Ofsted and inclusion: Key questions to answer

by Matt Bromley

The story so far…

Those familiar with my work and regular readers of this blog will know that the fuel that lights my fire is inclusion. In all I do, my objective is ensuring every child gets a fair chance in school and in later life. The key to this is equity: doing more for those who start with less or who face additional barriers to achievement. Most of my books and articles, training courses and conference speeches, and school improvement work are in pursuit of this solitary goal.

This matters because schools operate on a sloping pitch and we educators can’t level the playing field alone because it requires political will and society at large to change. But we can do more to identify the children who are kicking the ball uphill and then help them reach the goal. We can buy them better football boots, give them expert coaching to better control the ball, and perhaps take the ball from them and kick it a few yards uphill ourselves.

I therefore welcomed Ofsted’s focus on inclusion in the 2025 framework and agreed with the inspectorate that, if schools are getting it right for their most disadvantaged learners, they’re likely to be getting it right for everyone else. The downside to this is that the spotlight is now being shone more brightly on inclusion leaders during inspections. Which is why, in this series of blogs, I’m offering my advice to inclusion leaders on how to articulate the impact of their actions during a visit by Ofsted.

Last time, I explored 8 key themes that inspectors are likely to investigate during the inclusion meeting and on learning walks. Those themes were:

1. Strategic leadership of disadvantage

2. Identification of barriers

3. How funding decisions were made

4. Evidence of impact

5. Achievement

6. Attendance

7. Behaviour

8. Participation and belonging

Read part one before continuing.

This time, let’s explore the role that case studies might play, what evidence it would be prudent to have readily to hand, and what questions inspectors are likely to ask…

Case studies

You can expect inspectors to ask about individual pupils, not just dry data. For example, they may say: “Tell me about this Year 8 pupil…” or “Why has / hasn’t this pupil improved?” Your explanation should show:

the identified barrier
the intervention strategy deployed
how you’re monitoring the impact of that intervention
what adjustments you have made in response to this monitoring
the eventual outcome of the intervention
the next steps you plan to take

Note what I’ve said previously about evidencing achievement beyond test results, and about focusing on pupils not policies. There’s more tips on evidencing impact here. I’ll be posting about case samples shortly so keep an eye out on the blog for more.

Evidence you should have readily available

You do not need to create inspection-specific documents, but you should be able to access existing everyday evidence quickly during professional dialogue.

A strong evidence base may include:

Evidence	Why it matters
Pupil Premium strategy	Shows rationale and priorities
Analysis of barriers	Explains leadership decisions
Spending strategy	Links funding to intended impact
Attainment and progress data	Shows attainment gaps
Reading data	Especially for weaker readers
Analysis of attendance data	Shows attendance gaps and barriers
Analysis of behaviour data	Shows equity (or not) and trends over time
Suspension/exclusion data	Shows equity (or not) and trends over time
Participation data	Shows engagement (or lack thereof) in clubs, trips, music, sport, etc
Pupil voice	Demonstrates belonging and safety
Parent voice	Demonstrates engagement and partnership working
Intervention evaluations	Evidence of effectiveness
Evidence of governor involvement	Shows level of support and challenge, and accountability
Staff CPD records	Demonstrates development of staff expertise
Individual case studies	Illustrates impact of actions, and pupils’ lived experiences

What you need to be able to articulate

Effective inclusion leaders can clearly explain:

Why?

Why do disadvantaged pupils do less well?

Why have you prioritised the actions you have?

How?

How do staff identify pupils needing support?

How do teachers adapt teaching?

How do leaders monitor quality?

What?

What has actually improved and how do you know?

What evidence supports that?

What has not worked and why?

What will we do differently next time?

Inspectors value honest evaluation. For example: “We stopped Intervention X because it wasn’t improving attendance despite significant staffing.” This demonstrates reflective leadership.

Next?

Be ready to say: “Our next priorities are…” and support this with evidence.

Questions you are likely to be asked

Please be aware that what follows is by no means an exhaustive list and inspectors will ask questions based on what they see and hear during an inspection visit and informed by what the evidence is telling them. Therefore, context is key and pragmatism essential. However, it might be helpful to prepare answers to the following questions:

What are the biggest barriers facing disadvantaged pupils in our school?
How do we identify them?
How is our Pupil Premium strategy developed? What role do governor have in this?
How do our teachers know what pupils need?
How do we know funding is working?
Which interventions have had the greatest impact?
Which have had the least?
How do we evaluate value for money?
How do disadvantaged pupils perform across subjects?
What are our attendance trends? Why?
Which pupils concern us most? What are we doing for them?
How do governors challenge our work?
How do we gather pupil voice?
How do we know pupils feel they belong?
What are our priorities for next year?

The strongest messages to communicate

An effective inclusion leader consistently conveys that:

Disadvantage is understood in the context of the school’s own pupils, not treated as a single, uniform issue.
Funding decisions are evidence-informed and reviewed regularly.
The emphasis is on high-quality teaching first, with targeted support where needed.
Leaders monitor academic achievement, attendance, behaviour, participation, and wellbeing together.
Interventions are adapted or discontinued if they do not demonstrate impact.
The voices of pupils and families shape provision – they are partners in the process, not bystanders; we involve not just inform them.
Leaders can explain, with evidence, how disadvantaged pupils are increasingly able to achieve, belong, and thrive – the three lenses that underpin inspection under the 2026 framework.