read further information about the data used.

The DfE uses different rules to allocate 16- to 18-year-old students (where applicable) to the different measures. The year group characteristics are based on the census data, so there may be students who were no longer on roll at the January census but are still allocated to the provider for accountability purposes.

Ethnicity

Data source: the DfE’s January school census for 2026.

The chart displays the ethnic groups within the whole school. There are 17 possible ethnic groups:

• White: British

• White: Irish

• White: Traveller of Irish Heritage

• White: Gypsy/Roma

• White: Any other White background

• Mixed: White and Black Caribbean

• Mixed: White and Black African

• Mixed: White and Asian

• Mixed: Any other Mixed background

• Asian or Asian British: Indian

• Asian or Asian British: Pakistani

• Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi

• Asian or Asian British: Any other Asian background

• Black or Black British: Caribbean

• Black or Black British: African

• Black or Black British: Any other Black background

• Chinese

‘Any other ethnic group’ is also displayed. ‘Parent/pupil preferred not to say’ and ‘Ethnicity not known’ are not displayed.

The corresponding national value for each group is displayed.

If the school has a sixth form, a separate ethnicity chart will be displayed.

The same information can be viewed in tabular format by clicking on ‘▶ Table’.

SEN

Data source: the DfE’s January school census for 2026 and the DfE’s 2025/26 ‘Special educational needs in England’ statistical release.

The table displays the number of pupils in the school who have special educational needs (SEN) and the primary need category. The 2 halves of the table represent pupils who have SEN support and pupils who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan. It also shows the school year that the pupils are in.

For maintained mainstream schools, the text above the tables displays whether the school has any resourced provision. This could be a SEN unit, resourced provision or both. If the school has resourced provision, the number of pupils using this provision at the time of the data collection will also be displayed. For special schools, the text above the tables displays the type of SEN provision that the school is approved to cater for.

This section also displays how many pupils with SEN have received free school meals (FSM) at any time during the last 6 years and/or who are looked-after children (in the care of the local authority for a day or more or who have been adopted from care).

SEN units are special provisions within a mainstream school where pupils with SEN are taught in separate classes for at least half their time. They:

• are designated by the local authority specifically for making SEN provision, and sometimes accommodate pupils registered at other schools on a part-time basis

• receive funding per place, and usually top-up funding for any additional costs of support required by individual pupils

• cater for a specific type or types of SEN (for example autistic spectrum disorder)

• are usually for pupils with an EHC plan, but may also provide support for pupils with SEN support

Schools should only use this indicator where the SEN unit has been formally recognised as such by the local authority in which the school is located.

Resourced provisions are places that are reserved at a mainstream school for pupils with a specific type of SEN who are taught for at least half their time within mainstream classes but require a base and some specialist facilities around the school. They:

• are designated by the local authority specifically for making this kind of SEN provision

• receive funding per place, and usually top-up funding for any additional costs of support required by individual pupils

• cater for a specific area or areas of SEN (for example specific learning difficulties)

• are usually for pupils with an EHC plan, but could include pupils with SEN support

Schools should only use this indicator where the resourced provision has been formally recognised as such by the local authority in which the school is located.

Most pupils placed in units will have an EHC plan. It is unlikely that a child would be placed in a unit and also receive support from resourced provision, but a school could have resourced provision for one type of need and a unit for another.

Year group

Data source: the DfE’s January school census for 2026, children in need census for 2024 and children looked after return for 2026.

The year group table provides information about the characteristics of the pupils in each year group. This section will appear for all schools that submit a January school census return to the DfE.

The table presents data on pupils who were recorded as part of the DfE’s January school census. This means that the data for each year group is about the pupils who were in that year group during the last academic year.

The measures included in the table are:

• the number of pupils on roll

• the percentage of pupils receiving free school meals (FSM): those pupils who were eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any time during the last 6 years – referred to as FSM6 (FSM data is not collected for sixth forms)

• the percentage of pupils whose first language is not English or is believed to be other than English

• the number of pupils identified as young carers

• the number of pupils who are children in need: this is defined under the Children Act 1989 as a child who is unlikely to reach or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or their health or development will be significantly impaired without the provision of children’s social care services, or the child is disabled. Children in need include pupils on child in need plans or child protection plans, looked after children, care leavers and disabled children. It also includes children waiting for a referral to be considered or an assessment to be completed. These are pupils who were a child in need at any point during the reporting year, for example between 1 April and 31 March inclusive. Referrals leading to no further action or assessments that have been closed with no further action, or where the case has been referred to early help are not included in the IDSR children in need data

• the number of looked-after children: these are pupils who were looked after for at least one day during the reporting year and were aged 4 to 15 at 31 August; this excludes looked-after children under an agreed series of short placements and those who were on remand/committed for trial or sentence and accommodated by the local authority. IDSRs using the January 2026 school census will show children who were looked after between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026 inclusive.

No highlighting is applied to this table; figures are presented for information only.

The DfE uses different rules to allocate 16- to 18-year-old students (where applicable) to the different measures. The year group characteristics are based on the census data, so there may be students who were no longer on roll at the DfE’s January school census but are still allocated to the provider for accountability purposes.

Prior attainment

Data source: the DfE’s January school census for 2026.

The prior attainment table shows how the school’s pupils performed at the previous key stage compared with all pupils in that year group nationally.

This section will only appear for schools with any year groups in the secondary age range (Years 7 to 11 inclusive), because there is limited prior attainment data available for other year groups.

The table presents data on pupils who were recorded as part of the DfE’s January school census. This means that the data for each year group refers to pupils who were in that year group in the last academic year. The data in the table focuses on the performance of these secondary-age pupils in their key stage 2 assessments:

• The pupils who were in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 in the latest year’s data and sat assessments when they were in key stage 2; the data for these year groups is based on the proportion of the school’s pupils who achieved the expected standard at key stage 2

• The pupils who were in Year 11 in the latest year’s data and did not sit assessments when they were in key stage 2 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so no prior attainment data is available

Outlining indicates whether the proportion of the school’s pupils who achieved the expected standard at key stage 2 was above (blue outline) or below (orange outline) the national proportion. The outlining appears if the school value is more than one standard deviation away from the national value. If the proportion is one standard deviation or less away from the national value, the text ‘Close to national’ is displayed. If the number of pupils in the specified year group was 5 or below, the text ‘Small cohort’ is displayed.

Staffing

Data source: the DfE’s November 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 school workforce census data.

The staffing section of the IDSR provides information about several areas relating to staffing.

The proportion of education support staff relative to teaching staff

This sentence reports on the proportion of education support staff relative to teaching staff in the latest year and, where applicable, the 2 previous years.

Example sentence

The proportion of education support staff relative to teaching staff was in the lowest 20% of all schools in [latest year], [previous year] and [furthest year].

Teacher absence

A sentence gives the percentage of teachers with at least one period of sickness absence compared with the national rate for the latest 3 years.

Another sentence reports on the average number of days lost to teacher sickness absence in the latest year only.

Example sentences

• The percentage of teachers with at least 1 period of sickness absence was significantly above national in [latest year].

• Two days on average were lost to teacher sickness absence in [latest year]. This was in the lowest 20% nationally.

Staff retention

Information on staff turnover is calculated using the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) turnover leavers and the total FTE staff at the school. A school is considered to have high staff turnover if its turnover rate was in the highest 20% in any of the previous 3 years. Low staff turnover is not highlighted. Special schools are compared with primaries.

Turnover and leavers at a school level can be very volatile from year to year. When looking at rates of leavers and turnover, it is important to consider school size, because this has a particularly big impact on turnover rates for small schools.

Example sentences

• At the time of the November [latest year] census, there was 1 full-time vacant teacher post in the school.

• Staff turnover was in the highest 20% in: [latest year], [previous year].

Attendance and behaviour

Data sources:

Daily attendance – the DfE’s 2025/26 daily attendance collection up to and including summer part 1.

Attendance and persistent absence – the DfE’s 2024/25 (3 term), 2023/24 (3 term), 2022/23 (3 term) and 2018/19 (3 term) academic year data from the ‘Pupil absence in schools in England’ statistical release series.

Suspensions and permanent exclusions – the DfE’s 2024/25 (spring term), 2024/25 (autumn term), 2023/24 (3 term) and 2022/23 (3 term) academic year data.

This section contains data for daily attendance, attendance, persistent absence, suspensions and permanent exclusions. The section begins with tables summarising school data against national comparators for the key measures of daily attendance, attendance, persistent absence, and pupil suspension rates. Additional information relating to absence by year group, and the number and reasons for suspensions and permanent exclusions, is also available. In all cases, the data presented is the most recent data available to Ofsted.

Daily attendance

Schools share this data through their management information system (MIS) via Wonde to the DfE.

Ofsted receives aggregated school-level attendance summary data, not individual pupil records.

This is the same summary information your school sees in its half-termly attendance summary report on View your education data (VYED). As such, Ofsted does not receive daily attendance data for special schools.

Schools are responsible for ensuring attendance data recorded in their MIS is accurate and up to date.

Further information can be found in the DfE’s user guide.

This data is from the most recent half-termly attendance summary report only.

Attendance and persistent absence

These measures are calculated only for those pupils who are of compulsory school age – that is aged between 5 and 15 as at the start of the academic year (31 August). You can find more information on how this is collected and calculated in the DfE’s Pupil absence statistics methodology.

Data is presented for the most recent 3 years available, as well as data for the 2018/19 academic year. Nationally, attendance declined sharply in 2020/21 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has not recovered. As such, inclusion of 2018/19 data will show whether the school has managed to return to pre-pandemic attendance levels. The 2018/19 data is visually separated from the most recent 3 years to highlight the break in the time trend.

The measure referred to as ‘attendance’ here, represents the attendance of pupils at the school, as a percentage. This is calculated as:

100 – ((number of absence sessions/number of sessions it was possible to attend) * 100)

Absence is the total of all authorised and unauthorised absences.

A pupil is identified as being persistently absent if they miss 10% or more of their possible sessions. The measure referred to as ‘persistent absence’ here represents the percentage of the school’s cohort who were persistently absent.

Suspensions

These measures represent the percentage of the school’s cohort who have been suspended. ‘Pupils with 1 or more suspensions’ refers to the percentage of pupils who have been suspended 1 or more times (i.e. at least once). ‘Pupils with 2 or more suspensions’ refers to the percentage of pupils who have been suspended 2 or more times (i.e. pupils with multiple suspensions). These measures are whole-school measures, which means they include all year groups in the school.

Data is presented for up to the 4 most recent data collections available.

The number and proportion of pupils who have had suspensions in a school are often very small, especially in primary schools. These figures should be interpreted with caution, particularly when making comparisons over time.

The suspensions data can also be up to one year behind and, therefore, may not relate to the same cohort as other IDSR data.

