Independent Schools Law Brief - July 2022

New Requirements

We anticipate that schools started getting to grips with the new KCSIE and, where relevant, the new National Minimum Standards for Boarding before the end of the summer term. In those publications we summarise the main changes and recommend priority action to ensure schools remain compliant.

We also comment on the requirements introduced by the new Attendance Guidance, the new Behaviour Guidance and the new Searching, Screening and Confiscation Guidance which will apply to all schools from September.

We also consider the implications of the recent Supreme Court decision around holiday entitlement for part-year and variable hour workers, which will have wide repercussions across the sector and beyond.

Otherwise we are keeping track on the somewhat chequered progress of the Schools Bill, which is now at report stage. The latest version was published this week and can be accessed here.

How We Can Help

We are continually looking at how we can best support you to keep ahead of change. We are always interested in hearing your views about this.

In the hope it is useful for your new year preparations, we attach links to:

• • the slides and a recording of our webinar on preparing for the 2022/23 academic year which cover KCSIE, NMSB and Attendance and which are available free of charge  

• • our compliance toolkits - which for a modest annual fee provide our analysis of the regulatory changes and the action needed to remain compliant

• • our Practical Strategies Conference 2022 - we will be holding this in person this year, covering many of the key compliance issues from a strategic perspective, including a specific session on school inspections

• • our upcoming webinar on Brazel - implications on holiday pay 

• • our upcoming webinar on managing pupil behaviour in independent schools
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  • details of our eLearning with courses on Part 1 (for all staff) and Part 2 (for governors, leaders and managers) of KCSIE 2022 - this has been updated with reference to the 2022 version of the guidance and will help you to satisfy the staff and the new governor training requirements contained in KCSIE

For those of you who use our template policies and procedures, please note that we are updating:

• • our regulatory policy suite - we are taking bookings for policy review work over the holiday period - this will be done on a first come, first served basis

• • our Parent Contract and will send an update to users shortly

• • our employment documents and will send an Employment Contracts and Manual update shortly

• • our safer recruitment materials which will soon be available on Onstream

• • our Safeguarding Governance pack which will soon be available on Onstream

Please get in touch with us if you have any queries about any of these.

Exam Support

With public exams complete, schools are looking forward to marking their pupils' achievements when results are published next month. You can access our blog with tips to optimise post result preparations here. We will be on hand to provide any support you need. Please contact James Garside about these issues.

We look forward to a quiet summer, but this year, as seems to be the norm of late, we will be busy helping you to prepare for the year ahead. We have a team here to support you over the holiday period, so please do get in touch with us if there is anything we can do to help.

For more information and advice, please contact Tabitha Cave on 07747 075 825, or complete the form below.

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