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- Data Updates
- Upcoming development: Planned archival of the Ofsted related fields on the Institution record
Following the removal of the Ofsted fields from the Get Information About Schools (GIAS) database, we would like to notify members about the planned deprecation of the Ofsted fields on the Institution record
To align with the Department for Education (DfE) removal of the Ofsted rating and date of last inspection fields from GIAS, we will also be archiving the Ofsted related fields from the HEAT database.
This change was enacted on GIAS following the Secretary of State’s announcement that, from September 2024, inspections of state-funded schools will no longer include an overall effectiveness judgement.
Summary of changes
The Summer Update 2025 will see the archival of the following fields from the Institution record, as well as from the remaining areas of the database:
- Last OFSTED Date
- OFSTED Rating
- Has Special Measures
Why are we making this change?
We are making this change to ensure we align our provided data fields with the DfE as far as possible. Additionally, these data fields will no longer be maintained and updated via the monthly GIAS update, and so will likely become out of date and potentially misleading should the data be retained.
Impact of this change
The deprecation of the Ofsted fields mean that these Institution fields will no longer be present onscreen, within exports and reports, and all underlying data files and tables.
Important note to any member that utilises any of these fields via API access:
As these fields and the information they contain will no longer be available following the Summer 2025 Update, it is important to update your processes to ensure the impact of this change does not affect the data you input and retrieve.
Following the outline above, if you have any feedback or queries regarding the content of this update and its impact, please contact HEAT Support.
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