Farlingaye High School in Woodbridge and Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham among Suffolk schools reinspected by Ofsted after outstanding exemption lifted
Two schools in Suffolk lost outstanding ratings from Ofsted after their exemption from reinspection ended.
Farlingaye High School in Woodbridge and Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham were among hundreds in the country previously exempt from regular inspection.
Between 2012 and 2020, schools rated outstanding were legally exempt from regular reviews unless major faults were found. However, the rule was lifted with Ofsted prioritising a visit to those that had gone the longest without inspection.
There are 39 schools in Suffolk with an outstanding rating.
Farlingaye was rated good by inspectors in March – its first inspection in nine years – while Thomas Mills received an inadequate score in a review last November.
Another school, All Saints Church school in Laxfield, was given an ungraded inspection, and will receive a grade next time.
The 2021 report found the Framlingham high school had serious weaknesses, primarily attributed to school leaders.
A monitoring visit in September of this year noted that leaders made strides to improve the school, but it still remained inadequate.
Inspector Richard Kueh said: "The previous inspection report in November 2021 highlighted weaknesses in leaders’ processes of recording, storing and using information to safeguard pupils from harm.
"Leaders of safeguarding have now introduced an online system for logging and acting on staff concerns about pupils’ safety and they have also introduced a more-rigorous system for reviewing this information and checking how helpful the support that vulnerable pupils receive is."
He also noted a range of channels had been introduced that allow pupils to communicate worries to staff, and students feel safe.
The quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and sixth form provision were rated good in the inspection, while personal development required improvement.
It hadn't been reviewed by the watchdog since it opened as an academy in 2012, with its last inspection dated to 2006, back when it was known as Thomas Mills High School.
Farlingaye faired much better, with personal development and sixth form provision being rated outstanding, while quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and leadership being rated good.
Lead inspector Adam Cooke noted it was a community where students feel safe and are happy, with the sixth form being described as 'one big happy family' with good links to higher education institutions.
He added that pupils choose from a variety of subjects and learn much, but said leaders were not precisely aware of how well some areas of the school functioned.
Regarding Saints Church of England School, lead inspector Steve Mellors said the school might not be rated as highly should a full inspection have been carried out.
While it still retains its outstanding rating for now, the school – which was described as a place where students are eager to learn – will have to undergo a full inspection for the watchdog's next visit.
Ofsted said 308 schools, or 80 per cent, of those reviewed since the exemption was lifted in 2020 lost their outstanding rating.
While the majority were good, 17 per cent required improvement and four per cent were rated inadequate.
It also found that 43 per cent had not had a graded inspection in over a decade.
Ofsted's chief inspector Amanda Spielman said the exemption was introduced in the hopes the good standards, once obtained, would never drop, and freedom from regular inspection could drive schools to do better.
But data showed removing scrutiny from schools does not make it better, she noted.
Ms Speilman added: "Regular inspection gives parents confidence in the quality of their child's school.
"Exempting outstanding schools deprived parents of up-to-date information and left schools without the constructive challenge that regular reviews provide."