Education Policy update for Academies and Maintained Schools

This is a part of a move towards Labour fulfilling its manifesto pledge to reform the inspection process and improve the accountability of schools. The inspection handbooks have been updated to reflect these changes before 'School Report Cards' are introduced in September 2025. The announcement also confirmed changes in the approach to 'double RI' schools and the interventions that we can expect to follow.

This announcement was followed by the (rather late) publication of KCSIE 2024. Most of the changes are light touch, including:

• A broadening of the definition of safeguarding
• A reminder for staff to be alert to the risk of child exploitation and that children may suffer harm through witnessing domestic abuse
• There is some additional content to clarify that a school remains responsible for pupils they place in alternative provision

Schools will still need to be mindful that some of the content in KCSIE 2024 remains under review, in particular relating to how to support children who are questioning their gender. While the draft wording refers to the gender questioning guidance which was due to be published before the general election, the Labour government is yet to confirm whether they will proceed with the publication (or indeed adopt the Conservative Government's approach).

On a day to day level most schools will be focusing on the changes to the law relating to pupil registration and attendance and getting to grips with recording attendance electronically and using the new national attendance codes. Senior Attendance Champions will have been appointed and given overall responsibility for championing and improving attendance and all schools will now have written school attendance policies based on the expectations set out in the guidance.

Other changes include:

• The new requirements placed on maintained schools, non-maintained special schools, academy schools and alternative provision academies to provide information about every pupil at the school to the Secretary of State (or person they specify) when requested
• The new National Framework for issuing penalty notices is now in force
• A duty is now placed on authorised staff to consider issuing penalty notices when a parent fails to secure regular school attendance of a child during a period of 10 school weeks

Shortly after the changes to the law came into force the Children's Commissioner published her report on children missing education. The report followed a detailed investigation which revealed more than 11,500 children in England went missing from education over the course of one year, many of whom have particular vulnerabilities that makes tracing them even more urgent eg having a special education need, living in an area with a high level of deprivation and those with a social worker and classed as a child in need.

The Children's Commissioner has also launched a school survey to capture up-to-date information about children's experiences of school and to drive improvements in how they receive support. The compulsory survey seeks answers from school leaders on the pastoral care available to their pupils, in-class adaptations for specific groups of children with additional needs and the variety of specialist staff employed full time. It asks questions about characteristics or vulnerabilities of pupils and how schools support these, including children with EHCPs, young carers or those with a parent or carer in prison. The survey also asks questions about emerging issues such as the prevalence of vaping, details about individual mobile phone policies and the provision of foodbanks. The deadline for submitting responses is 20 December 2024.

For support in relation to these issues please contact Victoria Guest in our Regulatory compliance team on  0117 314 5375, or complete the form below.