Supporting the supporters matters.

When DSLs and school leaders are overwhelmed, risk escalates and decision making becomes harder. Prioritising structured supervision, emotional containment and professional reflection is essential. You cannot pour from an empty cup.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

When we say “closing the gap,” we often mean race, poverty, or special educational needs. Yet one of the most persistent and under-examined inequalities is white working-class underachievement. From age five, FSM-eligible White children show among the lowest rates of Good Level of Development (GLD). That disadvantage carries through phonics, attainment in primary, and into GCSE, compounding year by year.

This article presents the data, explores the systemic forces that sustain the gap, and proposes evidence-informed strategies for school leaders who refuse to accept “that’s just how it is.” If your school is committed to equity not just in rhetoric but in reality, this is a conversation you cannot afford to ignore.

The 2025 Ofsted Report Card marks a major shift in how safeguarding is judged, moving from compliance to culture.

This Leadership Insight explores how school and trust leaders can evidence safeguarding practice through culture, capacity and leadership, not paperwork.

It examines the new Ofsted expectations around reflective supervision, wellbeing, curriculum integration and leadership capacity, offering practical examples and vignettes from real schools.

Learn how to prepare for inspection, demonstrate psychological safety, and build a safeguarding culture that protects pupils and staff.

Includes a free downloadable Safeguarding Self-Review Tool aligned with Ofsted 2025, KCSIE 2025 and Working Together (2023).

Discover the safeguarding priorities in the Ofsted 2025 framework and how leaders can ‘safeguard the safeguarders’, build capacity, and evidence culture.