UNIONS have warned new proposed Ofsted reforms will make “matters worse, not better.”

The sister of headteacher Ruth Perry branded them a “rehash” of the “dangerous” system they are supposed to replace.

The inspectorate’s single-phrase inspection judgements of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate were scrapped after Mrs Perry took her own life.

An Ofsted report had downgraded her school from the highest to the lowest overall effectiveness rating over safeguarding concerns.

Under new proposals published today, schools in England will be graded using a colour-coded five-point scale instead — from the red coloured “causing concern” to orange coloured “attention needed”, through to the green shades of “secure,” “strong” and “exemplary” across at least eight areas of school evaluation.

Mrs Perry’s sister Professor Julia Waters said the proposal appears to have fed the single-word judgements “through an online thesaurus,” adding that “other elements of the report card design are ill-thought-through and potentially dangerous.”

Safeguarding would not be graded with the five-point scale and instead it would be assessed as either met or not met under the plans.

Commenting on the launch of Ofsted’s consultation on new inspection proposals, National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “The proposals outlined in today’s consultation will make matters worse, not better.

He said Ofsted chief Sir Martyn Oliver has “failed to deliver” a more supportive system that was urgently required and “ignored the voice of the profession.

“Ofsted is a discredited organisation with its name continually in the mud. It is incapable of introspection or change. This new consultation points only to continued disaster.”

National Association of Head Teachers general secretary Paul Whiteman added the proposals suggest an inspectorate determined to hold on to “a model of inspection that is long past its sell-by date.”

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said the proposed school report cards “appear to be even worse than the single-word judgements they replace.”

Ofsted is to publish a report on the outcome of its 12-week consultation in the summer. The final agreed reforms will be implemented from this autumn.

Sir Oliver said the proposals for a new Ofsted report card are aimed at raising “standards and [improving] the lives of children, particularly the most disadvantaged,” replacing “the simplistic overall judgement with a suite of grades.”