This week I report on new DfE resources to support effective governance, the Government’s pledge that every primary school in England will have a library and confirmation that the free primary school breakfast clubs programme is set to expand from April next year.

Effective governance resources
The DfE has put together an expert advisory group which has identified areas for governing bodies and academy trust boards to focus on to develop and maintain effective governance. This information was created in collaboration with the NGA, the Confederation of School Trusts, Trust Governance Professionals, the National Association of Governance Advisory Services, the Catholic Education Service, the National Society for Education, Governors for Schools and the National Black Governors Network.

Each document provides principles of good practice and practical resources that governing bodies, leaders and governance professionals (clerks) can use to support sustainable and effective governance.

Government pledges a library in every primary school in England
The Government has pledged to ensure every primary school in England has its own library, through a scheme unveiled by Rachel Reeves at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool on Monday.

The scheme will create new libraries in 1,700 primary schools that currently do not have them. Over £10 million had been committed to the scheme which would leave each of the 1,700 schools with just under £5,900. It is unclear if the schools would get additional money to staff the new libraries.

Free breakfast clubs set to expand
The DfE has announced that from April 2026, an additional 2,000 schools will join the Government’s free breakfast club programme alongside 750 schools already running the scheme. Free breakfast clubs are among several initiatives aimed at improving early years support, including the expansion of government-funded childcare and Best Start Family Hubs.

This week I highlight new guidance published on fraud awareness and support for Governing bodies and leaders on developing sustainable and effective governance.

New guidance on fraud awareness
The DfE has published new guidance on fraud awareness to help education and training providers manage the risk of fraud, including prevention, detection and reporting. It provides general advice, suggestions for developing counter-fraud policies and approaches, and information on cyber fraud.

Effective governance resources
Support for maintained school governing bodies, academy trust boards, leaders and governance professionals (clerks) in developing sustainable and effective governance was published by the DfE this week. You can access the resources using this link.

This week I report on a recent report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on SEND and a free governors Governors for Schools webinar in October on Whole school wellbeing and the strategic role of governors.

Calls for reform to the SEND system
A recent report from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on SEND describes an “adversarial, fragmented and under-resourced” system, despite increased funding over the years. Local authorities are reported to be struggling with rising demands and workforce shortages, while families navigate unclear responsibilities.

These concerns are echoed in the Education Select Committee’s latest inquiry, which reported the impacts on pupil wellbeing and attainment. In 2023/24, only 30.8% of pupils with SEND achieved expected standards in GCSE English and maths – a stark contrast with 72.3% of their peers.

Both reports call for greater collaboration between education, health and social care services as a way to increase parental trust and confidence in the system. The Government has announced upcoming reform to the SEND system, expected to be set out in the Autumn white paper.

Free Governors for Schools governance webinar Whole school wellbeing on Thursday 9 October 2025 from 8-9am
Governors for Schools are holding a Whole school wellbeing and the strategic role of governors webinar with Andy Mellor, former Headteacher and National Wellbeing Director for the Schools Advisory Service on 9 October. Andy will share insights on how you can help create and embed a meaningful culture of wellbeing that helps everyone in your school to thrive.

It will feature the usual Q&A section and a copy of the slides and a recording of the webinar will be shared with delegates via email after the session. You can use this link to register for the session via the Governors for Schools website.

This week I highlight Ofsted’s confirmation of changes to school inspection; a free Governors for Schools webinar on hot topics facing governors this term and updated statutory guidance on how LAs and schools work together to identify and support children missing education to receive a suitable education.

Ofsted confirm changes to school inspection
Ofsted is replacing single-word judgements with report cards that grade schools across six to eight areas. This includes a new inclusion category and a revised leadership and governance category in which inspectors will consider the extent to which governors/ trustees:

• are knowledgeable about their statutory duties and carry them out effectively
• support and challenge the school’s leaders effectively
• understand their role in considering and addressing leaders’ workload and wellbeing
• assure themselves that leaders have an accurate understanding of the school’s context and are prioritising the right actions for improvement
• ensure that systems for monitoring and quality assurance are fair, valid and constructive, and inform continuous improvement
• hold leaders to account for the impact of the school’s professional learning programme for staff
• hold leaders to account for the school’s support and provision for disadvantaged pupils who may face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing

Reforms will take effect from 10 November, with Ofsted initially prioritising volunteer schools before launching the new system nationally from 1 December. I have provided a full Summary of Changes for you in today’s email.

Alongside this, the DfE has published the outcome of its accountability consultation with ‘school profiles’ to be introduced that aim to provide parents with a fuller picture of school performance alongside report cards.

Free Governors for Schools governance webinar on Thursday 18 September 2025
Governors for Schools and their regular host, Steve Barker from Judicium Education, are holding their first webinar of the academic year on Thursday 18 September from 8-9am. The session will bring all those involved in school and academy governance up-to-speed on what’s happening in education and how it’s set to impact governance this term. It will feature the usual Q&A section and a copy of the slides and a recording of the webinar will be shared with delegates via email after the session. You can use this link to register for the session via the Governors for Schools website.

Update statutory guidance Children missing education
On Monday the DfE published its updated statutory guidance for local authorities and schools on how they work together to identify and support children missing education to receive a suitable education. The update aims to address inconsistencies in practice and add clarity as well as providing a summary of responsibilities and a policy and procedure checklist.

This week I report on the roll out of 30 hours of Government funded childcare a week for working parents, the publication of a policy paper from the DfE on how schools can prepare for Martyn’s Law and new non statutory Staffing and Employment guidance for schools and governors.

Half a million children to benefit from funded childcare
Working parents can now claim 30 hours of Government funded childcare a week, with more than 500,000 children expected to benefit from the scheme’s full roll-out.

