Ofsted logos and grades on your school website
If your website shows Ofsted logos or grades, they need to be used as Ofsted allows, with no withdrawn single-word grade logos and no misleading claims.
Check this on my websiteWho it applies to
- Published on
- The school's own website
- School type
- Academies and maintained schools
- School stage
- All stages, from early years to sixth form
- Does not apply to
- No school types are excluded
When it's due
Keep it up to date
There's no fixed date. Update it whenever something changes.
What's needed
Remove withdrawn single-word Ofsted grade logos from your website, make clear which school any grade belongs to, and link to the inspection report on the Ofsted website.
What it must contain
8 parts- Links to Ofsted as the source of any grade or report referencedShould: Recommended in official guidance, such as the DfE's. Not a legal requirement in itself.
- Has removed withdrawn single-word Ofsted grade logos from the siteMust: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.
- Does not falsely imply that the provision is gradedMust: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.
- Makes clear which school an Ofsted grade logo relates to, when the site covers more than oneMust: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.
- Does not carry over a predecessor school's Ofsted grade, when reopened under a new URNMust: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.
- Does not use Ofsted's main logo without its express permissionMust: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.
- Does not use unofficial Ofsted approved or registered logosShould: Recommended in official guidance, such as the DfE's. Not a legal requirement in itself.
- Does not use an Ofsted logo for a grade from another inspectorate, when inspected by oneMust: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.
What the official sources say
Set out in 1 official source:
Using Ofsted logos and copyright
We have specific ‘outstanding’ and ‘good’ logos for those that received ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ as the overall grade at the last inspection.
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Ofsted ‘outstanding’ and ‘good’ overall grade logos
The most important thing when using one of these logos is to not mislead the public, intentionally or otherwise. You must not falsely imply that your provision is graded ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ when it is not.
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Ofsted ‘outstanding’ and ‘good’ overall grade logos
Show 8 more from this source
If your provision has closed and you reopen it under a new unique reference number ( URN ), your original provision ceases to exist in law and is replaced by a new and distinct legal entity. As a result, the inspection history and any grades of the predecessor provision cannot, in law, transfer to the new one. This means you cannot continue to use any previous ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ overall grade logos attached to the old URN
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Ofsted ‘outstanding’ and ‘good’ overall grade logos
If you have previously been judged as ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ but you have now been inspected again, that inspection will not have any overall grade. This means you must remove these logos from your website, banners and other marketing materials.
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Ofsted ‘outstanding’ and ‘good’ overall grade logos
If you have a website that covers more than one provision, for example a chain of nurseries, a group of children’s homes or a multi-academy trust, you must be clear which provision any overall grade logos relate to. You can put a ‘good’ logo on, for example, a specific page about a ‘good’ nursery in your chain, but not in the header or footer of the whole website when it covers other nurseries that do not have this overall grade.
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Ofsted ‘outstanding’ and ‘good’ overall grade logos
You cannot use our main logo, unless in exceptional circumstances and with our express permission.
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Ofsted logos > The main Ofsted logo
If you have been inspected by another inspectorate, such as the Independent Schools Inspectorate ( ISI ), you cannot use any Ofsted logo to reflect this. You can make clear on your website and other marketing materials that you are inspected by the ISI , but not with any Ofsted logo.
Must: Required by law, statutory guidance or the academy's funding agreement.§ Misuse and misrepresentation
Any other ‘logos’ that are in circulation, such as ‘Ofsted approved’ or ‘Ofsted registered’ logos, are unofficial and should not be used.
Should: Recommended in official guidance, such as the DfE's. Not a legal requirement in itself.§ Ofsted logos
We’re keen that schools and other education providers link to Ofsted Parent View to encourage parents and carers to complete the questionnaire. This includes the option to embed the Ofsted Parent View logo on their website.
Good practice: Recommended as good practice. Not required.§ Ofsted Parent View logo
You may use and re-use information on Ofsted’s GOV.UK website (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium under the terms of the Open Government Licence. Please reference the source of the information, including a hyperlink.
Should: Recommended in official guidance, such as the DfE's. Not a legal requirement in itself.§ Copyright
Questions schools ask
Do schools have to remove Ofsted grade logos?
Academies and maintained schools must.
How can we show Ofsted logos and grades on our website?
Links to Ofsted as the source of any grade or report referenced; Has removed withdrawn single-word Ofsted grade logos from the site; Does not falsely imply that the provision is graded; Makes clear which school an Ofsted grade logo relates to, when the site covers more than one; Does not carry over a predecessor school's Ofsted grade, when reopened under a new URN; Does not use Ofsted's main logo without its express permission; and 2 more parts listed above.
When do we need to update Ofsted logos on our website?
Keep it up to date. There's no fixed date. Update it whenever something changes.
Where does the requirement for the Ofsted logos and grades come from?
It is set out in Using Ofsted logos and copyright.
Recent changes to the official guidance
Updates to the official sources that affect this requirement, newest first.
17 April 2026 · Using Ofsted logos and copyright
We made minor updates to the guidance for clarity and added a new section on using the Ofsted QR code badge, which contains a version of the logo.
11 October 2024 · Using Ofsted logos and copyright
We have added a paragraph clarifying that providers inspected by another inspectorate cannot use an Ofsted logo to reflect this.
16 September 2024 · Using Ofsted logos and copyright
Updated to reflect recent changes to school inspection.
We last checked these sources on 21 September 2026.
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Official wording that does not apply to schools (1)
We no longer issue overall grades in our inspections, so these associated logos will gradually phase out as more education and care providers are inspected under the current system.
Official sources last checked 21 September 2026 · register version 1.0.4