Foundations are scored against each criteria, which are converted to numerical scores for each domain. This is the total score for that domain, divided by the maximum possible score for the foundation in that domain, giving a percentage figure. This is converted to a rating from A ( the highest) to D (the lowest)
Each foundation included has 4 ratings:
- Diversity
- Accountability
- Transparency
- Overall rating
The Overall rating reflects the score in all 3 domains but cannot be more than one rating level higher than the lowest rating. This corrects for uneven performance across the domains.
The logic is that a foundation cannot be graded as “excellent” overall if it has poor performance in any single domain. For example:
| Foundation | D grade | A grade | T grade | Rating based on the numerical average of its domain scores | Actual overall grade | Reason |
| 1 | A | B | A | A | A | Lowest grade (B) raised by one is the same as simple average |
| 2 | A | C | A | A | B | Lowest grade (C) raised by one is B, which is lower than average score |
| 3 | B | B | B | B | B | Simple average is a B, and there is no reason to lower it |
| 4 | D | A | A | B | C | The lowest grade (D) raised by one is a C which is lower than the simple average (B). This foundation is dragged downwards by its poor performance on diversity |
[1] Ofsted (2021), School inspection handbook: accessed at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook-eif/school-inspection-handbook#reaching-a-judgement-of-outstanding [10 January 2022]