Heard the news? Ofsted says it's putting inclusion and well-being at the centre of education and focusing m ore on behaviour and attendance than ever before. But is this really a breakthrough moment for SEMH or just a shiny new badge on the same old system? In today's episode of School Behaviour Secrets, I'll unpack how the new 2025 Ofsted framework will affect the way your school approaches behaviour and SEMH, what you need to know about those changes and what you need to do to get ready for them. Hi there, my name's Simon Currigan and welcome to School Behaviour Secrets. If you're about to tell me that you think a chocolate digestive will ever sit on a higher tier than a jammy dodger on the biscuit pyramid of greatness, this relationship is going nowhere. Which brings me to today's episode, because it turns out how we judge things matters. Whether that's my pyramid of greatness for biscuits, where the niece biscuit, by the way, sits firmly at the bottom, or the Ofsted framework for schools. Alright, that's a tenuous link, but I have to work with the limited talent that I have. So, Ofsted have just launched their new framework, the old single word judgments are out, and in comes a new report card style inspection from November 2025. But today I'm not going to focus on any of that because there's been plenty of coverage of all those changes in the media. What I want to focus on is the changes to how behaviour and SEMH are being inspected. On paper it feels like there may have been a big shift, but are we really looking at a fresh start? Or is this a case of the same old inspection, but shiny new packaging? Let's find out by asking five key questions about the new framework and exploring the answers one by one. So yes, if you're listening outside the country this one's a little bit England and Wales centric, apologies for that. But the questions I am going to share are questions every school leader should be asking about their school, regardless of where they're based in the world. And there will be useful answers here to help your school move forward with SEMH and behaviour if that's a priority for you. And if you're listening to this podcast, I'm guessing that's probably true. However, before I get to that, if you're finding this podcast useful, please do me a quick favour, hit the subscribe button so you never miss a future episode and leave us a review. Now that just takes 30 seconds on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or whatever platform you're using, but what it does is it really helps more school leaders and teachers find this kind of content. We don't sell anything through the podcast, so if you'd like to support me that would be the easiest and quickest thing you could do and I would really appreciate it. So thank you if you can spend those 30 seconds. So let's move on to these key questions. Question one is will Ofsted finally get SEMH or is this just new wording for the same old expectations? For years, many schools have felt that Ofsted doesn't always get SEMH. They're being too focused on compliance or behaviour data or whether policies look tough enough on paper. Or they only care about inclusion so long as the school is achieving expected standards in maths and English test scores. It wasn't key, it wasn't front and centre, it was kind of like a bolt on a nice to have if the school was doing well academically. And what Ofsted said publicly about inclusion was a bit of a platitude while their inspectors really had their eyes elsewhere. What surprised me working through the framework in preparation for this episode was how it really does put inclusion well-being and the culture of relationships and positive behaviour right at the centre of everything. Yes, inclusion and attendance and behaviour are areas they focus on, but when you read through the entire document, how schools support pupils with additional needs or barriers to success......or they have SEMH needs, those kids are mentioned in literally every category of the framework. Inspectors are asked to consider how leaders are taking appropriate action to improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils... ...and whether this is done well in school. It's literally mentioned in every category of the framework. So that is a shift. It permeates the inspection process, which feels encouraging. But here's the truth. Whether this is a genuine step forward will depend on how inspectors interpret that in practice. The framework gives them the tools to look at SEMH and wider SEND and inclusion needs more fairly. The question is, will inspectors use them? Time will tell. Question 2. How will inspectors judge behaviour when it looks different for pupils with SEMH or SEND needs? This is the one that keeps teachers and school leaders up at night. In your classrooms, you've got pupils with ADHD or autism or trauma backgrounds... ...who may not present like neurotypical students in the classroom or out on the playground. What success for them looks like might look slightly different, and that's fine because kids are different... ...and our role is to make reasonable adjustments to support their needs and help them succeed. But will Ofsted see it that way? Well, the new descriptors do make it clear. Inspectors should be looking at whether behaviour is managed fairly, consistently... ...and here's the key one, adaptively. That means high expectations still apply, but schools won't be penalised for supporting children differently when they need it. What inspectors want to see when we do this is that our policies build in flexibility and respond to our students' needs... ...and that our staff are trained well to apply strategies consistently......and have the knowledge to understand when to be flexible, when to adapt. So the message is clear. You don't have to hide pupils who struggle in class... ...or the pupils that you're putting in place different interventions or approaches for. You don't have to stick rigidly to your school's behaviour policy if the students' needs, in some sense, override that. It just has to be... done in a planned way, in a way that encourages high expectations for all, not