🔦Building Your Evidence Base for the New Ofsted Framework with Starlight

As Ofsted shifts towards deeper, evidence-informed evaluation, schools are now expected to demonstrate impact through real examples — not just policies or meeting minutes. The updated inspection framework calls for tangible, triangulated evidence showing how safeguarding, inclusion, curriculum quality, and professional development are lived out in daily practice.

Starlight is designed to help schools do exactly that.

🔍 Turning Lesson Dialogue into Defensible Evidence

Every Starlight report begins with a lesson recording. From that audio, the system automatically generates:

• A transcript of teacher–student dialogue (your evidence base);

• An AI coaching report aligned to pedagogy, questioning, and inclusion indicators;

• A Teacher Toolkit with ready-to-use retrieval questions, homework prompts, and key vocabulary lists.

Together, these provide verifiable, text-based evidence that teachers are engaging with effective practice — precisely the kind Ofsted now looks for under curriculum and teaching quality, inclusion, and professional development.

🧩 Aligning with the New Framework

The new Ofsted evidence expectations (2025) emphasise:

• Safeguarding: regular discussion in meetings, staff able to articulate their responsibilities.

• Inclusion: documented use of scaffolding and adaptations, pupil voice in reviews.

• Curriculum and Teaching: leaders knowing the quality of teaching through monitoring cycles, evidence of responsive teaching.

• Achievement: narrowing gaps for disadvantaged learners through targeted support.

• Behaviour and Attendance: staff consistency, records of restorative action.

• Personal Development: pupils’ voices heard, RSHE and online safety embedded.

Each time a teacher uploads a lesson through Starlight, these priorities are naturally captured. Transcripts reveal scaffolding and questioning strategies; coaching reports show how teaching adapts to pupil need; and the Constellation Dashboard allows leaders to monitor patterns across the school — providing a continuous, data-driven record of professional learning and impact.

🧩 Aligning Feedback with School Priorities

With Organisation Templates, schools can define key focus areas — such as questioning, differentiation, or inclusion — so that every upload automatically links teacher feedback to whole-school priorities.

🎥 Watch the walkthrough video to see how to set this up: Starlight Templates Walkthrough

🧾 New Feature: PDF Export for Consistent, Evidence-Based Reporting

We’ve now added a one-click PDF export function, allowing schools to download any Starlight report as a professional, date-stamped document that shows clear, objective progress over time. Because Starlight applies the same coaching criteria every time, each report provides a consistent, impartial record of feedback — ideal for evidencing school priorities, staff development, and impact.

Leaders can use exported PDFs to:

• Demonstrate progress and improvement in teaching quality over time.

• Present objective, standardised feedback for coaching and appraisal discussions.

• Capture and store CPD and training sessions, recorded via a StarDrive and uploaded to Starlight, as date-stamped CPD evidence.

• Evidence school priorities and show how feedback aligns with the organisation’s chosen focus template.

This feature transforms every coaching moment into a verifiable part of your school’s professional development record — instantly ready for inspection, appraisal, or review.

⚙️ From Compliance to Continuous Improvement

Where many systems collect static compliance data, Starlight generates dynamic evidence — authentic snapshots of real classroom practice that evolve over time. The result is a living record of improvement, showing not just what’s in place, but how teaching and learning are improving week by week.

🚀 Next Steps

Schools using Starlight can now:

1. Encourage staff to record lessons regularly — every upload strengthens your evidence base.

2. Use the PDF export feature to build your school’s Ofsted Evidence Portfolio.

3. Align feedback themes with your current SIP priorities using Organisation Templates.

To see how it works, log in to starlightmentor.com and explore your Audio Submissions page — the new export option appears under Actions for each report.

Spark insight with Starlight — and walk into your next inspection with evidence, clarity, and confidence.

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The Insight Engine is written by Adam Sturdee, co-founder of Starlight—the UK’s first AI-powered coaching platform—and Assistant Headteacher at St Augustine’s Catholic College. This blog is part of a wider mission to support educators through meaningful reflection, not performance metrics. It documents the journey of building Starlight from the ground up, and explores how AI, when shaped with care, can reduce workload, surface insight, and help teachers think more deeply about their practice. Rooted in the belief that growth should be private, professional, and purposeful, The Insight Engine offers ideas and stories that put insight—not judgment—at the centre of development.