How England’s schools are rated by Ofsted, and which local authorities have the highest share of Outstanding schools — derived from the live School Atlas dataset of official inspection judgements. Figures update as new inspections are ingested.
England — Ofsted overall effectiveness (legacy grades)
31,663 schools in England hold a legacy Ofsted overall-effectiveness grade on the four-point scale, from inspections before the framework changed. Ofsted dropped the single overall grade in September 2024 and from November 2025 grades each area separately on a five-point report card — see what the reforms mean.
Outstanding4,461 (14.1%)
Good26,570 (83.9%)
Requires improvement553 (1.7%)
Inadequate79 (0.2%)
English local authorities by % Outstanding
Top 20 of 151 local authorities with at least 10 graded schools, ranked by the share rated Outstanding. Small-denominator authorities are floored out so a handful of schools can’t distort the ranking.
#
Local authority
Graded
Outstanding
% Outstanding
% Good+
1
Hammersmith and Fulham
107
39
36.4%
99.1%
Methodology & coverage
England: schools with a current Ofsted overall effectiveness judgement (the established Outstanding/Good/Requires improvement/Inadequate scale). Schools inspected only under the newer report-card framework, and independent schools inspected by the ISI, use different scales and are excluded here rather than conflated.
Scotland is reported on the separate six-point scale used by HMIE (His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, formerly part of Education Scotland) and is never merged with Ofsted figures.
Wales (Estyn) and Northern Ireland (ETI): we hold both nations’ inspection records, but we do not publish a grade distribution — neither inspectorate issues summative grades any more (Estyn moved to narrative-only reports, and ETI’s Empowering Improvement framework from September 2024 is also narrative), so a current breakdown by grade would misrepresent both nations.
Figures are computed live from the School Atlas dataset and move as new inspections are ingested. Open schools only; demonstration records excluded. Sources and licensing: data sources · methodology.
Scotland’s schools are inspected by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) — the independent inspectorate that took over school inspections from HMIE — on a different six-point scale, not comparable to Ofsted and shown separately for that reason. 2,534 schools carry a grade on this scale.