Case sampling: what it is and how to prepare

What is case sampling?

Case sampling is a new feature of Ofsted inspections under the 2025 framework.

During an inspection, Ofsted will look closely at a selection of pupils who have specific needs or face particular barriers to learning and/or wellbeing. Inspectors will consider these pupils' experiences, how your school supports them, and the progress they're making from their starting points.

Ofsted will choose approximately 6 pupils for case sampling, making sure it's a representative sample that reflects your school’s context. 

Case sampling is relevant to:

• The inclusion evaluation area – the pupils who are chosen have specific needs and face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing, and Ofsted will consider how well your school supports them
• All other evaluation areas, too – inclusion and the experiences of all pupil groups is a theme that runs through the whole inspection framework

See our article on how Ofsted inspects inclusion and the other evaluation areas for more information.

Case sampling does not mean you need to pre-prepare case studies or create extra evidence about the pupils for inspectors to look at. They'll want to see the typical experiences of your pupils, which they'll do through learning walks, speaking to the pupils, staff and parents/carers where possible, and considering any relevant pre-existing documentation (read more about these below).

Inspectors will choose pupils from your list of eligible pupils

By 8am on the first day of inspection, you will need to make available to inspectors a list of eligible pupils, so that they can select their sample of approximately 6 pupils. Your eligible pupils are those who:

• Are socioeconomically disadvantaged
• Defined in the toolkit as being eligible for the pupil premium
• Have special educational needs (SEN) and/or a disability
• This means pupils receiving SEN support, and those with an education, health and care (EHC) plan
• Are known or were previously known to children's social care
• Such as children in need and looked-after children (LAC)
• May face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing
• This could include pupils who share a protected characteristic, or certain groups of pupils such as young carers – see the section below for more information on this category

Where relevant to the pupils on your roll, inspectors will always select:

• Children with an EHC plan and, where possible, a disabled child
• Children known, or previously known, to children's social care, including where possible a looked-after child
• Children who receive pupil premium funding 
• Children from any other group that you have identified as significant to your school's context (see section below)

You'll agree on the list of pupils for case sampling with inspectors at the start of the first inspection day. More pupils may be identified for case sampling during the course of the inspection.

If you don’t have any pupils who fall into the groups above, inspectors may instead ask you about how staff are supported and trained to accurately identify and meet pupils’ needs, should they be on roll in the future.

Identifying pupil groups who 'face other barriers'

The pupil groups you'll identify will depend on your school context – you'll already know who your vulnerable pupils are.

There’s no specific criteria for which additional groups of pupils "may face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing".

Instead, this will depend on your school’s context, local area and community, and your priorities for school improvement.

Consider:

• Your data about different pupil groups
• Which pupils you already consider vulnerable, have conversations about and pay specific attention to
• The issues specific to your local area – this could be anything from high levels of county lines activity, to a minority community impacted by discrimination

Read our article on understanding the pupil groups that Ofsted will focus on when evaluating inclusion for:

• An in-depth list of examples
• Detail on how to identify these pupil groups
• Advice on how to support these pupils

Remember, you probably already know which groups of pupils are particularly vulnerable or are priorities for improvement targets in your school.

During the planning call and throughout the inspection process, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss and explain why you’ve identified these groups, so be ready to talk to inspectors about your decisions.

Inspectors will use learning walks for case sampling

You don't have to create any additional case-study material or evidence for inspectors to look at.

While inspectors are around school and in lessons, they will look for evidence of:

• The pupils’ experiences
• The support your school provides for these pupils
• The progress the pupils are making from their starting points

Inspectors will review pupils’ work, visit their lessons or activities and, where possible, speak to the pupils. 

Inspectors may also:

• Look at relevant documentation – this might include progress reports, pupil premium strategy documents or evidence of interventions, or other documentation depending on your context
• Consider any work that takes place with multi-agency partners
• Talk to staff, including any alternative providers (APs) (see section below)
• Talk to parents/carers (more on this below)

Inspectors won't require you to prepare any additional evidence for them to look at.

Discuss any reasonable adjustments

During your conversation about which pupils will be selected for case sampling, you'll need to discuss with inspectors: 

• Whether it's possible to talk to these pupils
• Any reasonable adjustments that these pupils may need to have conversations with inspectors

For example:

• Does the pupil need assistance communicating? E.g.:
• A translator or translation tool for a pupil who has English as an additional language (EAL)
• An interpreter or interpretation tool for a pupil who is deaf
• Communication support for a pupil with SEN
• Is the pupil likely to be available to talk to? For example:
• A pupil with medical needs or a disability may be absent for health reasons
• A severely absent pupil may not be in school
• Will being singled out cause distress for a pupil with certain SEN, mental health considerations or who is going through a difficult time?

Inspectors will follow Ofsted’s guidance on engaging with pupils.

Inspectors will talk to staff who know the pupils well

This will likely include:

• Your SENCO
• Other relevant leaders who support pupils in your inclusion groups. This might include an inclusion lead, pastoral lead, or other staff member depending on the pupil's context and needs 
• Teachers
• Learning assistants or other support staff who work closely with the pupils
• The leaders of any AP that pupils attend

Inspectors may talk to several staff members with an inclusion role in the same meeting.

Let your SENCO / inclusion lead know what to expect

Inspectors may discuss the experiences of pupils in the case sample during their meeting with the SENCO and/or inclusion lead, which should happen on day 1 of inspection.

