Getting Inclusion Right – What Ofsted Really Means by Inclusion

Episode Summary:

In this episode of The Leadership Lens, host Rachael Snowdon-Poole — serving Headteacher in a recently Outstanding school and Director of Performance & Standards across 20 primaries — unpacks one of Ofsted’s sharpest priorities under the renewed Education Inspection Framework: Inclusion.

Rachael explores how inclusion has evolved far beyond SEND and access arrangements, and now sits at the very heart of inspection activity — woven through curriculum design, teaching, leadership, culture, and outcomes. You’ll hear how Ofsted’s renewed view of inclusion challenges schools to move beyond compliance towards a culture where every pupil is valued, barriers are removed, and systems work for the most vulnerable.

Drawing on the School Inspection Toolkit, Whole School SEND recommendations, and lived practice from her own school, Rachael explains: How inclusion is now evaluated through three core questions.

What Ofsted means by “barriers” — and how leaders can evidence their removal.

How inclusion links to curriculum ambition, pastoral care, and behaviour culture.

The new descriptors for Secure, Strong, and Exemplary inclusion — and what it looks like to move between them.

Practical examples of how one school tracks vulnerability, uses pastoral capacity intelligently, and builds belonging.

This episode challenges leaders to ask: “If our curriculum was designed entirely around the needs of our most vulnerable pupils — what would we do differently?”

Because when we get it right for our most vulnerable, we get it right for everyone.

🎧 Listen Free on: Spotify Apple Podcasts Amazon Music or directly via the 👉 Free Members Hub ⭐

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When you join the Premium Membership, you’ll receive the complete Getting Inclusion Right CPD Presentation and Script Pack — everything you need to deliver this training in your own school.

Your pack includes:

📊 A fully editable PowerPoint presentation: Getting Inclusion Right – What Ofsted Really Means by Inclusion.

🗂️ A Facilitator Script perfectly aligned to the slides, so you can confidently lead staff training, INSET sessions, or leadership CPD.

🧭 A Leadership Summary PDF outlining the Ofsted toolkit questions, Secure–Strong–Exemplary framework, and five practical recommendations from Whole School SEND.

👉 Access the Premium Hub here: https://the-leadership-lens.mykajabi.com/premium-membership

💬 The Leadership Lens is the podcast that turns research, policy and inspection updates into practical leadership tools you can use tomorrow — so you can lead with clarity, confidence, and calm.

Episode Title: From Novice to Expert: Building Knowledge Across the Primary Curriculum Description:
How do children really learn to think critically? In this episode, Rachael explains how knowledge builds across the curriculum — from Year 1 through to Year 6 — using three cognitive domains: basic, advancing, and deep. With examples from history, geography, French, and art, she shows how pupils move from naming and describing → to explaining and comparing → to reasoning, justifying, and enquiring. By the end, you’ll see how our curriculum deliberately takes children from novices to experts, equipping them not just with knowledge, but the ability to use it. To access ready-made curriculum maps and a guide for leaders on building progression into the curriculum, please sign up to our premium members' hub here: https://tinyurl.com/3pp3x67s

Written marking takes hours… but does it really change learning?

In this episode of The Leadership Lens, I share how our school moved away from time-consuming marking towards feedback that actually transforms learning.

I created The Leadership Lens to cut through the noise of leadership. With so many frameworks, Ofsted updates, and research papers to keep up with, leading schools can feel overwhelming. This podcast is where I do the heavy lifting — exploring the evidence, trying things out across our Trust, and sharing what works in practice.

This week’s episode unpacks: Why heavy written marking drained hours and didn’t shift misconceptions. The research evidence (EEF, DfE Workload Review, Dylan Wiliam, Claire Hill, Teacher Tapp).

What we did differently: verbal, whole-class feedback, quick “feedback notebooks,” and structured sessions.

How Ofsted responded (with direct quotes from Sean Harford and our own inspection report).

The real impact: 20+ hours of teacher workload saved each week, pupils more confident, and a culture where mistakes mean learning. You’ll leave with practical strategies you can adapt in your own school — and reassurance that Ofsted supports effective, not excessive, approaches.

