The DfE have updated their guidance on SEND for Governing Bodies. They state that the purpose of this guidance is intended to: support school governing boards’ understanding of their role and responsibilities in relation to children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities; empower governors and trustees to hold their schools to … Continue reading SEND: guidance for school governing boards
Tag: DfE
Breakfast clubs early adopter guidance
The DfE has published new guidance for early adopters of the free breakfast clubs scheme (the new breakfast club offer). Benefits of the scheme should include: Free universal breakfast clubs give children a supportive start to the school day, ensuring they are ready to learn and make the most of the opportunities schools offer. Schools … Continue reading Breakfast clubs early adopter guidance
Disadvantage gap: 9 things DfE told MPs
Here is a useful article from TES that summarises what happened when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) quizzed Department for Education officials on its strategy to close the disadvantage gap, as well as on how it allocates funding and ensures money is well spent. Read the article here.
Delay to Key stage 4 performance announcement, 2024
The DfE has released a notice stating that the publication of Key stage 4 performance, 2024 is delayed due to quality issues in data submitted by an awarding organisation which were identified in the “Check Your Performance Measures Data” exercise. The information won't be available until November - December 2024, which is after the date … Continue reading Delay to Key stage 4 performance announcement, 2024
Working lives of teachers and leaders
The working lives of teachers and leaders is an annual DfE survey of teachers and leaders in state schools in England. The survey explores teachers and leaders’: workload, wellbeing and flexible working arrangements attitudes to pay experiences of professional development future career intentions This summary presents headline findings from wave 2 of the survey, carried … Continue reading Working lives of teachers and leaders
Local authority interactive tool (LAIT)
The DfE's Local authority interactive tool (LAIT) has been removed from its website as it does not comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. They are working on a new version, but in the meantime you can still get a copy of this (very useful) tool by emailing them at request.lait@education.gov.uk with the title: ‘Send me … Continue reading Local authority interactive tool (LAIT)
Ministerial taskforce launched to kickstart work on child poverty strategy
The Prime Minister has appointed the Work & Pensions Secretary and the Education Secretary as the joint leads of a new ministerial taskforce to begin work on the Child Poverty Strategy. A new Child Poverty Unit in the Cabinet Office - bringing together expert officials from across government as well as external experts - will … Continue reading Ministerial taskforce launched to kickstart work on child poverty strategy
The King’s Speech 2024: What does it mean for education?
The new Labour government have announced a series of new bills and initiatives - this post on the DfE website summarises what's there for education, which includes: Children’s Wellbeing Bill: Making sure there are free breakfast clubs in every primary school; Limiting the number of branded uniform items that a school can require, to bring … Continue reading The King’s Speech 2024: What does it mean for education?
Government launches Curriculum and Assessment Review
A broader, richer, cutting-edge curriculum that drives high and rising schools standards and sets all young people up for life and work will be central to the government’s vision for education, as it launches its wide-ranging Curriculum and Assessment Review on 19 July, headed up by leading education expert, Professor Becky Francis CBE. You can … Continue reading Government launches Curriculum and Assessment Review
Letter from Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education
Bridget Phillipson, the new Secretary of State for Education, has written to all those involved in education, under the headline statement I’m excited to work with you to break down barriers to opportunity She goes on to say "I am determined that we will drive change together. Working with all of you, we want to … Continue reading Letter from Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education
Problems with SEND provision
Several articles focus on the issues with SEND funding - here are a few of them: Schools Week has documented the growing crisis; BBC: Councils in England are forecasting a massive shortfall in budgets for SEND; The Guardian: Record 576,000 pupils have special needs support plan in England; The Independent: Children with special needs are … Continue reading Problems with SEND provision
Climate and Sustainability Education Toolkit
The Foundation for Education Development (FED) have released a toolkit to equip teachers, sustainability leads and their teams, with the tools, knowledge and confidence they need to deliver their Climate Action Plans, which need to be in place by 2025. The toolkit is linked to the DfE's "Sustainability and climate change: a strategy for the … Continue reading Climate and Sustainability Education Toolkit
Keeping children safe in education 2024
The updated version of Keeping children safe in education is now available from the DfE (comes into effect in September). There aren't many changes, but you can read a summary by The Key of the new version. Links to both the full document and the summary are on our website on the Key Documents page.
Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision
The latest data release on transforming children and young people’s mental health provision from the DfE notes that only 44% of pupils have access to the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) programme, marking progress towards the target of 54% by March 2025. The data also shows that 74% of schools and colleges have applied for … Continue reading Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision
New RSHE guidance
The DfE has launched a consultation on its proposed new RSHE guidance: What it means for sex education lessons in schools. The guidance includes the following: Introducing age limits, to ensure children aren’t being taught about sensitive and complex subjects before they are ready to fully understand them. The concept of gender identity – the … Continue reading New RSHE guidance