in a way that lowers expectations or impacts on the teacher's ability to teach the rest of the class. We just have to show how we're supporting students and that our approach is informed and it's been thought through and that we're measuring the impact of what we're doing. We're not just doing anything, we're doing the right things. And if the strategies we're using aren't working, then we're assessing and adapting as we go. And one interesting thing to pull out here, the framework does mention multiple times that schools need to recognise that kids' needs and circumstances change over time. They're not static. So it's our responsibility to respond to and adapt to those changes as they happen. And by the way, if you're looking for more practical tools to support SEMH and SEND needs in your school, I've put something together that I think you'll find really useful. It's called the SEND Behaviour Handbook. Inside you'll find bite-sized guides to conditions like ADHD, autism and trauma, what those look like in the classroom and how we can support children, plus other conditions like foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, pathological demand avoidance and more. And there's also a behaviour analysis grid that helps you connect the behaviours that you see in your classroom to possible, possible underlying needs. And best of all, it's completely free. I'll put a link in the show notes or you can head straight to beaconschoolsupport.co.uk/SEND-handbook. That's beaconschoolsupport.co.uk/SEND-handbook to grab your copy today. Okay, let's move on to question three. What will Ofsted actually expect to see in practice around SEMH and behaviour during inspections? So this is where the rubber hits the road, where we start to get practical. Inspectors are going to want to see that SEMH isn't just a bolt on, but it's an integral part of your school culture. So that means behaviour policies that expectations, high expectations with reasonable adjustments. It's no longer enough to have a one-size-fits-all, zero-tolerance policy. Inspectors will expect to see that your policies set out high expectations for behaviour, but also make it clear how you adapt your responses for pupils with additional needs. Now what's the implication here? That leaders need to review and possibly reframe their policies so they demonstrate both rigour and compassion. There's a balance there. Otherwise they risk being seen as out of step with the new framework. There's a really interesting statement that stood out to me in the leadership section of the framework that's relevant here too. The document states that leaders establish high expectations for all pupils about behaviour built on positive relationships and on rules and routines that staff and pupils generally understand. So there's a relational aspect to this too. It also means that staff training is super important so that every adult in school knows how to respond consistently to their students' needs. Consistency is the golden thread Ofsted will be looking for here. If lunchtime supervisors, teachers and TAs are all applying the same policy differently, that means pupils get mixed messages and SEMH practice just unravels. The implication here is that leaders need to invest in training all their staff, not just the teaching staff. So the response is adults in school give kids are predictable, fair and inclusive across the school day. The other thing we need to be focusing on is targeted support for pupils who need extra help. So not just reactive measures when things go wrong, perhaps a pupil's been in a fight and then everyone kind of thinks about, well what do we need to do now? Inspectors want to see evidence that schools are being proactive, identifying needs early, putting in place interventions and then tracking their progress. You know, the classic assess, plan, do, review process that everyone's used to using in school. It's not enough to show you've suspended a child when things blew up anymore. What happened after that? What support was in place when the student came back after their suspension to turn things around? Deal with the short-term behaviour issue, yes, but what Ofsted want you to do is have a long-term plan. So future suspensions or even permitted exclusions don't spiral upwards. The implication here is that schools and school leaders need to demonstrate a graduated, forward-thinking approach where children are genuinely supported to succeed before behaviours deteriorate or escalate into crisis. And another important factor that comes from the framework is that of pupil voice and wellbeing initiatives evidence that children feel safe and included, there's a section of the leadership framework that explicitly states there is a highly inclusive culture in which all pupils feel that they belong. So inspectors will want to hear how your students themselves experience school. Do they feel listened to? Do they feel supported? And do they feel like they belong? And does that go for kids with SEMH needs too? Or do they feel excluded or apart or different? The implication for schools is that tokenistic wellbeing displays won't cut it anymore. Schools need to show genuine initiatives that have impact, whether they evidence that through surveys, hard behaviour data or visible changes they can quote directly from pupil feedback. As before, inspectors aren't necessarily asking for endless paperwork. They're looking for impact here. They want to see how all these approaches play out in classrooms and corridors and playgrounds and assemblies, not just written down, stuffed in a folder in the head's office and never looked at again. Question four is what does exceptional inclusion and behaviour practice look like? And here's where schools want clarity. And I've kind of touched on some of this already. The descriptors show a clear progression. So at the lower end of the scale, the way they're assessing where a school fits in a category, you've got the urgent improvement level. And here what you see is reactive approaches. Is the school on the back foot? Are they inconsistent? Are they paper driven rather than practice driven? Are there big