This week I highlight new DfE guidance for governors on their SEND responsibilities and publication of an amendment to the wording of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require academies to observe minimum pay rates and have regard to other national conditions.

New guidance for governors on their SEND responsibilities
Yesterday the DfE published new guidance to help governing bodies understand their role in supporting pupils with SEND. This guidance aims to empower governors and trustees to hold their schools accountable and ensure effective SEND provision.

DfE amends the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
The DfE has published an amendment of the wording to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which will require academies to observe minimum pay rates and have regard to other national conditions.

This week I highlight NGA’s new monthly free and on demand webinars for governors, the Education Secretary’s announcement on new AI and tech initiatives, confirmation that a joint letter from several charities has been sent to the Education Secretary and the Safeguarding Minister expressing concerns over safeguarding victims of child-on-child sexual abuse in schools, new guidance from the Dogs Trust on using dogs in schools and publication of a new DfE climate change blog.

NGA free and on-demand webinars
The NGA is now offering monthly free and on-demand webinars providing an opportunity for governors to keep up to date with the latest thinking on key issues in school governance. You can explore their webinars using this link.

Education Secretary announces new AI and tech initiatives
At the Bett Conference yesterday the Education Secretary announced mandatory training for teachers on assistive technology and introduced several Artificial Intelligence (AI) and tech initiatives to support education.

• Assistive Technology Training – all new teachers will receive mandatory training on using assistive technology to support children with special educational needs and disabilities starting in 2025.
• AI Safety and Tools – Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Adobe will commit to making AI tools for education safer by design, and new AI Product Safety Expectations were published.
• Attendance Data Summaries – new attendance data summaries are now available for every secondary school, academy trust, and local authority to help address the issue of persistent absence.
• Edtech Evidence Board – a new Edtech Evidence Board will be established to help teachers choose effective AI products for their classrooms, ensuring they are grounded in evidence.

Charities call for child-on-child abuse guidance
Several charities have written a joint letter to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips to express concerns over safeguarding victims of child-on-child sexual abuse in schools. The letter calls on the government to provide clearer statutory guidance on how schools should address sexual violence when both the victim and the alleged perpetrator are pupils.

New guidance on using dogs in schools
The Dogs Trust has published some new guidance on the use of school dogs. Although the charity overall advises against using dogs in school, it has released guidance on how to do so safely in recognition that bringing dogs into schools is a rising trend.

DfE publishes new climate change blog
The DfE has published a new blog on what the department is doing to tackle climate change, including inspiring young people to connect with nature, supporting schools to become greener and building greener schools.

This week I highlight a free webinar on SEND and report on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which has now passed its second reading and Ofsted’s Chief Inspector’s appearance before MPs on the Education Select Committee to answer questions about Ofsted.

Free Governor training webinar on SEND – How governance ensures pupils’ needs are being met
Governors for Schools in conjunction with Better Governor are holding a free webinar on Thursday 23 January from 8-9 am on SEND. The session will look at the specific role of governance in relation to SEND, including how governance structures and procedures should be designed to ensure compliance with statutory responsibilities of schools. It will explore best practices for establishing an effective strategic governance framework for SEND provision and its impact in your setting.

To register please use this link to access the Governors for Schools website.

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill passes second reading
On 8 January the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons, bringing it one step closer to becoming law. It’s now being scrutinised by a Public Bill Committee, which will report its findings to Parliament by 11 February.

The Bill makes provision about the safeguarding and welfare of children; however, it covers a range of other matters, including breakfast clubs, school uniform, and requirements for academies.

Education Committee holds Ofsted accountability meeting
Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, appeared before MPs on the Education Select Committee earlier this week to answer questions about Ofsted. The Committee asked questions on a range of topics, including the Big Listen consultation, the upcoming report cards that will replace one-word judgements, and the reforms that Ofsted has put in place over the last 12 months.

You can watch the recording of the hearing here.

In my final update of 2024 I report on the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that was introduced to Parliament earlier this week, the publication of Ofsted’s first monitoring report on the commitments made in its Big Listen consultation and the announcement of a package of measures to protect the public and young people from youth radicalisation.

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduced to Parliament
On Tuesday, the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill into Parliament. The Bill, which is yet to come into law, focuses on making sure no child falls through gaps between different services and that families can get help when they need it.

Big Listen action monitoring report published
Ofsted has published the first monitoring report on the commitments made in its Big Listen consultation, which ran earlier this year. The report sets out all the improvement actions that Ofsted has completed and provides an update on those not yet completed.

New measures to tackle radicalisation
Earlier this week, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a package of measures to better protect the public and young people from youth radicalisation. The measures include updating Prevent policy and guidance, broadening available interventions, and undertaking a strategic policy review.

This week I highlight the DfE’s evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body proposing an unfunded pay increase for 2025/26, Ofsted’s review of AI use in schools and the DfE’s outcome of its call for evidence on children missing education.

Teachers’ pay award for 2025
The DfE has provided evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body about the teachers’ pay award for 2025/26 and also published a blog detailing how the evidence will affect schools. It is proposing an unfunded 2.8% increase, acknowledging that most schools would need to supplement the new funding they receive with efficiencies.

Ofsted to review AI use in schools
The DfE has asked Ofsted to carry out an independent review of AI use in schools. It will look at how AI supports teaching and administration, the benefits and challenges, how the use of AI is governed, and other issues. Ofsted will collect evidence in the Spring and aim to publish results by the Summer.

