The updates to Ofsted's guidance on school inspection don’t require significant changes to what your school is currently doing.
We’re updating our articles on school inspection across our site and plan to have these ready before the start of the 2026/27 academic year. Select ‘save for later’ at the top of any Ofsted-related article and we’ll notify you when it’s ready.
Key changes include:
Attainment and progress will now be compared with similar schools
Inspectors will now consider the extent to which pupils’ attainment and progress compare with national averages and similar schools.
As part of this, Ofsted is introducing a similar schools data model for attainment. Similar schools information will be included in inspection data summary reports (IDSR) from September. The data won’t be used to make grading decisions, but will provide further information to support inspectors’ understanding of a school’s context ,and help discussions around achievement and pupil progress with leaders.
Engagement with families needed to meet the ‘expected’ standard for inclusion
From September 2026, leaders will need to demonstrate that they “engage proactively and in a timely manner” with pupils and their families “to help reduce barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing”.
There is also new detail around how Ofsted will gather evidence about inclusion, including the extent to which leaders, alongside governors/trustees, have developed and published an inclusion strategy by 31 December 2026.
Updated expected standards for achievement
Under the expected standards for achievement, when determining if pupils are achieving well, Ofsted will include pupils with barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing.
There are also 2 new factors added to how inspectors will assess inclusive achievement across the curriculum:
- Pupils make progress from their starting points, in that they know more, remember more and can do more; they learn what is intended, and develop broad and deep subject knowledge across the curriculum
- Pupils produce high-quality work that reflects the breadth and depth of their learning
New specific medical and health risks under safeguarding
When evaluating how leaders identify pupils at risk of harm, inspectors will look at mental health issues that could develop into safeguarding risks, including eating disorders, self-harm and suicide ideation.
Inspectors will also check that your school has a dedicated allergy safety policy.
Safe sleeping and food prep protocols in early years
Inspectors of early years provision will:
- Pay particular regard to statutory guidance for safe sleeping arrangements, ensuring that this is understood, implemented and monitored consistently for all children
- Ensure that children’s food is prepared and provided in line with their individual needs, developmental stage and any agreed care or allergy plans
Failure to implement guidance on the above areas will lead to an 'urgent improvement' judgement.
Inspectors will now recognise that SEND can affect attendance
Where a school has a significant proportion of pupils with SEND that may affect their attendance, inspectors will recognise this can impact overall attendance or rates of persistent absence. In these cases, inspectors will want to see how the school has worked to improve attendance rapidly for these pupils and to maintain improvements over time.
Changes to Ofsted’s inspection operating guide
There are a number of changes to Ofsted’s operating guide for inspectors from September 2026, including:
- New procedures for how an inclusion base will be inspected
- Fire safety concerns will be considered when evaluating a school's safeguarding culture, with serious concerns reported immediately to the local fire rescue service
- If adults live on the premises, inspectors will consider and check the school’s risk assessment and ask leaders to demonstrate they’ve fully assessed any potential risks to children
- Academy trusts: inspectors must record in the inspection report if no trustees were available to meet during the inspection
Changes to report cards
Ofsted has said that following feedback on the new report cards, it will:
- Publish guidance to support those who use and read report cards to better understand the data that sits alongside it
- Remove national data comparisons for special schools – it has already started doing this
Next steps
- Read more about the updates to Ofsted's framework in our Ofsted: latest updates article. Select 'save for later' at the top of that article to be notified of any changes
- Visit our Ofsted resource hub to see all our content in line with the current framework. Select 'save for later' to be notified when we publish new content ready for the changes from September 2026
- Read more about allergy safety requirements in our article on Benedict's law