Further information about pupil suspensions can be found in the DfE’s pupil exclusion statistics methodology publication.

Summary of attendance and behaviour

These tables summarise school data against national comparators for the key measures of daily attendance, attendance, persistent absence, and pupil suspension rates.

Each set of summary tables is available for 3 different pupil groups:

• All: all pupils enrolled at the school

• FSM: those pupils who were eligible for free school meals (FSM)

• SEN: pupils who have a statement of special educational needs (SEN) or an education, health and care (EHC) plan, or who receive SEN support but do not have an EHC plan

The full details of the values that underpin these summary tables are available within the ‘Attendance and behaviour’ section of the annex of the IDSR, along with accompanying visualisations. The row headings in each table are hyperlinks which will take you directly to the full details for each measure.

Please note that we do not produce national comparisons for special schools. As such, this summary tables section will not contain any data for specials, it will just contain hyperlinks down to the annex.

More information about the summary tables can be found in the Understanding the data in the IDSR section.

Attendance and behaviour data in the annex of the IDSR

The full details of the values that underpin the tables in the ‘Summary of attendance and behaviour’ are available within the ‘Attendance and behaviour’ section of the annex of the IDSR, along with accompanying visualisations. The row headings of the summary tables are hyperlinks which will take you directly to the relevant part of the annex.

The section contains tables and charts for the same measures as available in the summary tables, covering the same time spans and broken down for the same pupil groups. The tables and charts present the school level value for each measure, a comparison with the national average, and trend over time where available.

Please note that although the summary tables themselves do not appear for special schools, special schools will have an ‘Attendance and behaviour’ section in the annex. However, for special schools, this section contains only tables presenting the school level values. Additionally, daily attendance data is not available for special schools.

More information about how to interpret the tables and charts in the IDSR can be found in the Annex tables and charts section.

Additional information

This section contains further data relevant to attendance and behaviour – year group absence and information about the number of and reasons for suspensions and permanent exclusions.

Year group absence

The source of this data in this section is the same as the daily attendance data in the summary tables. It shows absence bandings by year group, including persistent and severe absence rates, from the most recent half-termly attendance summary report on View your education data (VYED).

Suspensions and permanent exclusions information

The ‘Suspensions’ and ‘Permanent exclusions’ tabs in this section contain data about the number of suspensions and permanent exclusions, respectively, and the reasons for them.

This section contains data for up to the 4 most recent data collections available.

The number of suspensions and permanent exclusions in a school are often very small, especially in primary schools. These figures should be interpreted with caution, particularly when making comparisons over time.

The data can also be up to one year behind and, therefore, may not relate to the same cohort as other IDSR data.

Further information about suspensions and permanent exclusions can be found in the DfE’s pupil exclusion statistics methodology publication.

The ‘Suspensions’ and ‘Permanent exclusions’ tabs both contain information about ‘Whole school’ (all year groups in the school) and ‘16-18’, where applicable. The ‘16-18’ section refers to data for 16-to-18-year-olds attending the school’s sixth form, if it has one: Years 12, 13 and, where applicable, 14.

The first table in the ‘Whole school’ and ‘16-18’ sections shows the school’s total number of suspensions or permanent exclusions (depending on the tab selected) across the most recent data collections.  

For the suspensions data, this is based on the number of suspensions, not the number of pupils who have been suspended.

In the ‘Permanent exclusions’ tab, this table contains an additional row of data to show the national average number of permanent exclusions, profiled by phase of education. The national is not displayed for special schools.

The second table in the ‘Whole school’ and ‘16-18’ sections shows the reasons for suspensions or permanent exclusions at the school across the most recent data collections. For each suspension or permanent exclusion, up to 3 reasons (from a fixed list) can be recorded to provide detail on why the suspension or permanent exclusion was issued, for example ‘persistent disruptive behaviour’. These reasons are recorded without weighting or prioritisation. The table lists any reasons across the most recent data collections, and the total number of suspensions or permanent exclusions recorded with each specified reason per year. This table will only be displayed if there has been at least 1 suspension or permanent exclusion across the most recent data collections displayed. Due to the ability to record more than 1 reason per suspension or permanent exclusion, the total number of reasons may exceed the totals in the first table.

In the ’16-18’ section of the ‘Suspensions’ tab, an additional table is also available  showing the number of students who have had 1 or more suspensions across the most recent data collections. We present the schools’ number of students who have had 1 or more suspensions, alongside the national average, profiled by phase of education. The national is not displayed for special schools.

Pupil movement and links to alternative provision

Pupil movement

Data source: movement between the DfE’s January school censuses for 2024 and 2025, 2023 and 2024, and 2022 and 2023.

We have used pupil-level data from the DfE’s January school census to identify pupils who were in each school in January of a given year, and whether they were still in the same school in January of the following year.

The pupil movement section presents 2 different measures of pupil movement:

• pupils who were present in Year 10 in the first school census, but not in Year 11 at the same school in the second census

• pupils who were present in the first school census in Years 7, 8, 9 or 10, but did not appear at the same school in the second census

The pupil movement section of the IDSR only covers pupil movement for secondary Years 7, 8, 9 or 10.

We do not use the census data from other school terms for this analysis, for example the autumn term census. This may mean that the figures do not match those produced by some schools or local authorities.

We developed a logistic multi-level model that uses contextual factors to estimate the proportion of pupils who we might expect to leave each school. This is for movements between Years 10 and 11 only. Our analysis shows that these contextual factors are associated with higher levels of pupil movement. The contextual factors that the model takes into account are pupil and school characteristics. Pupil movement between Years 10 and 11 may be highlighted as ‘significant’ if pupil movement was higher than estimated by the model. The following are the pupil characteristics:

• gender

• eligibility for free school meals in the past 6 years

• speaking English as an additional language

• key stage 2 attainment (low, middle, high or not present in key stage 2)

• having special educational needs (SEN), especially social, emotional or mental health issues

• being in either the White Irish Traveller or White Roma ethnic group

• being looked after by a local authority

• Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) of home postcode

The model also takes into account whether the school area is urban.

When calculating the significance of Year 10 to 11 pupil movements between 2024 and 2025, the prior attainment for these pupils (at the end of key stage 2) was not available for use in our multi-level model. This was due to COVID-19 disrupting key stage tests for these pupils in 2020. This means that the significance flag for moves between 2024 and 2025 is not comparable with previous years.

This section of the IDSR also provides information about pupils who have left the school and then do not appear in the subsequent DfE January school census in one of the following school types:

• maintained nursery

• primary

• middle deemed primary

• middle deemed secondary

• secondary

• all through

• special school (including non-maintained special schools)

• pupil referral unit/alternative provision

• academy (including free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools)

• city technology college

There are destinations outside of the census that the pupil may have moved to, which the school may have information about that they can share with inspectors.

This section is not produced for special schools or service children’s education providers.

Links to alternative provision

Data source: the DfE’s spring term 2026 and autumn term 2025 alternative provision (AP) placements data.

The tables show information about AP placements. This section will appear for all schools that submitted information on AP placements in the latest data.

The placements include AP, companies, providers registered with the UK Register of Learning Providers, further education and other schools.

The total number of pupils is shown, as well as the number of pupils attending full time and part time. Numbers in brackets are additional pupils who were attending the AP but left during the census period.

Example

URN	UKPRN	Companies House number	Postcode	Provider type	Provider name	Total pupils	Full time	Part time
123456	-	-	AB1 2AB	Free Schools Alternative Provision	Example Academy	4 (2)	2 (1)	2 (1)

In the example school above, 6 pupils in total were placed at the AP; 3 of these were part time and 3 were full time. However, the ‘Total pupils’ column shows that 4 pupils remained in the placement at the end of the census period, and 2 had left during the census period. The final 2 columns show that one full-time pupil and one part-time pupil left during the period.

Qualifications

Key stage 4 subject entries

Data source: the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

This section shows the subjects that a particular school entered pupils for in the latest 3 years and the number of entries for each. It also highlights whether the school had a high or low average point score (APS) in a particular subject compared with other schools, where applicable.

The entries figure represents the number of exam entries rather than the number of pupils entered. Exam entries are counted in the academic year when the pupil who entered for the exam reached the end of key stage 4. Therefore, if a pupil was entered for the same subject in 2 different exam seasons, this would count as 2 entries in the academic year when they finished their key stage 4 study. For example, a pupil was entered for GCSE English literature when they were in Year 10, then was entered again for GCSE English literature when they were in Year 11 in the most recent year. This would count as 2 entries in GCSE English literature in the most recent performance year.

Discounting has not been applied to this table, so it includes entries that may not have counted in performance measures. The purple shading is darker where there was a greater number of entries. Subjects are grouped by English Baccalaureate (EBacc) and sector subject area and then listed alphabetically by subject. EBacc subjects are presented at the top by default. The sector subject areas are based on those listed in the qualification descriptions.

A shaded box and corresponding text appear if the school’s APS for pupils in a particular subject is more than 0.5 standard deviations (SDs) above or below the national APS in that subject. There are further details about standard deviations later in this document.

The word ‘Below’ will appear if the school’s APS is less than the national APS: −0.5 SDs or more in point score. The word ‘Above’ will appear if the school’s APS is greater than the national APS: +0.5 SDs or more in point score. This interpretation of the APS will only be available if the number of entries for that subject in the school was greater than 5, and if the school entry rate was above the national entry rate in that subject.

Qualification type is also included, which covers the following:

• AS level

• EBacc AS level

• EBacc GCSE

• EBacc level 1/level 2 certificate

• Free Standing Mathematics Qualification level 3

• GCSE

• graded music

• level 1/level 2 certificate

• level 1 certificate

• level 1/2 certificate

• level 2 certificate

• other at level 1

• other at level 2

Please note that for technical awards, any entries for a level 1 qualification may be grouped with those for the level 2 qualification in the same subject. Such figures will be represented as a single row where the ‘Qualification type’ is listed as ‘Level 1/2’.

The cohorts above the section represent total pupil numbers at the end of key stage 4.

16 to 18 qualification types

Data source qualification type: the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

This table displays the proportion of students undertaking each type of qualification.

Students may be working towards more than one type of qualification and so may be counted more than once. Students taking courses that are not full qualifications are not included. Students taking academic qualifications other than A levels are not included in the table under individual qualification types but are included in the cohort information. Therefore, the percentages may not add up to 100.

Below the table is a sentence that appears when there is something significant or exceptional to highlight about the proportion of students who have not taken any level 3 or level 2 DfE-approved qualification in the latest year. This highlights when a school is in the highest or lowest 20% nationally for the latest year or the latest 2 years.

A sentence will also be shown if the school is delivering T levels in 2025/26, as shown in published DfE data.

