Ofsted New Framework September 2025
Dear colleagues,
I do hope you are all well and the start of the new term has been a positive one for you all.
As you will be aware, Ofsted have now released their new framework on Tuesday of this week. New frameworks are a big change and there are lots of detail and nuances to work though. However, I have bullet pointed the common threads coming through from Sir Martyn Oliver (HMCI) around things you need to know. I will also feedback specifics relating to OCC after attending an Ofsted meeting in October so I will be sure to pass this information to you when I return.
If you haven’t already – book onto one of Ofsted’s webinars where they will go though the changes specific to your school or setting.
You will have to forgive the randomness in bullet points but there are some key points here that have come pout of various engagement forums with Ofsted, that I think you may find useful in these early days of framework navigation.
- There are 3 x more EYFS settings in the country than schools
- Chief Inspector – Lee Owston will sign off Regional Directors training and in turn they all sign off senior HMI and HMI as part of QA when inspecting
- Inspections will take place from 10th November – to Christmas as a pilot
- They will ‘try’ not to inspect schools in the last week of term before Christmas but this cannot be a guarantee
- Before Christmas, all HMI’s/SHMI’s will gather for a review, along with feedback from pilot schools
- Monday notification of inspection will remain in place – no more calls on Wednesday etc.
- Curriculum and Teaching have been put together (the how and the what)
- Attendance and behaviour have been combined
- The Ofsted Toolkits do outline that settings are very different, and each setting will be considered for its unique context, so much so, the initial call that takes place before and inspection will start with this dialogue
- ‘Leadership and inclusion are the bookends of what we do’ – Sir Martyn Oliver
- Ofsted will always strive to find ‘what is typical’ and what you would normally see on a day to day basis
- Inspectors will conduct learning walks with leaders, attend meetings etc…
- Indicators are not standards we want people to aspire to – i.e. not to try and get a high a grade as possible
- ‘Expected’ most people understand so they changed this terminology
- ‘Exceptional’ did have sharing good practice. This is no longer a requirement and is most certainly not part of the judgement
- You have to meet all the criteria in the grade to obtain the overall grade
- Ofsted still recognise that an inspection is a point in time
- Any RI judgements mean that there will be a monitoring inspection every 1-2 years
- There is no separation between inclusion and achievement – no tension, no difference and should go hand in hand
- Each evaluation area stands separate from each other
- Inclusion is not data driven and Ofsted don’t see achievement just being about data either
- Acceptance that – one year you may have a class of 30 and they all meet national standard. The year after you may have class of 30 with 8 children in year admission, 1 x EHCP, etc ect and that this could look very different
- Martyn spoke about 98% of EYFS settings are Good or Outstanding with 90% of schools being Good or Outstanding – which causes and issue for Ofsted as its actually hard to see how consistency of grading is being applied and what it actually means. What we cannot have is 90% of schools good or outstanding with 1% in the bottom for achievement and 1% in the top
- Ofsted are calling for Trust and MAT leaders to stand with them to drive the reform of Ofsted. It has been high stakes cliff edge – calling upon trusts to support schools across regions and LA’s
- Collective agency – system leaders to be leading on this across our county
- RISE teams will be part of system leadership from next year
- 2 x RI doesn’t have to mean termination, but Trusts have to help local schools and communities
- Off rolling approach has not changed
- Additional inspectors will be at a setting/school on day 1 – JUST to look at AEP which could be a site visit and/or a telephone call
- Asking for volunteer schools – a couple have come forward already in OCC
- Natural reinspection window still 4 years – awaiting proper timeframes for all other circumstances
Hope this is helpful…
Kim Wilson
Assistant Director – Schools and Settings (Standards, Effectiveness and Performance)
Children, Education and Families