N is for Noticing What Matters

Reading the Room Under the New EIF

One of the most powerful — and often overlooked — leadership skills under the new EIF is noticing. Inspectors are placing high value on how leaders understand the real lived experience of staff and pupils: confidence levels, attendance patterns, small shifts in behaviour, subtle barriers emerging in particular groups.

Don't get me wrong... this isn’t about formal monitoring. It’s about awareness.

Schools that score well on the new Leadership & Governance scale often do one thing consistently: they act early because they notice early.

Our inclusion-focused training platform, SkillsBridge, supports this by turning informal noticing into something visible — staff reflections, confidence dips, recurring themes, or patterns across subjects. It helps leaders see the story behind the data without needing heavy systems.

Five practical ways to strengthen your “noticing” culture

Listen for what’s repeated.

If the same issue appears in three different conversations, it’s no longer small.

Scan for emotional cues.

Tone tells you more about workload than any spreadsheet.

Ask pupils two simple questions.

“What’s helping you learn?” and “What’s making it harder?” Keep answers short.

Make informal check-ins routine.

A 60-second corridor chat counts as data — don’t underestimate its value.

Feed what you notice into CPD.

Let patterns guide, not pressure.

If you’d like a way to organise what you’re noticing against each evaluation area, the Smart Steps Guide to the New EIF  lays it out clearly — or we can talk through it with you.

Speak with a Training Partnership Manager