16 to 18 retention

Data source retention: the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

This section provides data on the extent to which a provider retained students until the end of the main learning aim of their study programme in the latest 3 years. The measure used in this section is ‘Retained and assessed’.

Students are counted in the ‘Retained and assessed’ measure if they are retained until the end of their course and are assessed. The assessment may not necessarily be in the same subject or type of qualification that they were aiming for when their studies began. However, the assessment must be at the same level and at least the same size as the main aim. For example, a student with an original main aim of tech level at size 1 would be considered as retained and assessed with an applied general exam result of at least size 1. Data is presented for 4 study programmes:

• A levels (including AS level)

• level 3 applied general

• level 3 tech level

• level 2 technical certificate

Highlighting is applied on this table. Blue boxes are displayed when all students were retained, and the cohort was greater than 5. Orange boxes are displayed when the value is in the bottom decile when compared to all providers and the cohort is greater than 5.

The DfE’s 16 to 18 qualifications guidance lists all the qualifications that count in the performance tables each year from 2018 to 2026. The DfE also publishes further guidance about 14 to 19 technical and applied qualifications. The definition of a student’s study programme is based on their main aim. The DfE’s 16 to 18 accountability measures technical guide provides further information on how this is defined.

16 to 18 subject entries

Data source: the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

This section shows the subjects that the school entered students for in the latest 3 years and the number of entries for each.

The entries figure represents the number of exam entries rather than the number of students entered. Exam entries are counted in the academic year when the student who was entered for the exam reached the end of their 16 to 18 course of study. Therefore, if a student was entered for the same subject in 2 different exam seasons, this would count as 2 entries in the academic year when they finished their course of study. For example, a student who was entered for a technical certificate in business studies when they were in Year 12 was entered again when they were in Year 13 in the latest year. This would count as 2 entries in the business studies technical certificate in the latest performance year. Discounting has not been applied to this table, so this includes entries that may not have counted in performance measures. The purple shading is darker where there was a higher number of entries. Subjects are grouped by sector subject area and listed alphabetically, first by area then by subject. Qualification type is also included, which covers the following:

• A level

• Applied single award

• Applied double award

• Pre-U principal

• International Baccalaureate

The cohorts above the section represent the total number of students at the end of 16 to 18 studies.

Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2

Data sources:

Phonics and multiplication tables check – the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

Key stage 2 – the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024, final 2023 and final 2022 data.

What data is included in this section?

This section provides information about school performance in phonics and at key stage 2, covering an array of attainment and progress measures, as detailed below.

The attainment measures are:

• Key stage 2 reading, writing and mathematics (RWM) meeting the expected standard

• Key stage 2 RWM achieving the higher standard

• Key stage 2 reading meeting the expected standard

• Key stage 2 reading achieving the higher standard

• Key stage 2 writing meeting the expected standard

• Key stage 2 writing achieving greater depth

• Key stage 2 mathematics meeting the expected standard

• Key stage 2 mathematics achieving the higher standard

• Key stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling (EGPS) meeting the expected standard

• Key stage 2 EGPS achieving the higher standard

• Year 4 multiplication tables check (MTC) score

• Phonics screening check (Year 1) meeting the expected standard

The progress measures are:

• Key stage 2 reading progress

• Key stage 2 writing progress

• Key stage 2 mathematics progress

Wherever possible, data is presented for these measures for the most recent 3 years and is provided separately to cover:

• all pupils – all pupils included in the measure

• disadvantaged pupils – those pupils included in the measure who were eligible for free school meals at any time during the last 6 years and/or were looked-after children (in the care of the local authority for a day or more or who have been adopted from care)

• low/middle/high prior attainers – those pupils included in the measure, for whom records of their performance at key stage 1 were available and who were grouped into the low/middle/high prior attainment categories, respectively, according to DfE definitions of these categories. Further information about how these categories are defined is available in the Primary school accountability guide

The exact data and breakdowns available will vary by the measure, the pupil group, and the school’s particular cohort, as described below:

• For the ‘all pupils’ group, all key stage 2 attainment measures are available, and the data sources are: the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

• For the disadvantaged pupil group, all key stage 2 attainment measures for pupils meeting the expected standard are available, but pupils achieving the higher standard/greater depth are not available. The data sources are: the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

• For the Year 4 MTC score, breakdowns of results for disadvantaged pupils and low/middle/high prior attainers are not available, and the data sources are: the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

• For the phonics screening check (Year 1) meeting the expected standard, breakdowns of results for disadvantaged pupils and low/middle/high prior attainers are not available, and the data sources are: the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

• For all key stage 2 progress measures, broken down for all pupils, disadvantaged pupils and low/middle/high prior attainers, the data sources are: the DfE’s final 2023 and final 2022 data. This is because pupils reaching the end of key stage 2 in 2025 and 2024 did not sit their key stage 1 assessments, which are used as the baseline prior attainment for progress, due to COVID-19 disruption.

• For low/middle/high prior attainers, all key stage 2 attainment measures for pupils meeting the expected standard are available, but pupils achieving the higher standard/greater depth are not available. The data sources are: the DfE’s final 2023 and final 2022 data. This is because pupils reaching the end of key stage 2 in the most recent 2 data years did not sit their key stage 1 assessments, which are used to define the prior attainment groups, due to COVID-19 disruption.

• Individual schools may be missing a year, or years, of data for a given measure and/or pupil group if they did not have any pupils in that group in that year. This is particularly likely to affect smaller primary schools.

Additionally, wherever possible, we have averaged school and national results across data years to produce what we call a multi-year average. The IDSR will calculate either a 3-year or 2-year average depending on the national availability of data for each measure and pupil group combination. This helps us smooth out year-to-year fluctuations in the data so we can spot genuine trends and significant patterns that might otherwise be hidden. This is particularly important in small schools, where a single pupil’s outcome can disproportionately affect the data.

You can find more information on the accountability measures in this DfE guidance document: Primary school accountability

Summary of achievement in phonics and at key stage 2

These tables summarise school performance against national comparators for phonics and key stage 2 progress and attainment measures. Please note that this section will not appear for special schools.

Summaries are provided for all pupils, for disadvantaged pupils and for low/middle/high prior attainers.

The full details of the values that underpin these summary tables are available within the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ section of the annex of the IDSR, along with accompanying visualisations. The row headings in each table are hyperlinks which will take you directly to the full details for each measure.

More information about the summary tables can be found in the Understanding the data in the IDSR section.

Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2 data in the annex of the IDSR

This section contains tables and charts for the same measures as available in the summary tables, covering the same time spans and broken down for the same pupil groups. The tables and charts present the school level value for each measure, a comparison with the national average, and trend over time where available.

More information about how to interpret the tables and charts in the IDSR can be found in the Annex tables and charts section.

Achievement at key stage 4

Data sources:

Attainment – the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024, final 2023 and final 2022 data.

Progress – the DfE’s final 2024, final 2023 and final 2022 data.

What data is included in this section?

This section provides information about school performance at key stage 4, covering an array of attainment and progress (including value added (VA)) measures.

The attainment measures are:

• Overall attainment 8

• English and mathematics % at grade 4 or above/grade 5 or above

• English element of attainment 8

• English % at grade 4 or above/grade 5 or above

• Mathematics element of attainment 8

• Mathematics % at grade 4 or above/grade 5 or above

• Science % at grade 4 or above/grade 5 or above

• Languages % at grade 4 or above/grade 5 or above

• Humanities % at grade 4 or above/grade 5 or above

• EBacc element of attainment 8

• Open element of attainment 8

The progress measures (including VA) are:

• Overall progress 8

• English element of progress 8

• Mathematics element of progress 8

• Science VA

• Languages VA

• Humanities VA

• EBacc element of progress 8

• Open element of progress 8

Wherever possible, data is presented for these measures for the most recent 3 years and is provided separately to cover:

• all pupils – all pupils included in the measure

• disadvantaged pupils – those pupils included in the measure who were eligible for free school meals at any time during the last 6 years and/or were looked-after children (in the care of the local authority for a day or more or who have been adopted from care)

• low/middle/high prior attainers – those pupils included in the measure, for whom records of their performance at key stage 2 were available and who were grouped into the low/middle/high prior attainment categories, respectively, according to DfE definitions of these categories. Further information about how these categories are defined is available in the Secondary accountability measures (including Progress 8 and Attainment 8) guidance)

The exact data and breakdowns available will vary by the school type, the measure, the pupil group, and the school’s particular cohort, as described below:

• For the all and the disadvantaged pupil groups, the data sources for key stage 4 attainment measures are: the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

• For low/middle/high prior attainers, the data sources for key stage 4 attainment measures are: the DfE’s final 2024, final 2023 and final 2022 data. This is because pupils reaching the end of key stage 4 in 2025 did not sit their key stage 2 assessments, which are used to define the prior attainment groups, due to COVID-19 disruption.

• For all key stage 4 progress measures, broken down for all pupils, disadvantaged pupils and low/middle/high prior attainers, the data sources are: the DfE’s final 2024, final 2023 and final 2022 data. This is because pupils reaching the end of key stage 4 in 2025 did not sit their key stage 2 assessments, which are used as the baseline prior attainment for progress, due to COVID-19 disruption.

• For UTCs and studio schools, Progress 8 is not included. These establishments typically start educating pupils at age 14, partway through the 5-year period covered by P8, with a focus on preparing pupils for their future careers by providing an integrated academic and professional education.

• Individual schools may be missing a year, or years, of data for a given measure and/or pupil group if they did not have any pupils in that group in that year.

You can find more information on the accountability measures in this DfE guidance document: Secondary accountability measures (including Progress 8 and Attainment 8).

Summary of achievement at key stage 4

These tables summarise school performance against national comparators for key stage 4 progress and attainment measures. Please note that this section will not appear for special schools.

Summaries are provided for all pupils, for disadvantaged pupils and for low/middle/high prior attainers.

The full details of the values that underpin these summary tables are available within the ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ section of the annex of the IDSR, along with accompanying visualisations. The row headings in each table are hyperlinks which will take you directly to the full details for each measure.

More information about the summary tables can be found in the Understanding the data in the IDSR section.

Achievement at key stage 4 data in the annex of the IDSR

This section contains tables and charts for the same measures as available in the summary tables, covering the same time spans and broken down for the same pupil groups. The tables and charts present the school level value for each measure, a comparison with the national average, and trend over time where available.

More information about how to interpret the tables and charts in the IDSR can be found in the Annex tables and charts section.

Achievement at 16 to 18

Data sources:

Attainment – the DfE’s final 2025, final 2024 and final 2023 data.

Progress – the DfE’s final 2025 and revised 2024 data.

What data is included in this section?

This section provides information about school performance at 16 to 18, covering an array of attainment and progress measures.

