Enriching Education - Taking Control 3: How to Prepare for Ofsted Under the Report Card Framework

The UK’s Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) has launched a new Report Card Framework that marks a major overhaul of how British schools are inspected. Brought in to enhancetransparency and fairness in educational assessments, many British school leaders worry that the revised documentation and shift in methodology bring more complications than clarity. A poll has found that almost two-thirds of principals in the UK say the new Ofsted school inspections will be worse for their wellbeing than the old system.¹

Single-word judgments were scrapped following criticism of the inspection system in the wake of the tragic death of British principal Ruth Perry. Yet the new grading system reintroduces categories that many say risk piling further pressure onto already overstretched schools. Ministers argue the reforms will allow quicker interventions for struggling schools, but leaders are nevertheless left to navigate a new and demanding framework at a time of widespread staff strain.²

Paul Garvey – who spent 11 years as an Ofsted inspector and more than two decades as a teacher –is keen to offer schools the most accessible toolkit possible to navigate this difficult period of change. He firmly believes that leaders can take control of the process to be in with the chance of inspection success.

Often, it isn’t that schools lack the quality needed for a strong outcome, but that they struggle to demonstrate it clearly during inspection or in their self-evaluation. This is where Paul’s new book, Taking Control 3, is a vital asset.

Building on the success of his previous books, Paul explains the new Report Card Framework in plain terms, highlighting the key differences from the outgoing Education Inspection Framework (EIF). He also introduces practical strategies for navigating the new “inspection commentary”, which replaces the School Self-Evaluation Form (SEF) – including a dialogic tool to help schools present the most positive and persuasive picture of their work across all inspection areas.

Above all, Taking Control 3 offers school leaders the knowledge and reassurance they need to face inspection with a genuine sense of control.

Suitable for principals, senior leadership team members, subject leaders, classroom teachers, governors and all stakeholders in mainstream schools.

Paul Garvey was a teacher for 22 years and is a former lead inspector for Ofsted. He has also supported many schools in preparing for inspection. Paul is the author of Taking Control, Taking Control 2 and Talk for Teaching.

Click here to read Paul’s blog.


¹ ‘New Ofsted grading worse for wellbeing – headteachers’, BBC News, September 2025. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxqjejql8jo.

² Judith Burns and Nathan Standley, ‘Phillipson says new Ofsted report cards will help struggling schools’, BBC News, February 2025. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20gkmy6k74o.