Last week the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) published its Annual Review of Inspections for the 2024-25 academic year.

This provides a unique overview of how independent schools have performed against the Independent School Standards and, crucially, shines a light at what inspectors have praised during visits - and where schools have been falling short.

The report says that of the 557 inspections carried out, 84.4 per cent of them found schools meeting all of the standards. A strong figure but one that also makes it clear that schools are sometimes found to be falling short.

Here are five areas school leadership teams should focus on, based on this annual report.

1. Leadership and governance must be rigorous and current

While inspectors found many examples of knowledgeable and effective leadership, where governors supported senior teams well and kept close oversight of provision, the weaknesses identified were strikingly consistent.

Policies were not regularly reviewed in some schools, and did not always reflect actual practice, particularly in areas such as safeguarding and complaints handling. A number of schools had not made statutory information easily accessible to parents.

In other cases, leaders were slow to identify and manage emerging risks, leaving policies as static documents rather than active tools for decision-making.

The report makes it clear that governors must assure themselves not only that policies exist but that they are accurate, up to date and visibly shaping school culture.

2. Curriculum strength must be matched by sharper use of assessment and data

Inspectors praised the breadth and ambition of most curricula, as well as the consistency of teaching strategies that enabled pupils to make good progress from their starting points.

Where schools fell short, it was often in how they used information about pupils’ prior attainment to identify those needing either additional support or greater challenge. In some cases, feedback to pupils did not give them the clarity they needed to improve their work.

These are practical points: inspectors are looking closely at how leaders ensure that curriculum intent is realised through careful, evidence-informed implementation in classrooms.

An ambitious curriculum alone is no longer enough; leaders must demonstrate the systems that make that ambition real for every pupil.

3. Behaviour, attendance and safety cannot be allowed to drift

The review highlights that in a number of schools behaviour policies were not being applied consistently, particularly in cases of low-level disruption.

Inspectors also identified that some leaders had not fully taken account of revised statutory guidance on attendance, leading to weaker systems for managing persistent absence.

Elsewhere, shortcomings were found in the timeliness of health and safety works, such as fire assessments and building maintenance.

These findings suggest that inspectors are paying close attention not only to headline pastoral provision but also to the operational details that underpin a safe and orderly environment.

Leaders need to ensure that expectations for behaviour, attendance and premises safety are consistently applied and monitored, rather than assumed.

4. Safeguarding remains the most common area of weakness

The majority of unmet standards this year related to Part 3 of the Independent School Standards on welfare, health and safety.

While many schools demonstrated strong safeguarding cultures, inspectors found that in some the designated safeguarding lead did not have sufficient status and authority to fulfil their role effectively.

Recruitment checks were not always carried out in a timely way or recorded with the required precision.

These are not peripheral details: they go to the heart of compliance. Leaders must ensure that safeguarding systems are not only well intentioned but also demonstrably robust, with clear lines of accountability and evidence that procedures are consistently followed.

5. Listening to pupils is central to inspection and leadership alike

This year ISI has revised its pupil survey following a major methodological review.

Working with external specialists, inspectors piloted new questions designed to be more accessible and to capture more nuanced insights across a wider age range.

From autumn 2025, pupils from Year 4 upwards will complete the survey as part of routine inspections. This is more than a procedural change. ISI’s methodology increasingly emphasises student voice as a core source of evidence about school culture, teaching and pastoral care.

For leaders, this is a reminder that creating authentic channels to hear from pupils should not be done only in preparation for inspection.

It is an essential part of shaping school life, understanding how decisions are experienced in practice and identifying issues that may not surface through formal structures.

Overall, the report reminds us that good intentions are not enough: leadership needs to be detailed, evidence-based and relentlessly current.

Luke Ramsden is deputy head of an independent school and chair of trustees for the Schools Consent Project

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