The attainment measures are:

• A level average point score (APS)

• Best 3 A levels APS

• Applied general APS

• Tech level APS

• Tech cert APS

• A level AAB %

The progress measures are:

• A level VA

• Applied general VA

• Tech level VA

Wherever possible, data is presented for these measures for the most recent 3 years and is provided separately to cover:

• all pupils – all pupils included in the measure

• grade 0 to <4/4 to <7/7+ prior attainment bands – those pupils included in the measure, for whom records of their performance at key stage 4 were available and who were grouped into the grade 0 to <4/4 to <7/7+ prior attainment bands, respectively. Average prior attainment bands for A level qualifications are based on GCSE grades only. Average prior attainment bands for applied general and tech level qualifications are based on all key stage 4 results. 

The exact data and breakdowns available will vary by the measure, the pupil group, and the school’s particular cohort, as described below:

• the progress measures are only available for the most recent 2 performance years (2024 and 2025). This is because pupils reaching the end of key stage 5 in 2023 did not sit their key stage 4 assessments, which are used as the baseline prior attainment for progress, due to COVID-19 disruption

• breakdowns of outcomes by prior attainment are only available for progress measures, not for attainment measures

You can find more information on the accountability measures in this DfE guidance document:

16 to 18 accountability measures technical guide

Summary of achievement at 16 to 18 

These tables summarise school performance against national comparators for 16 to 18 progress and attainment measures. Please note that this section will not appear for special schools.

Summaries are provided for all pupils, and for the grade 0 to <4/4 to <7/7+ prior attainment bands, where applicable.

The full details of the values that underpin these summary tables are available within the ‘Achievement at 16 to 18’ section of the annex of the IDSR, along with accompanying visualisations. The row headings in each table are hyperlinks which will take you directly to the full details for each measure. 

More information about the summary tables can be found in the Understanding the data in the IDSR section.

Achievement at 16 to 18 data in the annex of the IDSR

This section contains tables and charts for the same measures as available in the summary tables, covering the same time spans and broken down for the same pupil groups. The tables and charts present the school level value for each measure, a comparison with the national average, and trend over time where available.

More information about how to interpret the tables and charts in the IDSR can be found in the Annex tables and charts section.

Destinations

After key stage 4

Data source: the DfE’s revised for 2023 leavers, revised for 2022 leavers and revised for 2021 leavers data.

This table displays the proportion of pupils who continued to sustain specified destinations. This data is publicly available and comes from the DfE’s destinations collection.

The destination information in this section relates to the pupils who were in key stage 4, 2 years before the pupils that the latest performance data in the IDSR relates to, and who have sustained their destination for 6 months after completing key stage 4. Information on pupils from the same cohort who did not sustain their destination for 6 months is also presented, alongside the category for which no activity beyond key stage 4 was captured.

Other than for special schools, blue boxes indicate a figure that is, statistically, significantly above the national average. Orange boxes indicate a figure that is, statistically, significantly below the national average.

Otherwise, the banding will be identified as ‘Non-sig’, unless there is insufficient data to perform the statistical test, in which case it will be identified as ‘Not available’.

Where data has been suppressed, this follows the rules used by the DfE.

A separate table will be presented for disadvantaged pupils. The national figure used for comparison is the national average for all pupils who are not disadvantaged. Disadvantaged pupils are those who were eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any time during the last 6 years and/or looked-after children (in the care of the local authority for a day or more or who have been adopted from care).

IDSRs for service children’s education providers will only have the destinations for the latest year due to data availability.

After 16 to 18

Data source: the DfE’s revised for 2023 leavers, revised for 2022 leavers, and revised for 2021 leavers data.

This table displays the proportion of students who completed their study programme at the provider and went on to sustained education or employment, and those who went on to a destination that was not sustained or whose activity was not captured. It further shows the proportion of all students who went on to an apprenticeship, to any education, and to higher education.

The destination information in this section relates to the 16 to 18 cohort from 2 years before the cohort to which the latest performance data in the IDSR relates, and who have sustained their destination for 6 months after completing 16 to 18 education. Information about pupils from the same cohort who did not sustain their destination for 6 months is also presented alongside the category for which no activity beyond 16 to 18 was captured.

Other than for special schools, blue boxes indicate a figure that is, statistically, significantly above the national average. Orange boxes indicate a figure that is, statistically, significantly below the national average.

Otherwise, the banding will be identified as ‘Non-sig’, unless there is insufficient data to perform the statistical test, in which case it will be identified as ‘Not available’.

Where data has been suppressed, this follows the rules used by the DfE.

A separate table will be presented for disadvantaged pupils. The national figure used for comparison is the national average for all pupils who are not disadvantaged. Disadvantaged pupils are those who were eligible for FSM at any time during the last 6 years and/or looked-after children (in the care of the local authority for a day or more or who have been adopted from care).

For the destinations, the DfE uses a flexible end year to determine which students are included in the measure. The DfE’s 16 to 18 accountability measures technical guide contains further information about the methodology.

This data is taken from the DfE destinations collection, which includes full definitions of the measures used and further breakdowns of the data.

Report card

The final section of the IDSR is the report card data section. This section displays the data that will eventually be presented alongside the inspection report. Measures in the report card are derived from the IDSR. For further details about these measures and the associated methodologies, please see the guidance above.

This section is split into the following areas:

• School and pupil context

• All pupils’ performance

• Disadvantaged pupils’ performance

• Disadvantaged pupils’ performance gap

• Destinations after 16

• Absence

Only a subset of measures that are published by the DfE will be presented in this section. For key stage 2 and 16 to 18 measures, when data is based on provisional datasets it will not appear in this section because this is not published by the DfE.

School and pupil context

Contextual measures about the school and its pupils will be presented first in this section. The school value will be presented along with a banding that shows how this value compares to other schools nationally.

The following school and pupil contextual measures will be included:

• Total pupils

• School capacity

• Pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM6)*

• Pupils with an education, health and care (EHC) plan

• Pupils with special educational needs (SEN) support

• School location deprivation

• Resourced provision or special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) unit

• Type of specialist provision

*Measure will not be available for sixth forms.

All pupils’ performance

The all-pupils’ performance section displays outcomes for all pupils alongside the national average.

The following measures will be included for key stage 2 (for all pupils and disadvantaged pupils):

• Pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

• Pupils meeting the expected standard in reading

• Pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

• Pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics

The following measures will be included for key stage 4 (for all pupils and disadvantaged pupils):

• English and mathematics GCSE

• Attainment 8

• Progress 8

The following measures will be included for 16 to 18 (all pupils only):

• A level average point score (APS)

• A level value added (VA)

The possible bandings are (based on those used in IDSR achievement sections):

• Below

• Close to average

• Above

More information about these statistical concepts and how to interpret the tables and charts in the IDSR can be found in the Understanding the data in the IDSR section.

Disadvantaged pupils’ performance

The disadvantaged pupils’ performance section displays the outcomes for this pupil group alongside the national average for disadvantaged pupils. The measures presented in this section are the same suite displayed in the ‘All pupils’ performance’ section.

The possible bandings are (based on those used in corresponding IDSR achievement sections):

• Below

• Close to average

• Above

More information about these statistical concepts and how to interpret the tables and charts in the IDSR can be found in the Understanding the data in the IDSR section.

Disadvantaged pupils’ performance gap

The disadvantaged pupils’ performance gap section displays the outcomes for this pupil group but now displays the national figures for non-disadvantaged pupils. The final column shows the difference between the school’s disadvantaged pupil outcomes and the national non-disadvantaged value. If the school’s disadvantaged pupil outcomes are lower than the non-disadvantaged national figures, then the gap will be a negative value. The measures presented in this section are the same suite displayed in the ‘All pupils’ performance’ section.

Destinations after key stage 4

This section displays the percentage of pupils staying in education or employment for at least 2 terms after the end of secondary school (key stage 4). Where available it will show the latest 3 years’ data.

The possible bandings are (based on those used in corresponding IDSR achievement sections):

• Below

• Average

• Above

• Not available

More information about these statistical concepts and how to interpret the tables and charts in the IDSR can be found in the Understanding the data in the IDSR section.

Absence

To reflect data published on the DfE’s Compare school and college performance site site, absence instead of attendance will be displayed in this section. As such, bandings will be the opposite of those in the IDSR attendance section (for those cases where the school sits in the ‘Above’ or ‘Below’ banding).

The following absence measures will be included:

• Overall absence

• Persistent absence

The possible bandings are:

• Below

• Close to average

• Above

More information about these statistical concepts and how to interpret the tables and charts in the IDSR can be found in the Understanding the data in the IDSR section.

Understanding the data in the IDSR

Summary tables

The summary tables summarise school data against national comparators. Within each section of the main IDSR, the summary tables cover all measures and years (or collections) of data that we display in that section. The tables allow users to get a full summary of the bandings and statistical significance for each measure. They show consistent and compelling outcomes but also fluctuations across the time.

The tables cover all pupil groups for which we produce the data in that section, with information about each pupil group available on a separate tab. To determine school performance for these pupil groups, the school value is compared to the corresponding national value for that pupil group. For example, that means that the school values for disadvantaged pupils are compared to the national values for disadvantaged pupils.

For summary tables relating to achievement data, there are versions of the tables that focus on the attainment measures only and versions that focus on progress (included value added, VA) measures only. Where relevant, headline measures are highlighted at the top of the summary table.

The headline measures in the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ are:

• RWM expected standard – key stage 2 RWM meeting the expected standard

• RWM higher standard – key stage 2 RWM achieving the higher standard

The headline measures in the ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ section are:

• Overall A8 – overall attainment 8 score

• English & maths grade 4 plus

• English & maths grade 5 plus

• Overall P8 – overall progress 8 score

To compare the school’s data with the national average, we have calculated standard deviations (SDs) and confidence intervals (CIs). More information about these statistical concepts and how to interpret the national comparisons in the IDSR can be found in the Annex tables and charts section.

The full details of the values that underpin the summary tables are available within the relevant section of the annex of the IDSR, along with accompanying visualisations. The row headings in each table are hyperlinks which will take you directly to the full details for each measure and further analysis.

Please note that we do not produce national comparisons for special schools. As such, the summary tables section for ‘Attendance and behaviour’ will not contain any data for specials, it will just contain hyperlinks down to the annex.

Coloured shading is applied to the cells of the table to visually support the different national comparison outcomes. For schools with an outcome in the ‘Close to average’ banding, and those with no statistically significant difference from the national value (non-sig), the cell will be coloured grey. For school outcomes that do show a statistically significant difference from the national value (sig+ or sig-), the colouring will vary depending on the banding the value falls into and the measure in question. In most cases, if the school value is ‘Above (sig+)’ it will be highlighted in green, and if it’s ‘Below (sig-)’ it will be highlighted in red. For the persistent absence and suspensions measures, the colour shading is reversed – ‘Above (sig+)’ will be highlighted in red, and ‘Below (sig-)’ in green.  

