Welcome to SAfE’s latest Ofsted tracker, highlights and insights

As we reach the end of the academic year, we have reflected on what inspections across our schools have taught us under the renewed framework. While every school is unique, some consistent themes have emerged. These are not simply lessons for inspection; they are characteristics of strong leadership that support school improvement every day. We hope these reflections provide reassurance, practical ideas and an opportunity to consider your own school’s strengths as you look ahead to the new academic year.

The current Ofsted inspection framework places leadership and governance at the heart of school improvement. Inspectors are focused on the difference leadership makes to pupils’ experiences, achievements and wellbeing. Leadership is evaluated through its impact, its consistency and its visibility throughout the school community.

Demonstrating that strong leadership is embedded across the organisation and visible in every day experiences of pupils, staff and governors is key in showing that leadership is not simply an intention, but a lived reality that shapes culture, decision-making and outcomes across the school. The renewed framework, with its inspection toolkits and secure-fit approach, has sharpened the need for leaders to know precisely how their school meets each standard and to show this confidently throughout the inspection.

So how can leaders prepare/forward plan in order to demonstrate the strength of leadership and governance during an inspection?

One of the clearest messages emerging from inspections this year was that successful leaders knew their schools exceptionally well. They could articulate strengths and weaknesses with honesty and explain why particular priorities had been chosen. This confidence came from continual self-evaluation rather than preparing specifically for inspection.

Inspection conversations frequently explored how accurately leaders understood their own schools and whether this aligned with the evidence seen during the visit. Honest self-evaluation, grounded in evidence, is therefore essential. This in-depth accurate understanding enables leaders to clearly explain the challenges their school faces, why particular priorities have been selected and what actions have been taken to address them. Equally important is being transparent about areas where further improvement is needed. Leaders who acknowledged challenges while demonstrating a clear and credible plan for improvement were able to give confidence in the school’s capacity to improve.

School improvement research consistently highlights the importance of self-evaluation as an ongoing process rather than a one-off event. Therefore, ensuring that senior and middle leaders alongside governors all share a common understanding of priorities and evidence builds a collective understanding and this demonstrates that improvement is genuinely embedded throughout the organisation. Ultimately, leaders should be prepared to show the journey from identifying an issue, implementing change and evaluating impact. The ability to explain this process confidently is a powerful indicator of effective leadership.

One secondary headteacher, reflecting on inspection under the new framework, described the value of preparing through the lens of secure fit. Leaders worked carefully through the toolkit, testing whether the evidence showed that each point within the expected and strong standards was securely met. This strengthened their self-evaluation and enabled leaders across the school to speak from a position of knowledge. Having a well-organised evidence base, understood by the right people, allowed leaders to return quickly to the school’s story, its context and the standards it was seeking to demonstrate.

A primary headteacher echoed this, describing readiness as confidence in what the school does every day and the ongoing evaluation of impact. The mindset they wanted for themselves and their staff was not to prepare for inspection as a separate performance, but to feel secure in the daily practice, routines and values already in place.

One of the clearest indicators of impactful leadership within the current framework is strategic clarity. Successful inspections demonstrated the importance of schools having a clear vision for high-quality, inclusive education and a systematic approach to improvement. Priorities linked to teaching and learning should be evidence-informed, well communicated and focused on the most significant barriers to learning. While addressing several priorities at once may appear to show a determination to improve, it can often dilute focus and impact. In practice, maintaining a clear focus on a small number of key priorities demonstrates the ability to remain centred on what matters most and deliver measurable, sustained improvement.

Strategic leadership is also shown through curriculum choices, resource decisions and support for vulnerable learners. Leaders need to explain why decisions around these were made, why they mattered and how they have improved pupils’ experiences. This clarity should be shared beyond the headteacher. Schools found it helpful when middle and subject leaders could confidently explain how their work contributed to whole-school priorities.

The secondary Headteacher emphasised that this starts with the rigorous self-evaluation. When leaders know what is strong, what needs improving and who is responsible for each priority, the school development plan becomes clearer and more purposeful. Staff do not necessarily need every detail, but they do need to understand the main priorities and how these link to the school’s purpose. The primary headteacher reinforced this point. Their School Development Plan was aligned with the governors’ three-year strategy and the inspection framework, helping others to stay on track when new priorities emerged. Leaders at all levels used data, considered impact and continuously linked decisions directly to children’s outcomes.

When leaders have built a collaborative culture within the school, where there is a shared understanding of what the school is working to achieve and staff feel supported, valued and aligned with key priorities, it creates consistency and typicality. It helps to bridge the gap between what leaders are aiming for and the lived experience of staff and pupils. The current framework places significant emphasis on the culture of a school, particularly inclusion, belonging, safeguarding and staff well-being. There is a focus on understanding what it is like to be a pupil or member of staff at the school.

Across inspections, there was a strong focus on whether leadership priorities were evident in classrooms, safeguarding practice, staff development and support for vulnerable pupils.

