Ofsted has published the first of its annual updates to the education inspection toolkits and operating guides, which will apply to inspections from September 2026 onwards.

Each of the education inspection toolkits is grounded in statutory and non-statutory guidance from the Department for Education. These new updates reflect changes to that guidance that have already been made, or that 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.