Premium Exclusive Premium members get:

📄 A PDF of today’s key leadership takeaways (ready to share with SLT/governors). 📊 A PowerPoint you can use to deliver CPD on feedback and no-marking marking in your own school.

🎧 Free: listen on Spotify, Amazon Music, or Apple Podcasts → https://tinyurl.com/muf8cx2s

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Episode Summary In this episode of The Leadership Lens, Rachael Snowdon-Poole takes us inside her own school’s journey with retrieval practice — the scepticism, the design choices, and the lessons learned along the way. Starting with Ofsted’s 2019 definition of learning as “an alteration in long-term memory”, Rachael explores how this shifted thinking in curriculum design and assessment. From the pitfalls of “pub quiz facts” to the power of application tasks, she shares how her staff moved from activity-driven planning to a curriculum that deliberately sequences, revisits, and secures the most important knowledge. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: Why recall alone isn’t enough — and how to move from “know more” to “do more.” How a scope check can reveal curriculum gaps, duplications, and priorities. Practical retrieval strategies: multiple-choice with misconceptions, application prompts, and interruption slides. What research says about retrieval, spacing, and transfer (Roediger, Butler, Dunlosky, Adesope, Coe). How retrieval informs both formative and summative assessment. Why broad and balanced curriculum design strengthens memory and schema. Episode Highlights: The two fears that shaped our approach: trivia recall and “open-book retrieval.” How identifying two or three key ideas per unit transformed sequencing and assessment. A two-part retrieval structure: “Know More, Remember More” + “Do More.” The role of AI tools in supporting teachers to create deeper application questions. Examples across subjects — from Florence Nightingale to Roman roads to fractions. Resources for Premium Members: Curriculum map examples showing how knowledge builds across year groups. Retrieval practice slide templates from multiple subjects and year groups. Closing Thought: When retrieval is short, purposeful, sequenced, and paired with application, it doesn’t just help pupils remember more — it strengthens the whole curriculum.

In this episode of The Leadership Lens, Rachael Snowdon-Poole unpacks the EYFS specific areas of learning and how to teach them by design, not by chance. We start with Mathematics (joy, purpose and intentional talk), move through Expressive Arts & Design (techniques, sequencing and the role of adult modelling), explore Understanding the World (past/present, people/culture/communities and the natural world—without tokenism), and land on Literacy (why communication & language, phonics, and gross→fine motor matter for reading and writing). You’ll leave with practical prompts for monitoring, sharper questions for learning walks, and ideas that make knowledge stick.

Next time: Retrieval practice that’s truly meaningful across the primary phase.

If you would like to delve even deeper, check out the Premium version of The Leadership Lens for editable resources, checklists, templates and curriculum guides: https://tinyurl.com/theleadershiplenspremium

In this episode of The Leadership Lens, Rachael Snowdon-Poole explores the three prime areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage — communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, and physical development.

These aren’t just early childhood “add-ons” — they are the foundations upon which every other area of the curriculum stands. When they’re strong, children flourish. When they’re weak, gaps open quickly and widen fast.

Together we’ll explore:

Why language is the bedrock of learning — and how story time can be the simplest but most powerful lever for equity.

How to make the “hidden curriculum” of social rules visible, teaching children the scripts, routines, and emotional vocabulary that build confidence and friendships.

The crucial role of gross and fine motor progression — from hopping, balancing and running, through to zips, scissors and tripod grip — and why opportunity alone isn’t enough without intentional teaching.

Practical strategies leaders can use to ensure their teams are noticing gaps early, teaching with precision, and creating calm, consistent routines where every child can thrive.

This is a deep dive into what truly matters most at the start of education: the skills that make all later learning possible.

👉 Whether you’re an EYFS lead, headteacher, or trust leader, this episode will give you fresh insight, research-informed strategies, and reflection prompts to bring back to your team.

🔑 Key Reflection Prompts: Are stories, songs, rhymes and ambitious vocabulary deliberately embedded into every day? Do all children hold the currency of play — language, rules, and shared ideas — or are some being left behind? How intentional is our progression in physical development — from gross to fine — and do we allow manageable risk and repetition until movement becomes automatic? Do our calm moments really feel calm, with clear, consistent adult responses?

