This week I highlight the DfE’s consultation on KCSIE 2026 which is a major update for September and contains a new section focusing on how best to support children questioning their gender, as well as publication of the DfE’s new 10 year school estates plan with an investment in education capital of £38 billion for 2025-26 to 2029-30.

Consultation on KCSIE 2026 and a new section on gender issues included
The DfE has published a consultation for the revisions to Keeping Children Safe in Education for September 2026. This is a major update to KCSIE and the list of changes runs to six pages (see Annex D, page 195) including strengthening or clarifying existing content, changes to multi agency working ahead of any legislation changes in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, where appropriate the recent Casey Audit, and adds content in relation to Violence Against Women and Girls.

The draft statutory guidance also includes a new section focusing on issues that might arise when considering how best to support children who are questioning their gender, along with new sections on single-sex spaces and single-sex sports. These sections are informed by the public consultation on the draft non-statutory Gender questioning children: guidance for schools and colleges. The DfE won’t be publishing standalone guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning children, but proposes instead to include this content in KCSIE so that children’s wellbeing and safeguarding are considered in the round, and so that schools and colleges can easily access this information in one place.

The consultation closes on 22 April with the new version coming into force from September.

Publication of the DfE’s 10 year schools estates plan
On Wednesday the DfE published its 10 year schools estates plan with an investment in education capital of £38 billion for 2025-26 to 2029-30, which the Government says is the highest since 2010. The plan includes:

• Replacement of the Condition Improvement Fund by Autumn 2028 – in its place will be a new programme through which the body responsible for a school’s estate, be that an academy trust, local authority, voluntary-aided school body or church diocese, can access maintenance funding more easily than before, without the need to submit a full bid. To support this, responsible bodies will be required to collect granular and timely data on their estate and share this with the DfE.
• New digital tools and expectations – a new digital platform ‘Manage Your Education Estate’, will be launched this month bringing together related guidance, tools and data. From Autumn 2026, all responsible bodies will have to submit a “light touch” annual return via the service to confirm they are meeting national standards.
• Strategic planning for spare space – the Government will centralise strategic planning for spare space in schools. This will help to develop a framework for the use of school space during demographic change e.g. a falling birth rate, which is leading to falling rolls, alongside an increase in the need for SEND provision.
• A new Renewal and Retrofit Programme – in April a new programme, backed by £710 million up to 2029-30, to improve the condition of school buildings will be launched.
• The School Rebuilding Programme – over 500 schools are already in this programme and a further 250 will be selected by early 2027. Responsible bodies can nominate schools for the programme until 23 April 2026.