For the daily attendance and attendance measures, for which there is no significance testing, the outcome consists only of the banding. School values that are ‘Close to average’ will be coloured grey, whereas those classed as ‘Above’ will be highlighted in green, and those classed as ‘Below’ will be highlighted in red.

Within the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ and ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ sections, the tables also contain information relating to the contextual comparison to similar schools. Further guidance on similar schools can be found in the Annex tables and charts section.

For similar schools comparisons, outcomes where the school value is within the ‘Close to average’ banding are not shown. Like with the national comparison outcomes, coloured shading is applied to the cells of the table to visually support the remaining similar schools contextual comparison outcomes. Where a school value does not show a statistically significant difference from the similar schools value (non-sig), the cell will be coloured grey, regardless of whether the value is ‘Above’ or ‘Below’. If the school value is ‘Above (sig+),’ it will be highlighted in blue, and if it is ‘Below (sig-),’ it will be highlighted in orange.

Annex tables and charts

Within the annex of the IDSR are the full details of the measures that feed into the summary tables of the main IDSR. The annex is divided into sections that mirror those of the main IDSR. This covers:

• Attendance and behaviour - available for all schools

• Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2 - available for any mainstream schools or service children’s education providers with any pupils in year groups between Reception to Year 6 inclusive

• Achievement at key stage 4 - available for any mainstream schools or service children’s education providers with a key stage 4 cohort

• Achievement at 16 to 18 - available for any mainstream schools or service children’s education providers catering for 16-to-18-year-olds

The information in each section covers the same measures as included in the summary tables of the main IDSR, and includes the school cohort and value, the national value, and a comparison of the school’s value to the national value. For most of the measures, indications of trend over time and of contextual information about the cohort are also shown. The data is represented both in tabular format, and visually through charts, which can be accessed by clicking on the text ‘▶ Chart’ underneath each table.

For special schools, only the school cohort and value are available in the tables, and the charts are not displayed.

Within the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ and ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ sections, the tables and charts will also contain information relating to both contextual comparison to similar schools, and the disadvantage gap.

Throughout the annex of the IDSR, you will also find hyperlinks to allow you to navigate back to the IDSR contents, or back to the relevant summary tables.

Tables

Each of the tables will contain as many rows as we have years (or data collections) worth of data available for each measure. Generally, each table contains the following:

• Year – This is the academic year the data relates to (for example ‘2025’ refers to the 2024/25 academic year). Within the ‘Attendance and behaviour’ section, this column may also contain information indicating which specific term or the number of terms the data relates to (for example, ‘2024/25 (2 term)’ means the autumn and spring terms of the 2024/25 academic year).

• Cohort/Entries – In almost all cases, this column is called ‘Cohort’ and shows the number of pupils at the school that are included in the measure for the specified pupil group. In the ‘Achievement at 16 to 18’ section, the name and contents of this column vary depending on the measure. For the Best 3 A levels APS and A level AAB % measures, the column header is ‘Cohort’ and it shows the number of pupils included in these measures. For A level APS, Applied general APS, Tech level APS, and Tech cert APS, the column header is ‘Entries’ and it shows the total size of entries that count towards those measures. For A level VA, Applied general VA, and Tech level VA, the column header is also ‘Entries’ and it shows the total number of entries in that qualification type by students with prior attainment.

• School – The school value for the measure for the specified pupil group.

• National average – This shows the national average for the measure for pupils in the specified pupil group. The national is not displayed for special schools. In the ‘Attendance and behaviour’ section, the national averages are profiled by phase of education: primary (including middle deemed primary) or secondary (including middle deemed secondary and all-through schools).

• National comparison – this shows how the school value compares with the national value. There are several possible outcomes in this column. The methodology for categorising schools into these different outcomes is similar across the different sections, with some minor variations for some measures. Colour shading is also applied to these cells of the table, dependent on the outcome shown and the particular measure. The national comparison is not displayed for special schools. Further information about the national comparisons methodology can be found later in this section.

• Trend – this shows the trend in the school’s value over time. Like with the national comparison, there are a few possible outcomes in this column. The methodology for categorising schools into these different outcomes is similar across the different sections, with some minor variations for some measures. The trend is not displayed for special schools. Additionally, this column will not appear in the tables for the disadvantaged pupil group in the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ and ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ sections. Further information about the trend methodology can be found later in this section.

• School/Year group context – this indicates whether the cohort has a higher-than-average proportion of pupils with particular characteristics, and, in some sections where the cohort is less stable than average. The cohort referenced in this column also varies by section. The school context is not displayed for special schools and does not appear for daily attendance. Further information about the school/year group context methodology can be found later in this section.

Additional information is available within the tables in the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ and ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ sections, relating to both contextual comparison to similar schools, and the disadvantaged gap. The additional columns relating to the contextual comparison to similar schools are:

• Similar schools average – this shows the average for the measure across the schools in the school’s similar schools group, for pupils in the specified pupil group

• Similar schools contextual comparison – this shows how the school value compares with the similar schools group average. There are several possible outcomes in this column. The possible outcomes and the methodology for categorising schools into these different outcomes is similar to the method used for the national comparison. Colour shading is also applied to these cells of the table, dependent on the outcome shown. Different shading is applied compared to the national comparison to reflect the difference in methodology and intended purpose. Further information about the similar schools contextual comparison methodology can be found later in this section. Please note, similar schools comparisons are not available for the phonics screening check (Year 1) expected standard or for the Year 4 multiplication tables check (MTC).

The additional columns relating to the disadvantage gap within the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ and ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ sections are:

• National non-disadvantaged average – this shows the national average for the measure for the non-disadvantaged group

• Gap – this is the difference between the school value for disadvantaged pupils and the national value for non-disadvantaged pupils

• Gap trend – this indicates whether there has been a change in the gap in a particular year, compared with the previous year (further information about the gap trend methodology can be found later in this section)

Alongside the tables in the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ section, there is some additional information relating to the phonics screening check, and to the Early years foundation stage (EYFS) profile. Further guidance about this information can be found under the headings Phonics screening check expected standard and Early years foundation stage profile nationals.

National comparisons

This section describes the methodology used to interpret school values compared to the national figure.

For each measure, pupil group combination, and year (or collection) of data, the methodology examines the national distribution of schools and shows where a school sits within that distribution. That means, for example, the school value for disadvantaged pupils is compared to the national value for disadvantaged pupils.

Divisions within the national distribution are determined using the statistical concept of standard deviations (SDs). This concept adapts to each unique distribution and takes into account the variation or spread of values. A small SD indicates that data is clustered tightly around the mean, and a large SD indicates that data is more spread out. The division of the distribution is centred around the relevant national value, and results in the distribution being partitioned into three sections or bandings:

• Above: an area of the distribution where school values are more than 0.5 SDs of above the national value

• Close to average: an area of the distribution where school values are within 0.5 SDs of the national value

• Below: an area of the distribution where school values are more than 0.5 SDs below the national value

Further information about standard deviations and bandings can be found later in this section.

Schools are categorised according to the area of the distribution in which their school value falls.

The distributions are represented within the IDSR by horizontal plots of the bandings. Within these plots, the school value’s position on the distribution is represented as a dot. The location of the dot (that is, in which banding it is located) determines the school’s banding for the measure. The proportion of schools that are located in each banding nationally is also provided, to help represent the volume in that section of the distribution.

Further information about the horizontal plots can be found under the charts heading later in this section.

In the IDSR, we recognise that there is random variability around any school-level data, caused by the size of a school’s cohort. Larger cohorts mean greater statistical confidence in the school value and, therefore, greater confidence that any difference between the school and national value is due to school factors. This statistical confidence in a school’s value is determined through the calculation of a confidence interval (CI). Using CIs, we can define a range in which the true school value is likely to fall.

The CI range is represented on the distribution plots in the IDSR by horizontal lines extending from the school value (dot) to indicate statistical confidence.

Together, the national value, school value, and CI in relation to the school value are used to determine the statistical significance of the school value compared to the national value:

• Not significantly different from national (non-sig) – the school CI crosses the national value

• Significantly above national (sig+) – the whole CI for the school sits above the national value (in this case, the whole school CI sits to the right of the national value in the horizontal plots)

• Significantly below national (sig−) – the whole CI for the school sits below  the national value (in this case, the whole school CI sits to the left of the national value in the horizontal plots)

Please note that it is possible for a school’s value to be in the ‘Close to average’ banding, but for the value to be significantly different from the national value (either below or above it). Similarly, it is possible for the school value to in the ‘Below’ or ‘Above’ banding, but for the school value not to be significantly different from the national value.

We calculate CIs for all measures in the tables, with the exception of daily attendance and attendance.

Further information about confidence intervals and statistical significance can be found later in this section.

Overall, national comparisons of school outcomes for each measure, pupil group and data year (or data collection) are represented in the IDSR through horizontal distribution plots, and through the tables. The tables provide some of the underlying values from the distribution plots (school value, national value), along with interpretation of the school value. Ultimately, combining the divisions of the national distribution, the national value, the school value’s position within the distribution, and the school CI results in 7 possible interpretations of school data for most measures:

• Above (sig+)

• Above (non-sig)

• Close to average (sig+)

• Close to average (non-sig)

• Close to average (sig−)

• Below (non-sig)

• Below (sig−)

Coloured shading is applied in the national banding column of the tables to visually support these different outcomes, with the same shading also applied to the dots that represent the school value on the horizontal distribution plots. The school values that fall into the ‘Close to average’ banding, and those with no statistically significant difference from the national value (non-sig) will be coloured grey. For the school values that do show a statistically significant difference from the national value (sig+ or sig-), the colouring will vary depending on the banding the value falls into and the measure in question. In most cases, if the school value is ‘Above (sig+)’ it will be highlighted in green, and if it’s ‘Below (sig-)’ it will be highlighted in red. For the persistent absence and suspensions measures, the colour shading is reversed – ‘Above (sig+)’ will be highlighted in red, and ‘Below (sig-)’ in green.  

For the daily attendance and attendance measures, for which CIs are not produced, the outcome consists only of the banding. School values that are ‘Close to average’ will be coloured grey, whereas those classed as ‘Above’ will be highlighted in green, and those classed as ‘Below’ will be highlighted in red.

Trend

In most cases, the ‘Trend’ column of the table shows whether there has been a statistically significant increase or decrease in the school value in a particular year from the previous year.

The exception is the attendance measure, where the column shows whether the school trend is in line with the national trend, or if the school’s attendance has improved or declined relative to the national change. A school’s attendance could be lower than in the previous year, but the trend could say ‘Relative improvement’ if the national change was a greater decline.

