Intent, implementation and impact: what Ofsted’s 2026 toolkit says

Last checked against official sources: 27 October 2026.

Intent, implementation and impact have been the shorthand for curriculum quality in English schools for years. Ofsted’s renewed education inspection framework has been in use since November 2025 [1], and its current school inspection toolkit, updated for inspections from September 2026, still uses all three words, split across two evaluation areas [2].

This is a short summary of what the toolkit and the operating guide for inspectors say, quoted where the wording matters.

The ‘curriculum and teaching’ evaluation area covers intent and implementation, and the ‘achievement’ area covers impact. The toolkit labels each term in brackets [2]:

Each evaluation area gets its own grade on a five-point scale: ‘urgent improvement’, ‘needs attention’, ‘expected standard’, ‘strong standard’ and ‘exceptional’ [3].

For the curriculum, inspectors consider whether it is “coherently planned and sequenced so that pupils build knowledge and skills sequentially and cumulatively” and whether “time is available within the curriculum for revisiting content and dealing with gaps in knowledge and skills” [2].

For teaching, they consider whether teachers “check pupils’ understanding systematically, identify misunderstandings and adapt teaching as necessary”, whether the subject curriculum is taught “in a way that allows pupils to transfer key knowledge to long-term memory” and whether leaders and teachers “prioritise feedback, retrieval practice and assessment” [2]. Another prompt is that “any gaps in pupils’ knowledge or skills are identified and tackled quickly” [2].

The toolkit does not use the word ‘marking’. Its examples of how assessment is used include “to help pupils embed and use knowledge fluently” and “to check understanding and inform teaching” [2].

Retrieval practice, one of the priorities the toolkit names, has a strong evidence base in schools. A review of 50 classroom experiments found that it improved learning across education levels and subjects, and most of the effects were medium or large [4]. Our guide to data-driven lesson starters shows one way to use it at the start of lessons.

The achievement area looks at “the progress that pupils make across the curriculum from their starting points, so that they know more, remember more and are able to do more” [2]. In schools with secondary-age pupils, inspectors also consider “the extent to which pupils make progress across the whole curriculum and through key stage 3, in preparation for key stage 4 and post-16 study” [2]. Our guide to structuring a KS3 strategy looks at that stage.

Where published results exist, inspectors use them as a starting point for discussions with leaders. Where they do not, for example for some year groups, inspectors use evidence gathered on site, including learning walks, pupils’ work, discussions with pupils and case sampling [2].

On internal data, the toolkit says: “Inspectors will not review internal data. However, they may discuss with leaders how they use internal assessment data, what it tells them about pupils’ achievement and what decisions they make as a result” [2].

The operating guide says learning walks with leaders will have “a particular focus on the ‘curriculum and teaching’ and ‘achievement’ evaluation areas”. In secondary schools they “focus initially on an agreed group of subjects”, selected during the planning call, and inspectors look at pupils’ work and discuss their learning with them [3]. The guide does not use the term ‘deep dive’.

On documents, the toolkit says inspectors do not need information “to be presented in any specific format, as long as it is easily accessible”, and adds: “We do not need leaders to produce documents specifically for an Ofsted inspection of their school. This would create unnecessary workload” [2].

Tassomai sets and marks daily retrieval quizzes in science, maths, English, history, geography, computer science and MFL, and its Understanding Grid shows each pupil’s accuracy by subject, theme and topic. If you would like to see how it could support your curriculum, book a demo with the Tassomai team.

1. Ofsted. (2025). Education inspection framework: For use from November 2025. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-inspection-framework/education-inspection-framework-for-use-from-november-2025

2. Ofsted. (2026). State-funded school inspection toolkit (Version 2.0). GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-toolkit-operating-guide-and-information

3. Ofsted. (2026). School inspection operating guide for inspectors: For use from September 2026. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-toolkit-operating-guide-and-information/school-inspection-operating-guide-for-inspectors-for-use-from-september-2026

4. Agarwal, P. K., Nunes, L. D., & Blunt, J. R. (2021). Retrieval practice consistently benefits student learning: A systematic review of applied research in schools and classrooms. Educational Psychology Review, 33(4), 1409-1453. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-021-09595-9