gaps between the intention of school leaders, the intention of policies and what you actually see in the classroom? Moving up a level, the needs attention judgment talks about that, but also how leaders may have ambitions for improvement, but changes aren't yet embedded. And then as you move up through the scales, what you see from schools is more consistency, more proactivity, and more embedded systems. At the very top of the scale, you've got the exceptional level. These are schools that have a culture where every child feels they belong. SEMH and SEND is systemic, not situational. So I'm going to say that again, right? SEMH is planned, it's intentional, it's systematic, it's embedded, it's not reactive. Staff are trained and they're supported by senior leaders, but they feel confident. SENCOs aren't buried in paperwork, they're driving change that you can see in classrooms. Leaders aren't just writing policies in their rooms, they're monitoring impact and using data to adapt what happens in school. So in short, exceptional schools don't just react to behaviour. They're shaping a culture where children regulate, they belong, and they thrive. What the specific ethos and specific practice looks like from school to school to school will depend on that school's individual setting, and that is recognised in the framework. One of the descriptors in the leadership framework at the expected standard actually is, leaders understand the school's context, strengths and areas for development. So that's about thinking about what's right for your school situation, your demographic, your parents, your students, the skill level of your staff, where you want to take the school, and not just reaching for a cookie-cutter approach. And then finally, the key question for all of us working in schools moving forward is, what do we need to do now to prepare staff and systems for these 2025 changes? So if you're a leader listening to this, I've put together five practical steps that you can take right now to prepare yourself. Number one, start an SEMH audit or an inclusion audit. Do you know which pupils face barriers and how effectively are you supporting them? How do you know that? What data are you using to identify those students and their success? Number two, review your behaviour policy. Does it combine high expectations with flexibility and adaptability and support? Does it foster behaviour? built on strong relationships and systems and routines, not just one or the other? Number three, review how you train your staff effectively because consistency is key, especially with things that Ofsted are going to be looking at like low level disruption. Can your staff understand pupils underlying needs? Can they de-escalate heightened pupils in the classroom? The importance of well knowledgeable staff who can adapt is mentioned repeatedly in the new Ofsted framework. Number four, empower your SENCOs and your pastoral leads. They should be leading whole school change, not just firefighting day after day after day, stuck in reactive cycles. The document makes specific references to SENCOs being qualified and being able to make a difference in a leadership role. And then number five, track and show impact. Gather evidence, hard data of how your SMH strategies are improving behaviour and well-being and attendance because all those things are joined up over time. You know, actually, you know, it occurs to me, if you do these things, you won't just be inspection ready, you'll be putting your school on the right path for the future anyway, regardless of Ofsted. So here's the big takeaway. The new Ofsted framework could mark a real shift towards needs-led relational practice being recognised as a positive thing in schools. But the difference between a new label and real change will depend on how schools respond and how inspectors interpret those changes in the real world. And look, let's be honest here, there's also been an additional problem with the inspection system because there's always been a lack of transparency about how inspectors kind of arrived at a school's grade. If you're unhappy with how your school's inspected, you can't see the evidence the team used to make or justify their judgments. And if you want to appeal, well, your only option is to complain to Ofsted who will just send in another team who also won't share the evidence that they used to come to their second judgment. So transparency is a problem here. Sorry, we're off on a side mission there. The bottom line is, all things being equal, if you can show... that your school creates an environment where every child feels safe, supported, and able to learn, and part of an inclusive culture of the school, then not only are you meeting Ofsted's expectations, you're doing what's right for the children. And at the end of the day, that's what really matters. I'm going to leave you with one last descriptor. It's unrelated to SMH, but this made me genuinely happy. The descriptor was, teachers prioritise daily story time. They read aloud and re-read high quality stories and talk about them to build pupils familiarity and understanding. Because I feel that story time, that's valuable time, building up relationships and children's interest in learning, especially in primary school, and that's an element of classroom practice that's really been squeezed out in the last 15 years. So that's not showing kids YouTube videos of stories, or YouTube videos of someone else reading the story, but using the time for the class teacher to literally read with the class from a book. Kids love it. And when teachers are given the permission and time to do it, they love it too. Because it really builds bonds between adults and students. So maybe there is a link with SMH there after all. If today's episode gave you something useful, please hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one, and leave us a quick review. It really helps us to spread the word to more teachers and school leaders who want to support SMH and behaviour in schools. That's it for today. My name's Simon Currigan. Thank you for listening, and I'll see you next week on School Behaviour Secrets.