When Ofsted confirmed its new Schools Inspection Framework for November 2025, most headlines focused on grading changes, safeguarding, and workload. But quietly, and significantly, the new framework also reshapes how inspectors look at school attendance.
For schools, AOs, and attendance teams, the message is clear: attendance is no longer just a datapoint. It is now deeply embedded in how inspectors judge the culture, systems, and lived reality of pupils in school.
This article breaks down what has actually changed, what has stayed consistent, and what evidence Ofsted will now expect to see under the new framework.
1. The EIF Is Gone, but Its DNA Lives On
The 2025 framework replaces the EIF and its handbooks entirely. But a lot of the methodology around attendance remains recognisable:
- Triangulation of data, pupil voice, and lesson experience
- Focus on early intervention and understanding barriers
- Strong links between attendance and safeguarding
- Expectations around SEND and reasonable adjustments
What’s new is how these elements are structured, weighted, and described within the inspection process.
2. Attendance Is Now a Cultural Indicator, Not Just a Metric
Under the new “Schools Inspection Framework”, inspectors are asked to understand:
“What it feels like to be a pupil in this school.”
Attendance is now treated as a proxy for how well pupils feel included, supported, and able to access education.
This means inspectors will go beyond simply looking at:
- PA rates
- Comparison to national figures
- Punctuality
They will now probe why pupils attend, why they don’t, and what the school is doing about it.
3. Inspectors Are Directed to Look for Barriers, Not Just Absence Codes
This is one of the biggest shifts. The new toolkit explicitly instructs inspectors to gather evidence on:
- Whether the school understands the specific reasons behind absence
- Whether leaders respond early, not reactively
- Whether support is matched to the child’s actual barriers
- Whether curriculum, teaching or behaviour climate contribute to disengagement
- Whether SEND or mental health needs are being met
In short: schools must be able to explain the “why” behind their numbers.
4. New Focus: The Impact of Leadership & Systems
Ofsted now emphasises how leaders:
- Monitor emerging patterns
- Review interventions and evaluate impact
- Train staff in attendance practice
- Oversee attendance as a safeguarding concern
- Work with governors or trustees to keep scrutiny honest
- Provide (and evidence) reasonable adjustments
Attendance is presented as a systems issue, not an individual officer’s responsibility.
This will be a challenge for schools where “the attendance person” is expected to operate in isolation.
5. Documentation and Record-Keeping Expectations Are More Explicit
Schools should expect inspectors to check:
- Policies (attendance, part-time timetables, CME)
- Logs of contact with families
- Early help referrals
- Evidence of reasonable adjustments
- Notes from attendance panels
- Reduced timetable review dates
- CME records and reintegration plans
- Analysis of lesson-by-lesson attendance (internal truancy)
Registers are also scrutinised more closely for coding accuracy and consistency.
6. Attendance Is Embedded Across Three Judgements
Although attendance features most heavily under Behaviour & Attitudes, it also appears in:
Leadership & Management
Inspectors evaluate:
- system quality
- leadership oversight
- the school’s understanding of its cohort
- whether curriculum contributes to disengagement
Safeguarding
Inspectors assess:
- how absence is treated as a welfare risk
- how rapidly unexplained absence is escalated
- monitoring of vulnerable pupils
- multi-agency communication
Attendance forms a thread through the entire inspection narrative.
7. Pupil Voice Matters More Than Ever
Inspectors are explicitly asked to speak with a diverse sample of pupils, including:
- pupils with poor attendance
- those on part-time or phased plans
- SEND pupils
- pupils who say they don’t feel safe or welcome
Pupils’ explanations of why they miss school are taken seriously and triangulated against leaders’ accounts.
If the stories do not align, that becomes a key inspection finding.
8. “Impact” Replaces “Compliance”
Under the EIF, schools often focused on showing they were doing the right things. Under the 2025 framework, the emphasis is squarely on:
Does it work? What difference has it made?
Inspectors look for evidence of:
- rising attendance for targeted pupils
- earlier identification of issues
- improved engagement, not just phone calls
- curriculum or pastoral adjustments
- changes in family relationships with school
This means paperwork-heavy “chase” models are unlikely to impress inspectors unless they demonstrably improve attendance.
9. Off-Rolling, Reductions and Alternative Provision Are Under a Harsh Light
The new toolkit strengthens scrutiny of:
- mid-year departures
- reduced timetables
- internal exclusions
- managed moves
- AP use and monitoring
- attendance of pupils educated elsewhere
For each case, inspectors may ask:
- Was this necessary?
- Was it in the child’s best interests?
- Was it reviewed?
- Was the pupil’s attendance improved or harmed?
Leaders will need clear rationale and evidence that alternatives were considered.
10. What Does This Mean for Schools Right Now?
Schools should expect inspectors to ask:
- What do you know about why pupils are absent?
- What barriers have you identified?
- How quickly do you act when concerns appear?
- How does the curriculum support engagement?
- How are SEND needs met, and where are the gaps?
- What evidence shows your interventions are working?
The framework values well-informed, evidence-based approaches over box-ticking or purely procedural responses.
Conclusion: Attendance Is Now a Whole-School Story
The November 2025 framework moves attendance from the margins into the heart of Ofsted’s understanding of school culture and leadership.
For schools, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity:
- A challenge, because the framework now expects deeper insight and more thoughtful, early intervention.
- An opportunity, because it recognises what many schools already know:
attendance improves when pupils feel safe, supported, understood, and included.
Based on the Schools Inspection Toolkit (DfE & Ofsted, 2025) and related Ofsted guidance on safeguarding and school attendance.
Schools Inspection Toolkit (DfE & Ofsted, 2025)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/690b26c69456634d9795fde0/Schools_inspection_toolkit.pdf
Schools Inspection Framework (Ofsted, 2025)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications
Inspecting safeguarding in education (Ofsted, 2024)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspecting-safeguarding-in-education-skills-and-early-years-settings
Working together to improve school attendance (DfE, 2024)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance