Leading Through Transition: What Senior Leaders Need to Know About the 2025 Ofsted Framework

This session equips senior leaders with a clear, practical understanding of how inspections will operate under the 2025 framework and what this means for leadership decision-making before, during and after inspection.

The renewed framework places greater weight on lived reality, pupils’ experiences and the impact of leaders’ choices over time. The Expected Standard is now the starting point for all inspection activity, with inspectors using the toolkit to test whether there is a secure fit across evaluation areas. Leaders are expected to articulate their school’s context clearly, explain their priorities, and demonstrate how they know their actions are working.

The session will unpack how inspectors plan inspections, gather evidence and evaluate schools, with particular attention to the pre-inspection context call, inclusion, safeguarding culture and leadership oversight. Leaders will gain clarity on what evidence matters, how inspection activity is shaped, and how to engage confidently in professional dialogue throughout the process.

By the end of the session, senior leaders will be able to:

• Understand how inspectors use the Ofsted Toolkit to plan, gather evidence and determine grades, starting from the Expected Standard
• Prepare effectively for the context call, including articulating school context, strengths, priorities and areas still in development
• Lead confidently on the strengthened Inclusion focus, including SEND, disadvantaged pupils and pupils facing additional barriers
• Recognise how inspectors evaluate foundational knowledge, curriculum implementation and learning over time, rather than isolated performance
• Ensure evidence reflects typical practice and impact, not additional documentation or inspection-specific activity
• Manage inspection in a way that protects staff workload, wellbeing and professional confidence.

This session is designed to support leaders not just to “prepare for inspection”, but to lead in a way that aligns everyday practice, strategic decision-making and inspection expectations.