The DfE have produced a colourful animated guide to Working Together to Safeguard Children - you can find it on YouTube here. An accompanying PDF document suitabloe for children and families is on their website, here.
Category: News
DfE Sustainability and climate change strategy
The DfE's Sustainability and climate change strategy for schools is availbale from their website, here.
School estate management standards
The DfE has published updated gudiance for school estate management. The document defines four levels of compliance from baseline through to advanced. This includes: Strategic estate management; Planning and organising your estate resources; Understanding and managing your land and buildings; Maintaining your estate; Health and safety; Fire safety; Asbestos; Legionella; Sustainability (at levels 3 and … Continue reading School estate management standards
Parliamentary education committee on SEND
The most recent meeting of the Parliamentary education committee on SEND took place on 29 April. Subject specialists included: Lisa O’Connor, vice president of the Association of Educational Psychologists. She noted that cuts to council budgets and the academies movement had led local authorities to “reduce considerably their EP services, with many of them only … Continue reading Parliamentary education committee on SEND
NEU General Secretary’s speech 2025
In his recent speech to the Union, General Secretary Daniel Kebede summarised the Union's key actions and concerns. Not surprisingly these centred on teacher pay and pensions, and one of his major criticisms was directed at Academy Trusts where CEO pay was felt to be much too high, using the half-million pound salary of the … Continue reading NEU General Secretary’s speech 2025
Ofsted: We know we need to improve our inspection plans
In an article written for TES, Rory Gribbell, Oftsed's director of strategy and engagement, summarises some of the themes that have emerged from the public consultation they have been conducting and comments on Oftsed's reactions. You can find the article on the TES website, here.
Tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation: update
Minister Jess Phillips (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Home Office) delivered a speech on the government's plan to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation on 8 April 2025. You can read the full transcript on the Gov.uk website here.
Secondary pupils in England among the least emotionally engaged with school
A new report from UCL researchers who analysed data in the recent Trends in International Maths and Science study finds that pupils in English secondary schools have some of the lowest school engagement rates around the world, with rates dropping amongst the fastest following the pandemic. Furthermore, girls in year 9 in participating countries around … Continue reading Secondary pupils in England among the least emotionally engaged with school
Providing Safe Spaces for neurodivergent children and why it’s important.
An interesting blog article from Cheryl Warren of Hope Education, covering the principles of Vestibular – the sense of movement, Proprioception – the sense of body position, and Interoception – the internal senses, what’s going on inside. You can read it here.
What is needed from education policy to boost writing outcomes?
In January 2025, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) and Oxford University Press (OUP) brought together trust leaders, publishers, researchers, civil servants and other education stakeholders to discuss the current challenges preventing improvements in writing and how these can be overcome. The discussion touched on research gaps and a lack of political will; opportunities to reform … Continue reading What is needed from education policy to boost writing outcomes?
Ofsted state-funded school inspections and outcomes
Ofsted publish aggregated management information monthly, and publications of inspections and outcomes from 2005 onwards are available here. The latest report is dated 28 Feb 2025. You can download it from the Ofsted websiote, here.
Education Secretary keynote speech at Festival of Childhood
Here is the full transcript of Bridget Phillipson's address at the Festival of Childhood from 3 April 2025. Among other things she mentioned the government's investment of over £8bn in Early Years, funding for 300 primary schools to expand their nurseries and set up new ones, uplift in the early years pupil premium for disadvantaged … Continue reading Education Secretary keynote speech at Festival of Childhood
Education and Skills Funding Agency transfer into the Department for Education
As of 1st April 2025 the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) transferred into the Department for Education. A letter from its outgoing CEO David Withey was published on March 31st to accounting officers in academy trusts and colleges. You can read it here.
School capacity 2023-24
The latest government statistics on school pupil numbers shows that the trend of diminishing pupil numbers since 2018/19 is continuing. The total anticipated number of primary pupils forecast by local authorities in England shows a decline of around 1% per year until the end of the forecast period (2028/29). In contrast, the total number of forecast … Continue reading School capacity 2023-24
Martyn Oliver’s speech at the ASCL Annual Conference
You can read the full transcript of Martyn Oliver's recent speech on the Ofsted website, here. He is to be a keynote speaker at the forthcoming NGA annual conference in July: find out more here.
dsga.org.uk 