Response published for children missing education (CME)
The DfE has added the outcome of its call for evidence on ‘Improving support for children missing education’, which ran from May to July 2023. It sought views on how children missing education were identified and supported, the challenges in identifying and supporting those children, and how to address those challenges.

This week I report on the announcement of DfE capital funding to create more SEND places in mainstream schools and confirmation that no further safety valve agreements will be agreed with councils struggling with their high needs deficits; the publication of Ofsted’s Annual Report for 2023/24 and the rescheduling of a DfE live event with the Minister for Early Education.

Funding to create new specialist places in mainstream schools
The Government has earmarked £740 million of capital funding to create more specialist SEND places in mainstream schools. The aim is to ensure that more children with SEND can attend mainstream schools in their local area, rather than having to attend special schools further afield due to a lack of provision locally. The DfE’s press release states that new guidance on how councils can use this investment will be published in the Spring.

Ministers have also announced they will not enter into any new ‘safety valve’ agreements with councils struggling with big high needs deficits, warning the scheme has not been effective enough across the board given the scale of the challenge. It will continue to work with local authorities with safety valve agreements in place to deliver their plans.

Publication of Ofsted’s Annual Report for 2023/2024
Ofsted has released its Annual Report for 2023/2024 and the main findings state that education settings are struggling to recruit and retain skilled staff, school absence rates remain higher than before the Covid pandemic, and more children are experiencing unorthodox patterns of education. Ofsted also reaffirmed that at the start of 2025, it will formally consult on a renewed inspection framework for schools, early years, further education and skills providers, and initial teacher education.

DfE Early Years live event
The DfE’s live online event with Stephen Morgan, the Minister for Early Education, has been rescheduled to Tuesday 17 December at 6:00pm. The DfE said the rescheduling is to ensure that the discussion can include announcements that are anticipated in the coming weeks. You can sign up for the event using this link.

This week I highlight the updated Gatsby Benchmarks and the opportunity for primary schools to apply to become an early adopter in the government’s free breakfast club rollout.

Updated Gatsby Benchmarks published
The Gatsby Foundation have published updated ‘Gatsby Benchmarks for good careers’ guidance. Following a review of the benchmarks ten years after their initial release, the report explores what good careers guidance looks like now and how schools and trusts can deliver careers guidance for the next ten years

Early adopters breakfast club scheme
Information on how primary schools can apply to become an early adopter in the government’s free breakfast club rollout has been published by the DfE. The clubs are scheduled to open in April 2025 to help parents of primary age pupils receive an additional 30 minutes of childcare before the start of the school day, and for pupils themselves to start the school day ready to learn.

This week I highlight the DfE’s new attendance toolkit providing good practice advice for schools and key findings from the Public Accounts Committee on SEND.

DfE Attendance toolkit
The DfE has released a new Attendance toolkit for schools providing good practice advice around improving attendance.

Key findings from the Public Accounts Committee on SEND
On Monday a Public Accounts Committee Hearing was held reviewing the findings of a highly critical National Audit Office report on the support available for young people with SEND. Key points from the session were for the DfE to:

• consider criticism that the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan introduced by the previous government didn’t go far enough and look at a report by the Isos Partnership, commissioned by councils, which made a series of recommendations this summer;
• work with the Treasury on LA’s challenging dedicated schools grant deficits. A statutory override, which keeps these deficits off council books, is set to expire in March 2026 and the NAO report warned that 43% of councils would be at risk of issuing a Section 114 notice (effectively declaring bankruptcy) if these deficits were allowed to impact on their financial position;
• work with the SEND tribunal on statistics given that 98% of EHCP appeals in 2023 had been found in parents’ favour and that potentially the system favoured those parents with the capacity to navigate it;
• look at variability in the length of time it took LA’s to produce EHCPs and the proportion of pupils with EHCPs being educated in mainstream schools.

DfE officials confirmed the department’s commitment to inclusion highlighting the appointment of multi-academy trust chief executive Tom Rees as an adviser who would be helping it with work on inclusive practice, the curriculum and assessment review that was being led by Professor Becky Francis, looking at what barriers existed within the mainstream school curriculum and the fact that Ofsted was set to inspect inclusion as part of its new framework being launched next year. They also highlighted the new national professional qualification for SENDCo’s and said that this was also being taken by aspiring school leaders which was growing a “cadre of leaders who will essentially increase the confidence of a school overall”.

This week I report on the DfE’s consultation on amendments to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and the announcement that the academy conversion support grant will end on 1 January next year.

Teachers’ Pension Scheme consultation launched
The DfE has launched a consultation on amendments to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), proposing the first rise in employee contributions since 2015. The DfE states, however, that the lowest-paid staff would not see their contributions rise. The consultation closes on 23 January 2025.

Academy conversion grant scrapped
Earlier this month the Government announced that the academy conversion support grant, which gives schools up to £25k for converting, will end on 1 January 2025. It has also announced that it has no plans to continue to run its trust capacity and trust establishment and growth funds.

It has been reported that this is part of how the government is seeking to rationalise the dual school system in England. Its upcoming children’s wellbeing bill will seek to bring the two parts of the sector closer together, requiring academies to follow the national curriculum and cooperate with councils on admissions and pupil place planning.