✨ If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a colleague, leave a review, and subscribe so you never miss an update. And if you’d like to go deeper, explore the premium edition of The Leadership Lens for extended analysis, CPD resources, and ready-to-use templates for your team. The link to this is here: https://tinyurl.com/3pp3x67s

Strong Foundations: Why EYFS Leadership Shapes the Whole School

In this episode of The Leadership Lens, Rachael Snowdon-Poole unpacks why the Strong Foundations in the First Years guidance is one of the most important documents for school leaders in 2025.

We explore the three critical areas for Reception:

- Communication & language, PSED & self-regulation, and early maths.

- What Ofsted and the EEF tell us about why these matter.

- The invisible curriculum of routines and how they build executive function.

- How EYFS is not “separate” but the starting point of every subject.

- The latest EYFS 2025 framework updates on safeguarding and welfare. Leadership reflections to take straight back into your school.

✨ Whether you’re an EYFS specialist or a senior leader with oversight of the whole curriculum, this episode gives you clarity on how to set your pupils — and your staff — up for long-term success.

🔑 Key Takeaways

Strong foundations in Reception are not optional — they determine the security of learning all the way up to Key Stage 2 and beyond.

Communication and language are the strongest predictors of future attainment — and wellbeing.

Executive function can be taught and strengthened through everyday routines.

EYFS is where subject curricula begin — subject leaders must know their early building blocks.

🎧 Listen Free

This episode is part of the free podcast, designed to give you professional clarity and reflection points you can act on straight away.

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The Premium Membership includes everything from the free feed plus:

Extended, deeper analysis of every episode.

A 39-week safeguarding CPD plan aligned with KCSIE 2025.

A model safeguarding curriculum for primary pupils. Templates such as commissioning agreements for alternative provision.

Companion Word/PDF takeaway sheets with key links and leadership prompts. Access to the Education Book Club, breaking down influential texts into practical strategies.

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Episode Summary

In this episode of The Leadership Lens, Rachael Snowdon-Poole explores one of the most critical – and often misunderstood – areas of school leadership: Alternative Provision (AP). With more pupils entering AP each year, school leaders must understand what effective provision looks like, how to commission it well, and how to ensure pupils are receiving education that makes a real difference.

Rachael draws on national data, DfE guidance, and her own leadership experience to separate myth from reality, highlighting what school leaders must know to keep provision purposeful, safe, and focused on pupil outcomes.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• 📊 The national picture: who attends AP, and why numbers are rising.
• ❌ Common myths about AP – and what the DfE actually says.
• 💡 Why AP matters, with real examples of pupil transformation.
• ✅ What makes AP effective: relationships, personalised curricula, therapeutic support, and reintegration pathways.
• 🔄 The different types of provision – from PRUs to independent providers to in-school units.
• 📘 The essentials of DfE guidance, including the “day 6 rule,” dual registration, and reintegration planning.
• 📝 What must be included in commissioning agreements.
• 🗣️ The importance of pupil and family voice.
• 🔍 A closer look at in-school units and their role in prevention.
• 🤔 Reflection prompts for leaders to evaluate their own AP practice.

Reflection Prompts for Leaders

• Do you have a commissioning agreement for every AP pupil?
• Are placements reviewed at least half-termly?
• Is pupil and family voice captured in your planning?
• Could you articulate your ambition for each child in AP if an inspector asked tomorrow?

Premium Version Available 🎧

In the Premium version of this episode, Rachael takes a deeper dive, including:

• A step-by-step guide to commissioning agreements.
• How to design structured induction and on-entry assessments.
• Aligning AP provision with EHCP targets.
• Key inspection questions leaders must be ready to answer.
• Plus: a downloadable Commissioning and Monitoring Checklist.

👉 Upgrade to The Leadership Lens Premium to access the full episode and tools:

https://tinyurl.com/3pp3x67s

About the Host

Rachael Snowdon-Poole is a serving headteacher and trust leader with over 20 years’ experience in education. She created The Leadership Lens to provide practical, thoughtful professional development for school leaders at a time when budgets are stretched but the demands of leadership keep growing.

✨ If you found this episode useful, please subscribe, share with colleagues, and leave a review to help more leaders access free, high-quality professional learning.