Kemnal's CEO Russell Hobby writes in the TES about the new Ofsted framework
The Kemnal Academy Trust's CEO Russell Hobby CBE has set out the Trust's position on the renewed Ofsted framework.
You can read his article in TES here and below.
Let’s not repeat old habits with new Ofsted labels
A trust CEO outlines how his leaders will be held against new Ofsted outcomes – but also why labels are only information, not permanent judgements
8th December 2025, 5:00am - Russell Hobby
“Tear down this wall”, Reagan famously said to Gorbachev in 1987. I’ve occasionally thought similar when looking at Ofsted banners on the walls and fences of schools.
I totally get the need - in an unforgiving climate - to celebrate success and attract parents, but to some extent, we ourselves help amplify the stakes of inspection by attaching our professional identities so strongly to the outcomes.
Fine when those outcomes are “outstanding”, less so when they are “requires improvement”. To put it another way, and perhaps a little bluntly, heads don’t lose their jobs because of inspection.
Let’s not return to the old ways
They lose their jobs because of what CEOs, governors and trustees - people like me, frankly - do following the results of inspection, which then adds to the fear, stress and, most frustratingly, the paralysis that can accompany a high-stakes regime.
It would be a missed opportunity, therefore, if we try to translate the new inspection framework into the terms of the old, simply because those old terms are familiar. There is a reason why the system is moving away from a single overall grade.
“Needs attention” sounds a bit like “requires improvement”, but it is not the same. Or at least, not unless we treat it the same.
Information, not definitions
I would expect many schools to have a spread of results between “needs attention” and “strong standard”. None of these labels defines the school or the leadership team.
They are pieces of information to be thought about alongside other data, and used according to our professional judgement.
Seen in those terms, why wouldn’t we welcome a well-conducted, external perspective on where we could improve? Once again, it doesn’t define us; it merely informs us.
Whether schools can genuinely approach inspection in this light depends, however, on what people like me do afterwards.
What we told our heads
So, I thought it might be helpful to share what we recently told the brilliant heads at The Kemnal Academies Trust about how we will react to inspections in the future.
Performance and conduct should be managed. Getting a judgement requiring “urgent improvement” that places the school into the category of causing concern is certainly a problem; there’s no getting around that. Funnily enough, no one disagreed.
Beyond that, a “successful” inspection for us is one that matches our self-evaluation, for both weaknesses and strengths. Simple as that.
Trust is key, but hard to build
This got us thinking more broadly about successful leadership. I’ve visited 35 schools so far this term. Every place is different, but in many of the communities we serve, it takes them a long time to trust authority.
When that trust is built, many good things can happen - like difficult conversations about attendance.
Without that trust, progress is near impossible. This means that my strong instinct is to back the team in place if at all possible.
To do that, I need to see three things: that honest self-evaluation, warts and all; I want to see ownership - not excuses; and I want to see a story of steady, realistic improvement.
If all three are in place, leaders are part of the solution, not part of the problem. It is our job as a trust not to reduce responsibility, but to share the risk together.
This is not for the faint-hearted. It is a demanding stance to take, more ambitious than compliance. It is committing to enduring, long-term success, not quick fixes. It is asking for courage, humility and perseverance.
No secrets, just hard work
I do not believe there are any secrets to school improvement: it is just relentlessly hard work, doing the basics well over an extended period, until we have launched a positive spiral of improvement.
Now, I know that it is not only “people like me” who act on the results of inspection. Pressure comes in many forms. The DfE rightly has a view, as do local authorities and local politicians. Parents matter greatly.
But this returns me to those banners. We should be transparent and serious about the results of inspection, but we should also celebrate and promote the things that matter to us rather than adopting labels.
It matters what results we get in Sats and in exams. It matters so much that pupils can read well. It matters what destinations our young people go to. It matters how many parents choose us as a first-choice school.
It matters that we provide breadth in sport, art, music and performance, that our pupils volunteer in the local community. It matters that they are confident and happy.
There is a lot of raw material for celebration and promotion if we begin with clarity about what we stand for.
That, ultimately, is what we should attach our professional identity to: the ambitious goals we choose for ourselves. We accept scrutiny and challenge with humility and openness; we are accountable for the vital jobs we do.
But we know that in a few years’ time, while there will be new frameworks, new initiatives, new politicians and new fashions, we’ll still be here, our pupils will still be here, and so will our principles.