Ofsted Under the Spotlight: What the new framework is telling us about Safeguarding

Safeguarding isn’t failing overnight; it’s slipping through the cracks where culture hasn’t kept pace with expectations.

Without a truly embedded safeguarding culture, small gaps quickly become systemic: inconsistent practice, weak accountability, and reactive responses. The impact goes beyond staff, it directly affects outcomes for children.

Under the new Ofsted framework (2025), the stakes are higher than ever. Safeguarding is now a standalone judgement, and if it isn’t effective, it can limit your overall inspection outcome.

But most importantly, we’ll be focusing on what leaders can do now to strengthen safeguarding, before issues escalate.

• Moving from compliance to culture - looking in depth at what inspections since November 2025 reveal about how safeguarding is judged across key areas such as personal development, attendance and behaviour, leadership and governance. 
• Patterns and pitfalls - exploring emerging themes from 'needs attention' or 'urgent improvement' judgements of the areas of inspection, looking at where safeguarding practice is most vulnerable. 
• When safeguarding fails - sharing key aspects of inspections that lead to 'not met' judgements - helping DSLs, senior leaders and governors prioritise improvement where it matters most. 

Let us introduce you to this week's professional speaker

Pippa Kober

Pippa has over 13 years’ experience in primary education, including 9 years in senior leadership roles and extensive practice as a Designated Safeguarding Lead. Alongside this, she has served as an Assistant Headteacher, SENDCo, and Designated Teacher, and has led on attendance and inclusion across a busy school community. She recently joined Judicium as a Safeguarding Consultant.

With a strong interest in trauma‑informed practice, supporting care‑experienced children and their families, and understanding emotional‑based school avoidance, she is experienced in developing effective safeguarding systems, strengthening professional curiosity, and helping schools build supportive cultures where children feel safe and understood.