As part of the wider early years package of support, parents now also have access to the Best Start in Life website, which brings together information and guidance in one place.

Martyn’s law for education settings
The DfE has published a policy paper for schools on how they can prepare for Martyn’s Law. The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, commonly known as Martyn’s Law, makes individuals working at premises and events responsible for minimising the impact of a terrorist attack.

There will be an implementation period of at least 24 months before the act comes into force, during which the Government will publish statutory guidance to further assist schools in meeting the requirements.

Staffing and employment: guidance for schools
To provide consistency in the information available to all schools in support of their
handling of staffing and employment matters, the DfE has withdrawn its statutory guidance on Managing Staff Employment in Schools. Instead, the DfE expects employers in all schools to make use of new non-statutory guidance (published yesterday) and the sources of help it identifies when carrying out staffing and employment duties.

In the final week of this academic year I highlight publication of the DfE’s new Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education Guidance that will come into force from September 2026.

New DfE guidance: Relationships, sex and health education
The DfE has published new relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education guidance aiming to support schools in addressing misogyny and incel culture, violence against women and girls, and related factors. The guidance is statutory from September 2026, though schools can begin teaching it from September 2025 if they choose.

For the first time, secondary school pupils will be taught topics such as how online content can impact a person’s understanding of sexual ethics and behaviour, staying safe in public spaces and positive concepts of femininity and masculinity.

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.

This week I report on the impending publication of KCSIE 2025 and the uncertain future of regional advisory boards.

KCSIE 2025
The DfE confirmed this week that KCSIE 2025 will be published this month, with only technical changes and will include links to revised guidance on Relationships, Sex, and Health Education and revised guidance on gender questioning children. As usual it will come into force on 1 September.

Future of regional advisory boards
The future of the DfE’s regional advisory boards seems uncertain as their three-year terms come to an end with no re-elections planned. The nine regional advisory boards challenge and advise regional directors (RDs) on decisions around academisation and multi-academy trust growth. There is speculation that the boards will be scrapped due to the emergence of the Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams and the pace of academisation has slowed.

This week I report on the publication of updated Governance Guides for both Academy Trusts and Maintained Schools, new Complaints guidance expected from the DfE shortly and Ofsted’s pledge that most inspections from November will include at least one inspector with relevant expertise in the type of setting being inspected.

Publication of updated Governance Guides
Yesterday the DfE published updated versions of the Governance Guides for both academy trusts and maintained schools. The Governance Guides bring together information from a range of sources on the governing body’s role in relation to legislative and contractual requirements as well as governance best practice in schools.

Whilst changes this year have been minimal with no substantial policy changes, notable changes include:

• A greater emphasis on the requirement for Governing bodies to demonstrate the active
  promotion of fundamental British Values.
• The need for all governors to have a basic understanding of the school’s legal
  requirements on procurement as well as on accountability and spending, along with links to relevant guidance and services.
• School funding information – addition of the teachers’ pension employer contribution grant, core schools budget grant, and the national insurance contributions grant; removal of the mainstream schools additional grant and the recovery premium after they finished at the end of the 2023/2024 academic year.
• A requirement for the Chair to sign off the school’s digital reporting form return detailing how the school has used its PE and sport premium allocation.
• Update to the legal basis for keeping admission and attendance registers under The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 for providing information requested by the Secretary of State on attendance under the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2024.
• Suggested guidance to support the promotion of good behaviour of pupils, including the use of mobile phones and searching, screening and confiscation in schools.
• A greater emphasis on the requirement for the school premises and facilities to be kept up to a standard where, as much as is reasonably possible, the health, safety and welfare of pupils is guaranteed.
• A new section on nutrition under pupil mental health and wellbeing to cover the Governing body’s role in school food. In line with the DfE’s school food guidance for governors, schools are expected to have a policy on school food.

New school complaints guidance to be published
The Government has advised it is drawing up new guidance for schools and parents to address the increasing number of complaints. The guidance will aim to reduce the burden on school leaders while maintaining parents’ right to raise concerns and will be published shortly.

The DfE will be conducting a seven day research project starting on Monday, led by Policy Lab, to better understand the school complaints landscape and generate ideas for improvement. The project will involve both teachers and parents who have experience with the complaints process.

Ofsted pledges specialist inspectors for most visits from November
Ofsted has announced that ‘most’ inspections from November will include at least one inspector with relevant experience in the type of setting being inspected. This aims to enhance the understanding of the specific context of the schools being evaluated. However, there may be exceptions where relevant expertise will be utilised post-inspection during the quality insurance process.

HMIs are civil servants who often work for Ofsted full-time, whereas Ofsted inspectors work for the watchdog on a freelance basis and usually hold other positions in the sector. Ofsted has confirmed that all inspections will be led by a current HMI or an inspector with recent HMI experience, which is expected to mean having worked as an HMI within the last three years. This is intended to ensure deeper inspection expertise.

This week I report on the launch of School Sport Partnerships and a national enrichment framework as well as a free webinar on AI.

New national network for PE and school sport announced
The Prime Minister has unveiled a new approach to PE and school sport this week, including the launch of School Sport Partnerships and a national Enrichment Framework to ensure all children and young people can access high-quality extracurricular activities.

The new national network will:

• Build stronger links between schools, local clubs, and National Governing Bodies
• Prioritise inclusion for girls and pupils with SEN
• Share inclusive best practice across all schools
• Be supported by school-level enrichment profiles detailing each school’s sport and activity offer

Free Webinar – Actionable Intelligence: AI in European Schools
Following up on last week’s release of guidance on AI from the DfE, an online conference has taken place which aimed to demystify AI in education and show schools in the EU exactly what to do next. The conference was free and has been uploaded onto YouTube here.