Updates to Ofsted Education Inspections (from September 2026)
The speech by Lee Owston (Ofsted National Director for Education) at the Schools and Academies Show (8 May 2026) included: “I want to let you know that we will be settling back into an annual cycle of reviewing our toolkits. So, we will be publishing the changes in June, but they will not come into effect until September.”
These revised inspection materials were published on 12 June.
NEW (from September 2026):
§ State-funded school inspection toolkit;
§ School inspection operating guide for inspectors: for use from September 2026;
§ Inspection information for state-funded schools: for use from September 2026;
§ School monitoring operating guide for inspectors: for use from September 2026;
§ Renewed education inspection framework: supporting evidence base;
§ Inspection materials updated ahead of September 2026 (Ofsted news story); and
§ What you need to know about the September 2026 updates to education inspections (Ofsted blog).
In addition, the DfE published guidance on how the ‘similar schools data model for attainment’ will work when it is introduced in September 2026:
Similar schools model for attainment (DfE, 12.06.26)
‘This overview sets out why Ofsted and the DfE are producing similar
schools data as additional information for assessing school achievement.
It covers:
§ how the model will allow schools to benchmark themselves against better performers;
§ the variables used in the similar schools model to explain attainment at KS2 and KS4;
§ how Ofsted inspectors will use the data; and
§ how schools will be able to use the similar schools functionality.