Safeguarding provides a particularly important example of this. Where leaders have established a robust safeguarding culture, expectations are embedded in the everyday life of the school. Staff understand their responsibilities, feel confident to act on concerns and see safeguarding as everyone’s business. This creates consistency between leaders’ intentions, the systems they put in place and the lived experience of pupils, who should feel safe, known and supported.

Professional development also contributes significantly to school culture. Demonstrating a coherent approach to developing staff expertise, with clear links between professional learning, classroom practice and improved outcomes for pupils. will support leaders in inspection discussions. Leadership development is an important part of this professional culture. The primary headteacher described investing in leadership training, including National Professional Qualifications for senior leaders, and dedicating staff training time to help teachers lead subjects and areas of responsibility more confidently. In a smaller school, this level of investment was a deliberate strategic choice because leadership capacity was seen as essential to sustained improvement.

Practical structures helped middle leaders develop further. Subject leaders used action plans with common sections so that expectations were consistent, while increasing autonomy enabled more experienced leaders to propose initiatives. The school also used a buddy system, pairing less experienced subject leaders with stronger colleagues, and shared examples of effective leadership practice, such as high-quality action plans.

Culture is also central to sustaining improvement. The secondary headteacher interviewed for this article described the importance of repeatedly returning to the school’s vision until it becomes the metric for decision-making. This is particularly important when supporting disadvantaged pupils or other identified groups. Embedded expectations within high-quality teaching built a strong shared culture and a consistent approach to supporting pupils.

Staff wellbeing should be seen as an integral part of school culture, supported through effective line management, leaders who know their teams well and opportunities for staff to share what is and is not working. In the primary school, this was supported by a representative wellbeing team, including members from senior leadership, teaching, support and office roles. The team met regularly and gathered views from colleagues in similar roles, giving leaders a structured way to understand staff experience. This was complemented by an annual staff survey, targeted consultations on policies that affected particular staff groups and regular staff, teaching assistant and key stage briefings.

The same school had also worked to reduce unnecessary workload by consulting staff before changes were made and analysing the impact of procedures on staff time and wellbeing. Leaders protected time for curriculum work and responsibilities linked to subjects or areas of leadership, recognising that staff are more likely to thrive when expectations are clear and time is well planned.

Effective governance is visible, knowledgeable and influential, enabling informed challenge and strategic oversight. Inspectors will consider if governors understand the school’s performance, consider evidence and data carefully, and hold leaders to account for the impact of their decisions. Governance should support school leaders while also offering constructive challenge where necessary. Governors who can clearly discuss the school’s priorities, strengths and risks will demonstrate that robust governance is ‘business as usual’. Leaders should therefore ensure that governors are well informed, involved in strategic decision-making and confident in explaining how they fulfil their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding, finance and school improvement.

One primary school example shows how governance can become more evidence-focused without becoming burdensome. Governors prepared for inspection through training, reading and regular discussion of Ofsted at committee meetings. A small governor inspection group also created a concise briefing document that set out key school initiatives and their impact, helping governors feel informed and ready to talk with inspectors.

During the inspection, inspectors were particularly interested in governor monitoring reports and in how the governing body’s three-year strategic plan aligned with the School Development Plan. This highlights the value of governors being able to explain not only what they monitor, but how their monitoring connects to priorities, challenge and improvement.

Perhaps the most important message in the current framework is that leadership is judged by impact rather than intent. Leaders must therefore be able to demonstrate the difference their actions have made to pupils’ lives. This applies particularly to disadvantaged pupils, pupils with SEND and other vulnerable groups, where inspectors will look closely at evidence of improved outcomes and reduced gaps.

Inspection evidence is gathered primarily through professional dialogue, first-hand observation and triangulation. Documentation remains useful, but it serves to support understanding rather than replace it. Leaders who can discuss evidence fluently, explain their rationale and speak honestly about successes and areas for improvement are often best placed to demonstrate effectiveness.

Building in consistent opportunities to assess impact within for example, SLT meetings will build a clear knowledge of impact. Using these three questions can support this:

Under the renewed framework, leaders should also be ready for inspectors to explore particular groups of pupils in depth. In the secondary school example, leaders identified pupils with English as an additional language as a significant group within their context, and this became part of the inspection’s case sampling. Regular contextual discussions about key pupil groups, the provision in place and the impact it is having will help leaders explain with clarity how decisions are improving pupils’ experiences and outcomes.

One encouraging theme emerging from this year’s inspections was that leaders often described inspection conversations as collaborative and professionally challenging. They felt inspectors were keen to understand the school’s context and the evidence behind its decisions, reinforcing the importance of leaders being open, precise and confident in explaining their work. Leaders felt that inspectors wanted the school to succeed and worked with them to understand the evidence. This does not reduce the rigour of the process, but it reinforces the importance of leaders being open, precise and confident about the decisions they have made.

The strongest message emerging from inspections this year is that schools were most successful when leaders knew their evidence, understood their context and could clearly explain the impact of their decisions. We asked our two Headteachers for one piece of key advice they would give to other Senior Leaders awaiting inspection under the current framework….