Does your parent communication meet Ofsted's new inclusion standards?

Ofsted's new Education Inspection Framework has completely changed how schools are evaluated - and one key change is that communication is now more important than ever.

Ofsted's new framework eliminates single overall grades. Schools will no longer be graded as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate. Instead, Ofsted will produce detailed reports on schools across six core areas. These are:

• Leadership and governance

• Curriculum and teaching

• Attendance and behaviour

• Achievement

• Personal development and wellbeing

• Inclusion

How a school communicates with parents will affect several of these core areas - and one key place where it will come into play is inclusion.

How can a school's communication fail to be inclusive?

Communications aren't inclusive unless they reach every parent. That includes:

• Parents of SEND children

• Parents of EAL families, or parents who do not speak English fluently

• Parents without access to a computer or laptop

• Parents who are busy, and do not have time for long communications

• Parents who use assistive technology, like screen readers

Making communication accessible for all kinds of families and parents is now part and parcel of protecting your school's reputation.

But how do you make sure you're reaching parents like those we've outlined above? Parents are rarely excluded intentionally - more often, they are not included because schools are unaware of the issues they might face when it comes to accessing information and updates. Let's examine the roadblocks to inclusion in more detail.

The language barrier: how language can exclude parents

Some communications platforms, such as our own ReachMoreParents app, include automatic translation into other languages for parents. This means that when your school posts an update to the newsfeed, or sends a message through the app, a parent can  translate it into their own first language. The great thing about this is the school doesn't need to do anything - because of the automatic translation, there's no worry about making mistakes or not knowing which language a parent prefers.

However, if a school relies on communicating through email, SMS or on paper, EAL parents are left without the ability to easily translate information. 

And additional languages are not the only language barrier a parent might face.

It's sometimes said that schools have their own language. How many terms and acronyms do education professionals use on a daily basis that would completely befuddle people outside of the sector? From EOTAS and SBSG to SMSC and more, it can all sound like a foreign language to everyone else - and that often includes parents.

One of the reasons Ofsted's framework is changing is to make evaluations easier for parents to understand. School communications must do the same, with clear, simple language. 

That means no jargon, spelling out unfamiliar acronyms before you use them, and explaining in plain English what results or policies mean for parents and students.

No laptop, no luck? Thinking through your technology

How mobile-friendly is your school website? 

When a school looks at its own websites, it's probably doing that via a computer or a laptop. The school administrator brings the website up on the office computer, sees everything is in the right place, and counts it a job done.

But in 2026, mobile traffic counts for more than half of all internet activity in the UK (Statista). If your school's website hasn't been designed to be mobile-friendly, there's a good chance many parents can't use it.

Websites often display differently on phones than they do on laptops. If your school website developer hasn't coded the website with mobile accessibility in mind, its layout may break when trying to display on a phone - rather than adapt.

And with lower income families being more likely to use phones to access your school's website than a laptop or computer, this inclusion issue is one Ofsted will be paying attention to.

How accessible is your communication?

Not everyone reads communications the same way. Some parents rely on assistive technology to make communications more accessible - and it's essential that your communication is compatible with that.

Parents with visual impairments might use screen readers to convert text to speech. Others may use screen magnification software or high-contrast modes to reduce eye strain. Browser extensions can be used to modify text size, fonts or spacing to make text easier to read.

Meanwhile, parents who are hard of hearing may use captions and transcripts to follow videos. Some people who are hard of hearing rely on visual notifications and reminders on their phone to alert them that they have received a message or an update.

However, the fact that parents may use these assistive technologies is sometimes forgotten by schools when creating communication.

For example, the text on your website or app might not be compatible with a screen reader. Images of text, rather than text itself, is one common way parents who use screen readers can find themselves left out. Another common issue is PDF accessibility: while most screen readers are able to read PDFs, this is only true when the PDF contains text. A PDF that is a scanned image, or has been converted into an image, cannot be read by a screen reader.

Not sure where to start? You can find a guide to making sure your school's communication is accessible to those using assistive technology on the Government's website.

Making sure you're Ofsted-ready

Creating communication that's inclusive of all parents is important, but it's just one part of the new Ofsted framework. 

Curious about how the rest of the framework will impact how your school communicates? Read our last blog on the framework to get a clearer picture of what Ofsted will be looking for.