Trends are not available:

• For special schools

• For the furthest year of any measure, as no comparator year is displayed

• For any comparisons that would involve termly data, due to fluctuations across terms

• For progress measures i.e. KS2 progress measures, KS4 progress (and value added) measures, and 16-18 progress (value added) measures

• For the disadvantaged pupil group in the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ and ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ sections

• Between 2022 and 2023, where applicable within the ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ section, due to differences in grading post pandemic

For the Attendance measures, the value for 2022/23 (3 term) is compared with 2018/19 (3 term) to illustrate how attendance and persistent absence have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic.

School context and year group context

This section describes the methodology we use to highlight school or year group context.

Like with the methodology for national comparisons, the school/year group context methodology also uses standard deviations (SDs). However, unlike the methodology for national comparisons which uses 0.5 SDs to define boundaries in the national distribution, for school/year group context we use 1 SD.

In the ‘Attendance and behaviour’ section, the school context column indicates whether there is a higher-than-average proportion of pupils in the whole school who have been eligible for FSM at any time during the last 6 years (FSM6), or a higher-than-average proportion of pupils with SEN (including those who receive SEN support or have a statement of SEN or an EHC plan). In this section, the national distribution means all other schools in the same phase of education - primary (including middle deemed primary) or secondary (including middle deemed secondary and all-through schools). For example, for a primary school, it will say ‘High – FSM’ if the school’s proportion of FSM pupils is more than 1 SD higher than the proportion of FSM pupils nationally in primary schools. The school context is not displayed for special schools, and does not appear for daily attendance.

In the sections relating to achievement, this column provides an indication of the characteristics within the relevant year group, and in some cases within the cohort for the particular measure.

In the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ section, key stage 2 measures use the Year 6 cohort, MTC uses the Year 4 cohort, and phonics uses the Year 1 cohort characteristics, and highlight whether there is a high proportion of pupils who were eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any time during the last 6 years (FSM6) or have high special educational needs (SEN) or low stability. For example, it will say ‘High – FSM’ in the key stage 2 tables if the school’s FSM6 proportion in Year 6 is greater than the national FSM6 proportion in Year 6, plus one SD. For each measure and data year combination, the context stated will be the same in every table, regardless of which pupil group the table represents more generally. This is because the cohort context column describes the context for all pupils within the relevant year group, rather than the context for the subset of the year group represented in the disadvantaged or low/middle/high prior attainers table.

In the ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ section, all measures use the Year 11 cohort and highlight high proportion of pupils who were eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any time during the last 6 years (FSM6), or have high special educational needs (SEN), a high proportion of low prior attainers or low stability. For example, the column will say ‘High – FSM’ if the school’s FSM6 proportion in Year 11 is greater than the national FSM6 proportion in Year 11, plus one SD. The FSM, SEN and stability flags relate to the whole year group, so will therefore be the same across all measures and pupil groups within the same year. However, the flag for low prior attainers is specific to each measure, so will therefore only be the same across all pupil groups within the same measure in the same year, and could differ from measure to measure.

In the ‘Achievement at 16-18’ section, measures relate to the Year 13 cohort. For all measures, the context column can highlight when the cohort has high special educational needs (SEN). The SEN flag relates to the whole year group, so will therefore be the same across all measures and pupil groups within the same year. For example, it will say ‘High – SEN’ if the school’s proportion of pupils with SEN in Year 13 is greater than the national proportion of pupils with SEN in Year 13, plus one SD. For progress measures, a high proportion of entries that are from low prior attainers could also be shown. The low prior attainment band here refers to prior attainment of GCSE grades 0 to <4. The flag for low prior attainers, however, is specific to each measure, so will therefore only be the same across all pupil groups within the same measure in the same year, and could differ from measure to measure.

Similar schools contextual comparisons

This section describes the methodology we use to interpret school values compared to their similar schools group average within the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ and ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ sections.

Further information about how we arrive at similar schools groups can be found within the DfE’s ‘Similar schools model for attainment: technical note.’ Meanwhile, further information about how similar schools information will be used on inspection can be found within the DfE’s ‘Similar schools model for attainment: overview.’

Schools will each have their own bespoke similar schools groups. There will be a different similar schools group for each of the individual data years covered in the achievement sections, with each group being based on the school’s contextual data from the same time period - that is, the January census of the corresponding year. The calculation of similar schools group averages and the subsequent contextual comparisons in a specific data year are carried out against the school’s similar schools group for the same data year. For example, the contextualisation of a school’s percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in key stage 2 reading in 2024, is carried out using the school’s similar schools group for 2024, which is, in turn, based on contextual data from the January 2024 census. For the multi-year averages in the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ section, the similar schools group averages and the subsequent contextualisation are carried out using the similar schools group that corresponds to the most recent year included in the calculation of the multi-year average. Using the example of the key stage 2 reading expected standard again, for a multi-year average consisting of school values from 2023, 2024 and 2025, the similar schools comparison would use the similar schools group for 2025.

The methodology is similar to that used for national comparisons in that it involves using 0.5 standard deviations (SDs) to divide the relevant distribution into bands. In this case, the relevant distribution is the set of school values for each school in the similar schools group.

Unlike for national comparisons where the average is based on the results of pupils attending thousands of schools across England, the similar schools average takes into account only those pupils attending the 51 schools in the similar schools group (the focal school plus the 50 other schools in its group). As such, we recognise that just as there is random variability around school-level data, caused by the size of a school’s cohort, there will also be some random variability around similar-school-group-level data relating to the number of pupils attending schools in the group. Larger cohorts mean greater statistical confidence in the similar school average. As at school-level, this statistical confidence around the similar school value is determined through the calculation of a confidence interval (CI). Using CIs, we can define a range in which the true similar school value is likely to fall.

Together, the similar school value, school value, and the CIs around both of these are used to determine the statistical significance of the school value compared to the similar school value:

• Not significantly different from national (non-sig) – the school CI overlaps with the similar school CI

• Significantly above national (sig+) – the whole CI for the school sits above (does not overlap with) the similar school CI

• Significantly below national (sig−) – the whole CI for the school sits below (does not overlap with) the similar school CI

The similar school CI range is not represented on the distribution plots in the IDSR due to limitations with presentation.

Please note that it is possible for a school’s value to be in the ‘Close to average’ banding, but for the value to be significantly different from the similar school value (either below or above it). Similarly, it is possible for the school value to in the ‘Below’ or ‘Above’ banding, but for the school value not to be significantly different from the similar school value.

Further information about confidence intervals and statistical significance can be found later in this section.

Overall, similar schools comparisons of school outcomes for each measure, pupil group and data year (or data collection) are represented in the IDSR through the tables. The tables provide some of the underlying values from the distribution plots (school value, similar school value), along with interpretation of the school value.

Ultimately, combining the divisions of the similar schools distribution, the similar schools value, the school value’s position within the distribution, and the school and similar schools CI results in 7 possible comparisons of school data set in the context of the similar schools group. However, where the school value is within the ‘Close to average’ band, the comparison is not shown. This leaves 4 possible outcomes that are displayed:

• Above (sig+)

• Above (non-sig)

• Below (non-sig)

• Below (sig−)

Coloured shading is applied in the similar schools banding column of the tables to visually support these different outcomes. The school values do not show a statistically significant difference from the similar schools value (non-sig) will be coloured grey. If the school value is ‘Above (sig+)’ it will be highlighted in blue, and if it’s ‘Below (sig-)’ it will be highlighted in orange.

Please note, similar schools comparisons are not available for the phonics screening check (Year 1) expected standard or for the Year 4 multiplication tables check (MTC).

Disadvantage gap trend

This section describes the methodology we use to interpret how a school’s disadvantage gap has changed over time. This column appears in tables for the disadvantaged pupil group within the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ and ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ sections.

First, we look at value of the disadvantage gap for the year in question in isolation – if a school’s disadvantaged group is outperforming the national non-disadvantaged group, the gap will be identified as ‘Positive gap’.

If a school’s disadvantaged group is performing less well than the national non-disadvantaged group, however, we will measure how a school’s disadvantage gap has changed from one year to the next. As each year’s gap is based on a different cohort, which may be a different size, the reliability of that change varies, so the cohorts from the 2 comparator years are combined into an effective sample size. Across all schools, the average change and its standard deviation are calculated for each subject and measure. Each school’s change is then converted into a Z-score (which shows how unusual or typical a value is compared to the rest of the data) and adjusted using the effective sample size, ensuring that large, reliable cohorts are emphasised and small, noisy cohorts are down-weighted. Using the weighted Z-score, we then analyse how the gap in a particular year compares to the gap in the previous year.

• If the gap in a particular year is deemed to be greater than in the previous year, the trend will be identified as ‘Widening’

• If the gap in a particular year is deemed to be smaller than in the previous year, the trend will be identified as ‘Narrowing’

• Otherwise, the trend will be identified as ‘No meaningful change’

For outcomes that rely on two years of data, which is all outcomes other than ‘Positive gap’, these outcomes are not available:

• For the furthest year, as no comparator year is displayed

• Between 2022 and 2023, where applicable within the ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ section, due to differences in grading post pandemic

Charts

Below each table, the tabular data is also represented visually through charts, which can be accessed by clicking on ‘▶ Chart.’ These charts are not displayed for special schools.

Each chart illustrates the national distribution for that measure for the specified pupil group. These are represented as horizontal plots of the bandings around the national value, thereby illustrating the information that goes into the national comparison methodology as described in the section above.

In the ‘Attendance and behaviour’ section, the national distribution means all other schools in the same phase of education - primary (including middle deemed primary) or secondary (including middle deemed secondary and all-through schools). In the sections relating to achievement, the national distribution means all other schools for which that measure is available for the specified pupil group. There are as many charts as there are years (or data collections) worth of data available for each measure.

For each measure, each chart contains the following elements:

• The national average for the specified pupil group – this is shown as a turquoise-coloured vertical dashed line

• Three sections that indicate how the national distribution for the specified pupil group is divided up into the ‘Above’, ‘Below’ or ‘Close to [the national] average’ bands (based on 0.5 SDs above or below the mean); the proportion of schools that sit in each band nationally is also provided, to help represent the volume in that section of the distribution

• The school’s value for the measure for the specified pupil group – this is shown as a coloured circle in one of the sections; coloured shading is applied to the circle, following the shading rules applied for the national banding column within the table

• The confidence interval (CI) – this is shown by horizontal lines extending from the school value (coloured circle); this defines the range in which the true school value is likely to fall and illustrates whether the school’s value is significantly above or below the national average – see the Understanding the data in the IDSR section for more details on how to interpret CIs; due to the methodology used to calculate daily attendance and attendance measures, the CI is not displayed for these measures

As school values tend to be more closely clustered together around the national value, the ‘Close to average’ banding will usually be narrower than the ‘Above’ and ‘Below’ bandings where values are more spread out and have greater variation. For the same reason, the ‘Close to average’ banding will tend to account for a greater proportion of the school values than either the ‘Above’ or ‘Below’ bandings alone.