Your SENCO and/or inclusion lead will likely be asked about:

• How your school identifies the needs of pupils in the case sample
• The impact of support given to pupils, and how that impact is monitored and reviewed 
• The steps your school has taken to meet any reasonable adjustments for these pupils
• Your use of timetable and curriculum
• How leaders work with external professionals to meet the pupils' needs
• Where relevant, your approach to using the following to support the pupils in the case sample:
• Part-time timetables, flexi-schooling or remote education
• Your school's inclusion base delegated by your local authority, including any resourced provision or SEN unit
• Off-site alternative provision (AP)

Share our article on how Ofsted inspects SEND provision with your SENCO so they know what to expect.

Tell staff in advance if inspectors will likely want to speak to them

This is so your staff know what to expect. You could talk to staff:

• When your school is in the inspection window – share this article, and our summary of how Ofsted inspects inclusion to help your staff feel ready
• After you get the phone call – use and adapt our messages in our Ofsted pre-inspection checklist and reminders article to send your staff
• When you know which pupils are part of the case sample, and who inspectors are likely to talk to

Be mindful of staff wellbeing

Reassure your staff that their individual lesson or support provision for a pupil isn’t being judged, and that inspectors are collecting a broad range of evidence about pupil experiences.

Remind your staff that they can be accompanied by a colleague during conversations with inspectors. They can also take short breaks as needed without it having an impact on the wider inspection. If you’ve got any concerns about the wellbeing of a particular staff member, raise it with inspectors when you’re planning inspection activities and agreeing on pupils for case sampling.

Inform pupils and parents/carers

Pupils

After you get the Ofsted phone call, let pupils know that inspectors may want to talk to them. If you don’t want to single pupil groups out, you can tell all your pupils that inspectors may talk to them when you tell them about the inspection – inspectors will likely speak to a larger number of pupils anyway.

Reassure pupils that it’s nothing to worry about, and that it's not a reflection on them as an individual.

If inspectors want to talk to a pupil who needs reasonable adjustments or other considerations:

• Let the pupil know that their adjustments will be made
• Explain how the inspector will talk to them, if understanding in advance will decrease the chances of causing the pupil distress

Parents/carers

Inspectors may also talk with the parents/carers of the pupils selected for case sampling. This will happen without staff present, except in exceptional circumstances.

This will likely happen in the afternoon of day 1 of inspection, as set out in the operating guide for inspectors (in part 3 of the 'Planning call' section).

Let parents and carers know that inspectors may speak to them during the inspection process. You can also notify them at the same time that inspectors might be speaking to their child.

However, consider carefully whether it's appropriate to tell parents that they’ll be spoken to specifically because their child falls into a priority group. This will depend on the context, the pupil group, and whether you’ve already engaged with them specifically as parents/carers of that pupil group.

Use your judgement when engaging with parents/carers. For example:

• Parents/carers of pupils with SEND already know they are in this category and may be happy to speak to inspectors about this, especially if you’ve already worked closely with them to plan support or get an EHC plan
• It’s likely not appropriate to tell a parent/carer that inspectors may speak to them because they’ve been identified as having challenging family circumstances or are classed as socioeconomically disadvantaged

Adapt our sample messages to parents/carers

We've provided different versions of sample messages that you can send to parents/carers, depending on your context and the pupil groups involved in case sampling:

Next steps

Identify your pupil groups

Work out which pupils in your school are in the groups that Ofsted will focus on when evaluating inclusion, and so are eligible for case sampling. This involves:

• Putting together a complete list of pupils who qualify for pupil premium funding, those with SEND, and those known (or previously known) to children’s social care
• Deciding which other groups you identify as facing barriers to learning and/or wellbeing, and as being important to your school’s context

You’ll need to know this information before the inspection, so you can present your list to inspectors and talk about why you’ve identified your specific groups.

Read our article inclusion: understanding pupil groups to help you with this. Our article also includes tips for how to pull your pupil lists together using your management information system (MIS).

Be clear on how Ofsted inspects inclusion

If you haven't already, read our summary of how Ofsted inspects inclusion – it includes a tool to evaluate your current provision. Our article will help you understand what inspectors expect to see when it comes to the pupils in the case sample.

You should also familiarise yourself with the inspection standards for inclusion, set out on pages 11 to 18 of the State-funded Schools Inspection Toolkit.

Remember that inclusion is a thread that runs through every evaluation area in the school inspection toolkit. This means that evidence gathered during case sampling can be used towards deciding your grade in other evaluation areas, too.

Find information and the standards for every evaluation area in our Ofsted resource hub, under ‘Find out what Ofsted will look for’.

Read the sections on case-sampling, and what inspectors will do on site during day 1 and day 2 of inspection in the operating guide for inspectors, to know exactly what to expect from case sampling.

Get your plan of action in place

Make sure you’re clear on who needs to do which jobs associated with case sampling once you get the phone call. Having a plan in place in advance will reduce the stress and time spent getting everything ready.

If you have someone acting as the Ofsted nominee they can do some of this preparation work.

Update your pre-inspection checklist or procedure, and make sure you know who is responsible for:

• Putting together a list of the pupils eligible for case sampling
• Attending the planning call, where you will discuss your context and why you have identified certain groups
• Notifying staff who may talk to inspectors as part of case sampling
• Letting pupils, parents and carers know that inspectors may talk to them (and deciding whether this is appropriate)