Schools Causing Concern - Statutory Guidance

This statutory guidance, applicable to both maintained schools and academies, was updated in August 2017, to clarify the use of writing data at Key Stage 2 in determining whether a warning notice should be issued to a school. Warning notices can be issued to schools that although not judged as inadequate by Ofsted or have not met the formal coasting criteria, are still giving Local Authorities or Regional School Commissioners (RSC) cause for concern.

A warning notice can be issued to schools on two grounds, one of which is Performance Standards and Safety. The August 2017 update clarified that: in 2016 and 2017, if a school's performance at KS2 has dropped below the floor standard, or met the coasting definition, based on performance in Writing alone, the Local Authority or RSC should not intervene or issue a warning notice, except where the extent of the change in performance cannot be explained by the impact of the changes to primary assessment arrangements in these transitional years.

View the updated Schools Causing Concern guidance.