This week I highlight publication of KCSIE 2025, Ofsted’s announcement that it will be offering schools webinars on the new inspection framework from September and publication of new Reading and Writing Frameworks for primary schools.

Publication of KCSIE 2025
The DfE has now published Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025 which comes into force on 1 September. The relatively minor technical changes are as follows:

• Guidance to be signposted later on – the DfE has confirmed that it “expects” to publish revised guidance on relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and gender questioning children this summer.
• Updated list of safeguarding harms – the list of online safeguarding harms had been updated to include misinformation, disinformation (including fake news) and conspiracy theories.
• Statutory attendance guidance – it notes that the Working Together to Improve School Attendance guidance is statutory and every state school is now required to share daily attendance registers with the DfE, which was not specified in KCSIE 2024.
• The role of virtual school heads – now includes the extension of the roles of virtual school heads with a non-statutory responsibility to promote the educational achievement of all children in kinship care.
• Alternative provision guidance clarified – now contains updates to reflect existing guidance on alternative provision. It states “Schools should obtain written information from the alternative provider that appropriate safeguarding checks have been carried out on individuals working at their establishment (i.e., those checks that schools would otherwise perform on their own staff). This includes written confirmation that the alternative provider will inform the commissioning school of any arrangements that may put the child at risk (i.e., staff changes), so that the commissioning school can ensure itself that appropriate safeguarding checks have been carried out on new staff.” It adds that schools should always know where a child is based during school hours, including having records of the address of the AP and any satellite sites that a child may attend. That reviews of the placement should be frequent enough to have reassurance that the child is regularly attending and the placement is safe and meets the child’s needs. If a safeguarding concern arises, the placement should be immediately reviewed and terminated if necessary.

Andrew Hall, a Specialist Safeguarding Consultant and Director of Success In Schools Ltd has produced a video on the changes which you can access using this link.

Education inspection framework engagement programme
Ofsted has announced an engagement programme to help schools familiarise themselves with its new inspection framework. The watchdog will hold a webinar for each school type – maintained nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools, non-association independent schools, university technical colleges, special schools and alternative provision settings from September.

Schools can find out how to sign up to the webinars on the Ofsted website. The webinars will also be recorded and posted on YouTube.

DfE publication of Reading and Writing Frameworks
On Tuesday the DfE published guidance on new Reading and Writing Frameworks which aim to help schools meet the expectations set out in the Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework and the national curriculum. They align with Ofsted’s education inspection framework.