You will notice that distributions are not always symmetrical around the national value - the width of the distribution to the left of the national value may not be equal to the width of the distribution to the right of it. For a few measures, for particular pupil groups, the ‘Above’ or ‘Below’ band may even be missing entirely. This is due to a property of distributions known as skew or skewness, which describes the degree of asymmetry in how values cluster within the distribution.

Where the ‘Above’ or ‘Below’ band is missing entirely, this will be noted in a sentence between the table and charts. Otherwise, the measure which commonly show skew are outlined below:

• Attendance data is negatively skewed: a small number of schools have very low attendance so there is a long below-the-national-average section, but only approximately a quarter of schools fall into this band

• Persistent absence data is positively skewed: a small number of schools have a very high percentage of pupils who are persistently absent, so there is a long above-the-national-average section, but only approximately a quarter of schools fall into this band (some of these high rates may be due to errors in the source data)

• Suspension rate data is positively skewed, especially for primary schools, because many schools have a very low suspension rate; however, a small number of schools have a higher rate, so there is a long above-the-national-average section, but only approximately a quarter of schools fall into this band (some of these high rates may be due to errors in the source data)

Just as the tables in the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ and ‘Achievement at key stage 4’ sections contain additional information relating to similar schools and the disadvantage gap, as do the charts.

Overlapping with the base of each of the horizontal plots is a collection of black vertical lines, which together resemble a barcode. The black vertical lines represent the school values for schools in the similar schools group. As such, this barcode chart gives an indication of the spread of values within the similar schools group, on the same scale as the national distribution. There is a fixed width of black vertical line that is used for every school in the group. Therefore, areas that appear as thicker black lines in this chart are indicative of a cluster of school values that lie close together. These clusters are likely to appear closer to the centre of the distribution. Towards the left- and right-most edges of the distribution, you will likely notice thinner black lines – many of which may represent the value for an individual school in the group – with more space between them. Since the barcode is plotted on the same scale as the national distribution, it is possible to compare the school value and CI from the horizontal plot (the shaded dot and projecting horizontal line) against the similar schools distribution.

The horizontal plots for the disadvantaged pupil group will, additionally, show the national value for that measure for the non-disadvantaged group. This is shown as a purple-coloured vertical dotted line.

Phonics screening check expected standard

Within the ‘Achievement in phonics and at key stage 2’ section, additional sentences will be displayed above the table of outcomes in the phonics screening check. Sentences will be available for both Year 1 and Year 2 pupils, where relevant. The sentences show:

• the total number of pupils who were eligible to be screened for phonics

• the number of pupils who sat the check, and who did not, where applicable

• the number of pupils who did not meet the expected standard, where applicable

• the average mark for pupils who did not meet the expected standard (where the number not meeting the standard was greater than 5)

Example sentences

There were 59 pupils who were eligible for the phonics screening check in Year 1 in [latest year]; 54 of them sat the check and 5 did not. Of those who sat the check, 15 pupils did not meet the phonics expected standard; their average mark was 21.

There were 18 pupils who were eligible for the phonics screening check in Year 2 in [latest year]; 12 of them sat the check and 6 did not. Of those who sat the check, 3 pupils did not meet the phonics expected standard.

The number of pupils who did not sit the phonics screening check includes (where applicable): the number who were absent, the number who were disapplied, and the number for whom there was maladministration.

Early years foundation stage profile nationals

Data source: the DfE’s 2024/25 early years foundation stage (EYFS) profile results publication.

From Autumn 2025, the IDSR will include published national headline data on the percentage of pupils with a good level of development as well as the national percentage at the expected standard for the 7 areas of learning and associated early learning goals within the ‘Other’ section of the IDSR. No school-level data will be included until the DfE makes this available in Autumn 2026.

Measures that will be presented in this section:

• Good level of development
• Communication and language
  • Listening, attention and understanding
  • Speaking
• Personal, social and emotional development
  • Self-regulation
  • Managing self
  • Building relationships
• Physical development
  • Gross motor skills
  • Fine motor skills
• Literacy
  • Comprehension
  • Word reading
  • Writing
• Mathematics
  • Number
  • Numerical patterns
• Understanding the world
  • Past and present
  • People, culture and communities
  • The natural world
• Expressive arts and design
  • Creating with materials
  • Being imaginative and expressive

The content in this section is based on the DfE’s EYFS profile results published here: Early years foundation stage profile results, Academic year 2024/25.

Standard deviations and bandings

^{This bell curve illustrates a normal distribution. The horizontal axis is divided into three labelled sections: ‘Below’ on the left, ‘Close to average’ in the centre, and ‘Above’ on the right. The mean is marked as ‘Nat avg.’ Two vertical lines at minus 0.5 and plus 0.5 standard deviations from the mean enclose a shaded region labelled ‘Close to average’.}

An SD adapts to each unique distribution and reflects variation or spread of values.

This is an example of a normal national distribution of school values. The IDSR then defines a central range on this distribution, which is defined as ‘Close to average’. The range is calculated by adding and subtracting 0.5 SDs from the national average. Using 0.5 SDs provides a more compact range, better reflecting the central tendency and reducing the influence of outlying values in skewed datasets.

As values tend to be more closely compacted together around the mean (national average) the ‘Close to average’ box will usually be narrower than the ‘Above’ and ‘Below’ boxes, where values are more spread out and there is a greater range/variation of values.

The following schools are not included in the national distribution or SD calculations:

• special schools

• alternative provision (AP)/pupil referral units (PRUs)

• nurseries

The national average used in the calculation to ascertain plus and minus 0.5 SDs is the pupil-derived national average that includes all state schools in England.

Confidence intervals

^{This is a section of a distributional analysis showing the ‘Close to average’ range. Close to average is represented by a rectangular box and ranges from 62.4 to 69.9 along the horizontal axis. Inside the box, there is a grey dot (indicating a school’s observed performance) and a horizontal line through the grey dot (indicating the confidence interval of their performance). There is also a vertical turquoise dashed line indicating the national average.}

A CI explains the range within which the true value is likely to fall. In the IDSR, we recognise that around any school-level data there is random variability caused by the size of a school’s cohort. Larger cohorts mean greater confidence that any difference from the national average is due to school factors.

Statistical significance

^{This image shows a comparison of confidence intervals for 3 schools against the national average. The national average is marked by a vertical blue line. Each school is represented by a black dot (indicating their observed performance) and a horizontal line through the black dot (indicating the confidence interval of their performance). The position of the confidence intervals in relation to the national average indicates whether a school outcome is statistically significant.}

Assessment data and information are starting points for inspectors’ discussion with schools. We use statistical significance testing to draw attention to noteworthy values. These values show when differences in the school’s performance may be due to more than chance variation. The IDSR uses bandings based on SDs as well as statistical significance testing. This allows us to look at relative performance across time while highlighting noteworthy changes.

The figure above is an example of how the CI is used to decide statistical significance. It helps us quickly assess whether a school’s outcomes stand out in a statistically reliable way, or whether they fall within the expected range of variation. If the CI does not cross the national average line, we can say that the school’s performance is statistically significant – either significantly above (sig+) or significantly below (sig−) the national average. If the CI does cross the national average line, then the school’s performance is not statistically different from the national average – this is labelled as non-significant (non-sig).

For progress measures, the DfE provides Ofsted with the 95% CIs, enabling us to calculate the statistical significance. The DfE publishes guidance about the Progress 8 data and confidence intervals.

There can be slight differences between Compare school and college performance in England and the IDSR, including for Progress 8, because of different ways of rounding figures. For ‘Compare school and college performance in England’, the bandings are calculated from rounded data, which is an established convention in the performance tables. The bandings in the performance tables, and whether a school’s score is considered to be above or below average (significantly different from 0), are based on the published value of the CI at 2 decimal places. For example, a school with an upper confidence limit of −0.00234, which is rounded up and shown as 0.00, is not treated as significantly below average. The IDSR, however, uses unrounded values and will, for example, show a school with an upper confidence limit of −0.00234 as significantly below average. Statistical significance calculations use cohort size, or number of pupils, in the calculation. Therefore, a large cohort is much more likely to show a statistically significant difference from national averages than a small cohort.

Significance calculation for threshold measures

In some instances, we use a normal approximation to the binomial distribution to identify statistically significant differences between proportions of pupils.

Before applying the test, we check that nP and n(1−P) are greater than or equal to 5.

Where:

• P = the national average of pupils reaching the expected standard

• n = the total number of pupils

The calculation is as follows:

Z = (pₛ − pₙ) / √[pₙ(1 − pₙ) / nₛ]

Where:

• pₛ = sample proportion

• pₙ = null hypothesis proportion

• nₛ = sample size

If Z>1.96, then the result is statistically significantly positive (Sig+).

If Z<−1.96, then the result is statistically significantly negative (Sig−).

Otherwise not statistically significant.

Attendance and behaviour

The first release of the IDSR in each academic year includes absence data. This will be in the form of 1-term data before being updated with 2-term and then 3-term data later in the academic year.

The suspensions and permanent exclusions data can be up to 1 year behind.

Special schools and pupils with SEN

An IDSR is produced for special schools. However, it may contain very little information about the performance of pupils.

Pupils with special educational needs (SEN) are a diverse group with differing needs and expectations. Therefore, the IDSR will no longer display any averages for this group.

The IDSR provides contextual information for the group, including the breakdown of the number of pupils with SEN by primary need.

Junior and middle schools

For junior schools, a standard sentence appears at the top of the IDSR, as below:

We know from national data that pupils, on average, have higher attainment scores at the end of key stage 2 than pupils at all other primary schools. However, on average they make less progress, which may be for a variety of reasons. Inspectors should be aware of this and, as with any inspection, carefully consider a range of information and data.

For middle schools, a standard sentence appears at the top of the IDSR, as below:

Due to the age range of pupils at middle schools, pupils will have only attended a middle school for a short time before they take their key stage 2 tests and will still have a number of years left at the school. Inspectors should be aware of this and, as with any inspection, carefully consider a range of information and data.

Missing data

There are a few possible reasons why data for some years is not shown in charts and tables for a particular measure:

• The measure did not exist, was defined differently or was not available to Ofsted for that year; if this is the case, the data is shown as a dash

• The school had no pupils for a particular measure in that year; if this is the case, the cohort will be shown as a 0 and a dash will be shown for the measure

• If the school recently changed legal status, for example from a local authority-maintained school to a sponsor-led academy, the data may be shown under the predecessor school name or unique reference number (URN) in the DfE’s Analyse School Performance (ASP); normally, schools that open part way through an academic year will have their performance data attached to the predecessor school, but attendance data is attached to the successor school (for consistency, the IDSR will match the DfE methodology for these schools)

National figures

The national figures may differ from the figures published in the DfE’s performance tables and ASP. This is due to the varying decimal precisions used between organisations and because we do not include special schools.

