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An update for school and academy trust leaders.
From 10 November 2025, Ofsted will begin inspecting schools, early years settings and further education providers under a new education inspection framework (the framework).
The changes are intended to make inspection clearer, more consistent and better aligned with providers' individual contexts. They are designed to give more granular detail to parents and carers, and to reduce the workload and pressure on staff created by inspections.
The new framework replaces the existing inspection handbooks and introduces new "toolkits" and operating guides tailored to each education phase. This article outlines what has been confirmed in the official guidance and highlights the points school and academy trust leaders should consider as they prepare for their next inspection.
Consistency of approach and awareness of context
The renewed framework applies to the following educational settings or "remits":
- registered early years provision;
- maintained schools and academies;
- non-association independent schools, (which includes a number of very small independent schools, many of which have dual registration as an independent children's home and provide exclusively for vulnerable looked-after young people who may also be disabled or have a special educational need); and
- further education and skills.
Each remit will operate under its own inspection toolkit, operating guide, and information page, which together replace the previous inspection handbooks.
The stated aim is for the framework to support consistency across the different areas of Ofsted's work within these remits and to enable comparisons between them. At the same time, the process is designed to enable school leaders to explain the context of their individual setting at the outset of the inspection.
Principles and conduct
The framework reaffirms Ofsted's principles that inspections should support improvement, focus on the experience and outcomes of learners, and make effective use of public resources.
Inspectors will evaluate evidence against published criteria and take account of legal requirements relating to safeguarding, equality and other statutory duties.
The framework includes a formal code of conduct: inspectors must act with professionalism, courtesy and respect, while providers must be open, transparent and honest in the evidence they supply.
Ofsted has embedded mental health awareness into its inspector training and has introduced a provider contact helpline, a national team to help with any well-being concerns during an inspection, and an 'inspection welfare, support and guidance hub'.
The process is designed to be more collaborative. Ofsted will invite providers to nominate a staff member to help streamline inspection workloads, and will offer support for those nominees. There are also practical changes seeking to reduce the pressure of an inspection on senior and middle leaders, including have additional inspectors to enable the lead inspector to act as a more consistent point of contact and shortening the length of inspection days.
A new 5-point scale increases differentiation between the top-performing schools
The new framework confirms the recent move away from the single-word Ofsted judgements on overall effectiveness which have led to serious concerns about staff wellbeing. Instead, inspection outcomes will be presented as a report card setting out separate grades for defined areas.
Each evaluation area will be rated on a five-point scale as follows:
- Exceptional
- Strong standard
- Expected standard
- Needs attention
- Urgent improvement
The new grades seek to enable parents and carers to differentiate more easily between settings with the top three grades replacing "outstanding" and "good" (these two grades currently include 90% of all schools).
Evaluation areas
The evaluation areas for focus during an inspection are as follows:
- inclusion;
- curriculum and teaching;
- achievement;
- attendance and behaviour;
- personal development and well-being;
- leadership and governance.
This puts increased emphasis on inclusion, well-being and attendance, as well as highlighting achievement as a separate category. Any early years and post-16 provision within the school will also be separately evaluated.
Safeguarding will continue to be reported separately on a binary "Met / Not met" basis rather than being allocated a grade.
Inspection reports will include a short narrative describing strengths and areas for development in each category.
Inspection timing and transition
- The new framework and accompanying documents will take effect from 10 November 2025.
- School and FE/skills inspection handbooks will be withdrawn and replaced by their respective toolkits and operating guides.
- The frequency of inspection will depend on previous outcomes as before (with a standard four year inspection cycle and shorter cycles for those graded "needs attention" and "urgent improvement").
- Schools and academies which have volunteered to be inspected may be inspected early under the new arrangements; others can expect routine inspections to begin from 1 December 2025.
Next steps for schools and academy trusts
The November 2025 framework represents one of the most substantial changes to Ofsted's approach in recent years. The shift from a single overall grade to a multi-area report card means that strengths and weaknesses will now be visible in greater detail.
Schools, trusts and governing bodies will now be able to take into account the new framework and inspection approach across the key areas inspected by Ofsted. School and trust leaders should of course consider where changes may be needed to ensure that school improvement, self-evaluation and evidence gathering aligns with the new regime.
For schools and trusts, this creates both challenges and opportunities: stronger accountability in individual areas, but also a clearer platform to evidence good practice. Preparing now by aligning internal processes to the new evaluation structure and ensuring robust governance oversight will place organisations in the best position once inspections under the new framework begin.
Many school leaders continue to have concerns about the demands on staff of the inspection regime and fear that the new approach is simply a change in terminology. Staff well-being, including the well-being of senior leadership teams, remains of the highest priority, and schools and trusts should continue to do what they can to alleviate unnecessary pressure and to ensure that support is put in place where needed.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
