The updates will apply to inspections from September 2026 onwards. Until then, inspectors will continue to use the current materials.
Each of our education inspection toolkits is grounded in statutory and non-statutory guidance from the Department for Education. Today’s updates reflect changes to that guidance that have already been made, or that we know will be made in the next academic year.
For state-funded schools, the toolkit changes comprise updated or additional wording to provide clarity about a range of things inspectors will consider, including pupils’ attainment and progress compared with similar schools, mobile phone policies, and leaders’ engagement with pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and their families as part of the inclusion evaluation area.
For early years inspections, among other things, the toolkit has been updated to contain additional information outlining practitioners’ responsibilities to protect children from harm, and an additional standard in the children’s welfare and wellbeing evaluation area relating to safer sleeping, eating and weaning arrangements.
For further education and skills inspections, the toolkit changes include additional wording in the safeguarding evaluation area about identifying learners and apprentices who are at risk of harm from mental health issues that could develop into safeguarding concerns.
You can read the full list of updates in the summary of changes available at the end of each page, and we have also today published 2 blogs explaining some of the changes in more detail
All future updates to the toolkits, operating guides and inspection information documents will be made on an annual basis, in advance of them coming into effect the following September.