The ‘FSM6 and/or CLA’ pupil group is compared with the national figure for pupils who are not ‘FSM6 and/or CLA’.

Prior attainment pupil groups are compared with their respective pupil group nationally.

Service children’s education providers have been assigned a phase based on the ages of pupils in the school.

Cohorts and numbers of pupils included

Cohorts display the total number of pupils based on the group and year of the measure presented.

For measures when all pupils were entered, the cohort shows the number of pupils the measure is based on. For some measures, it is used as the denominator for percentages.

If there have been any leavers and joiners, then the cohort number shown on progress and attainment data may not match the context section. The context section is a snapshot of the day the school census is taken in January of that year.

The ‘Number of pupils included’ on progress pages only includes pupils with prior attainment information.

16 to 18 cohorts

The DfE uses different rules to allocate students to the different measures. The year group characteristics are based on the census data, so there may be students who are no longer on roll but are still allocated to the provider for accountability purposes.

For the destinations, the DfE uses a flexible end year to determine which students are included in the measure. There are more details in the accountability guide.

Conditions of use

The IDSR conditions of use and storage are that:

• the IDSR is to be used only for educational and analytical purposes and for informing inspection, not for any other purpose

• data presented in the IDSR is to be shared only with those who need it and are authorised to have access to it

• only nominated users may access the IDSR, and these users must be made aware that they cannot share the IDSR without permission from the data owner (the school or college)

• the IDSR should be saved in a secure location with limited access

Data protection

When accessing the data in the Ofsted IDSR service, you must recognise the privacy of that data and always comply with the Data Protection Act 2018. The Data Protection Act 2018 is the UK’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You must ensure that you use the data that you have access to for the purpose for which the service was set up and that you do not use the data for any other purpose. You must ensure that the data is processed securely and that it is not subject to any unauthorised use or disclosure.

Published 8 October 2019

Last updated 1 September 2026 — Show all updates

1. 1 September 2026

   We have updated the IDSR for all schools with the DfE’s 2026 spring school census, new similar schools’ comparator for achievement, and format changes.

2. 10 July 2026

   We have updated the IDSR for all schools with the DfE’s 2025/26 daily attendance collection up to and including summer part 1. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect this latest update.

3. 5 June 2026

   We have updated the IDSR for all schools with the DfE’s 2025/26 daily attendance collection up to and including spring part 2. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect this latest update.

4. 15 May 2026

   We have updated the IDSR for all schools with spring 2024/25 suspensions and permanent exclusions data. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect this latest update.

5. 24 April 2026

   We have updated the IDSR for all schools with the latest and final data. The IDSR guidance has been amended to reflect these latest updates.

6. 27 March 2026

   We have updated the IDSR for all schools with the DfE’s 2025/26 daily attendance collection up to and including spring part 1. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect this.

7. 13 March 2026

   We have updated the IDSR for all schools with latest pupil movement data, introduced new format summary tables and updated the methodology underpinning the gap trend. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect these changes.

8. 2 March 2026

   The guidance has been updated to reflect that we have updated the IDSR for all schools with new daily attendance data.

9. 13 February 2026

   We have updated the IDSR for all schools with the latest available data including revised 16 to 18 performance data. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect these updates.

10. 6 February 2026

    We have updated the IDSR for all applicable schools with revised key stage 4 data. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect these updates.

11. 23 January 2026

    We have updated IDSRs with 2024/25 autumn term exclusions data. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect this change.

12. 5 December 2025

    We have updated the IDSR for all applicable schools with 2025 revised key stage 2, provisional 16 to 18, final phonics, 2 term absence and final multiplication tables check data. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect these updates.

13. 21 November 2025

    We have updated the IDSR for all schools with provisional 2025 key stage 4 data. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect this change.

14. 4 November 2025

    We have released the 2025 provisional primary IDSR, with several developments for the renewed inspection framework, for all schools. The IDSR guidance now reflects all new developments and data updates. The main data updates are the latest 2025 key stage 2, phonics, contextual data, 1-term absence, final exclusions for 2024 and new alternative provision placements data.

15. 1 May 2025

    We have updated the IDSR for all applicable schools with final key stage 2, key stage 4 and 16 to 18 data. We have also updated absence data with the final 3-term data. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect this change.

16. 6 March 2025

    We have updated the IDSR for all secondary schools with revised 2024 key stage 4 and level 3 value-added data. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect this update.

17. 6 February 2025

    We have updated the IDSR for all schools with revised 2024 key stage 2 and 16 to 18 performance data. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect this change.

18. 16 January 2025

    Updated the IDSR for all secondary schools with provisional 2024 key stage 4 data. The IDSR guidance has been updated to reflect this change.

19. 12 December 2024

    Updated the IDSR guidance for all schools with 2-term (autumn & spring) absence data for 2023/24, provisional destinations data for 2022/23, final phonics data for 2024, and multiplication tables check (MTC) data for 2024.

20. 10 October 2024

    We have released the 2024 primary IDSR with IDSR developments for all schools, as highlighted in our September newsletter. The guidance now reflects all new data updates. The main data updates are the latest 2024 key stage 2, phonics, contextual data, 1-term absence, final exclusions for 2023 and new alternative provision placements data.

21. 2 May 2024

    We have updated the IDSR for all schools with final (key stages 2, 4 and 16 to 18) 2023 data as well as 3-term absence. The guidance has been updated to reflect these changes.

22. 6 March 2024

    We have updated the IDSR for all secondary schools with revised 2023 key stage 4 and 16 to 18 data. The guidance has been updated to reflect these changes.

23. 7 February 2024

    We have updated the IDSR for all schools including schools with a sixth form with the latest pupil movement data for 2022/23 and revised key stage 2 data. We have updated the IDSR for all schools including schools with a sixth form, with the latest pupil movement data for 2022/23, and revised key stage 2 data. The guidance has been updated to reflect these changes.

24. 13 December 2023

    We have updated the IDSR for all schools including schools with a sixth form with the latest absence data for 2022/23 (autumn and spring terms), final key stage 1 and final multiplication tables data. The guidance has been updated to reflect these changes.

25. 15 November 2023

    We have updated the IDSR for secondary schools and schools with a sixth form, with the latest provisional 2023 key stage 4 and 16 to 18 data. The guidance has also been updated to reflect these changes.

26. 18 October 2023

    We have released the 2023 primary IDSR with IDSR developments for all schools, as highlighted in our last newsletter. The main data updates are latest 2023 key stage 2, key stage 1, phonics, contextual data and 2021/22 suspensions and permanent exclusions.

27. 7 June 2023

    We have updated the inspection data summary report (IDSR) for all schools. The main changes includes the 16 to 18 final 2022 data, including the updated retention measure. We also updated the trust/local authority level information section to include the most recent inspection outcome (graded or ungraded) based on latest URN for trusts only.

28. 4 May 2023

    We have updated the inspection data summary report (IDSR) for all schools. The following data has been updated: Key stage 4 - final, Key stage 2 – final (including the multiplication tables check) and absence data – 3 terms.

29. 22 March 2023

    Updated the secondary inspection data summary report (IDSR). The main changes are revisions to key stage 4, 16-18 data, pupil movement between 2021 and 2022 and destinations data. Also included are changes to the way we calculate key stage 4 subject entries.

30. 14 February 2023

    Updated the primary inspection data summary report (IDSR). The main changes are revised key stage 2, final key stage 1 and final phonics data. Also included are minor changes to the pupil movement section of the secondary school IDSR.

31. 15 December 2022

    Updated with absence data.

32. 17 November 2022

    Ofsted has released the 2022 secondary IDSR and the guidance has been updated to reflect this. The main changes include the release of 2022 key stage 4 attainment and progress data, key stage 5 attainment and developments to the pupil movement section.

33. 20 October 2022

    Ofsted has released the 2022 primary IDSR and the guidance has been updated to reflect this. The main changes are latest 2022 key stage 2, key stage 1, phonics, contextual data and 2020/21 suspensions and permanent exclusions. Also included are updates on the new functionality to remove sentences highlighted in grey.

34. 7 June 2022

    Guidance updated to reflect that EYFS profile data is no longer included in the inspection data summary report (IDSR).

35. 19 May 2022

    Updated with absence and finance data.

36. 28 February 2022

    The guidance has been updated to reflect the new web-based IDSR format, new data received since their last release and the integration of school sixth form guidance.

37. 6 January 2022

    Guidance updated in response to user queries, including information on what ‘not authorised’ means, clarification on average number of qualifications for 2021 and further details about the stability measure.

38. 12 November 2021

    Ofsted have released a November 2021 IDSR and the guidance has been updated to reflect this. The main changes are latest 2021 contextual data, a new section for 2021 subject entries and new terminology for suspensions. Supporting tables spreadsheet updated: 2021 prior attainment national averages, autumn 2020 absence bounds, suspensions bounds have been updated or added to for 2021. No performance bounds have been updated. Sentence master list updated to reflect minor improvements/changes/combinations to current area of interest sentences and incorporating 2020 and 2021 figures where applicable.

39. 7 June 2021

    New section of guidance added for the release of autumn 2020 absence data. This data is based on the DfE census collection and has been provided as a new section within the IDSR.

40. 19 February 2021

    Added two spreadsheets: sentence master list and supporting data tables.

41. 22 January 2021

    Guidance amended to reflect the latest version of the IDSR, including example reports.

42. 5 March 2020

    Updated guidance to incorporate the addition of 'service children education providers' and the supporting tables have been updated to reflect the release of revised key stage 4 data.

43. 3 February 2020

    Updated to include final 2019 EYFS, supporting tables updated with revised KS2, data for disadvantaged pupils and final 2019 EYFS and a new master list of all 2019 areas of interest sentences.

44. 15 January 2020

    Updated the guidance to enhance users understanding of the ‘grey’ area of interest sentences and added more direct links for ease of use.

45. 16 December 2019

    Updated supporting data tables to include key stage 1 attainment of the expected standard by Early Years Foundation Stage prior outcome.

46. 9 December 2019

    Updates the 'English Baccalaureate entry' section.

47. 5 December 2019

    Updated guide and data tables following further releases of data.

48. 22 November 2019

    Added IDSR guidance for secondary schools.

49. 17 October 2019

    Added a link to the DfE Sign-in for users to log into Analyse School Performance to view and download their schools' IDSR. Also added an example secondary school IDSR.

50. 15 October 2019

    Added 2019 supporting data tables.

51. 11 October 2019

    Added an example inspection data summary report.

52. 8 October 2019

    First published.