SEND reforms
As anticipated, the government wants to see more support for children with SEND in mainstream settings. This is backed by an ‘Inclusive Mainstream Fund’ of £1.6 billion over three years, alongside a statutory duty to record and monitor SEND provision in ‘Individual Support Plans’. There is a £200 million training package, as already announced, for school staff on supporting children with SEND.
Another £1.8 billion will be invested in setting up a new ‘Experts at Hand’ service of speech and language therapists and educational psychologists which schools can draw upon.
Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCPs) will continue to exist for the most complex needs with new ‘Specialist Provision Packages’ setting out the support these children should receive.
The reforms will be implemented in three phases coming into full effect from the 2029-30 academic year onwards.
The DfE has published summaries setting out the proposals for
mainstream schools,
special and AP schools, and
post-16 settings.
A
consultation has been launched, which closes on 18 May.
Independent special schools
The DfE has
said that it intends to introduce national price bands on fees for SEND placements to independent special schools. That seems logical but we have cautioned that prices must be set at a level which is sufficient to meet the needs of children who require significant support.
See our comment.
Progress 8
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consultation has been launched on a new way of calculating Progress 8 and Attainment 8 following the decision to scrap EBacc. The DfE also proposes a new measure to better capture the progress of children who start secondary school significantly behind their peers. The aim is to recognise achievement across a tailored curriculum. This seems a positive step. The consultation closes on 4 May.
Other changes
There is a lot else in the white paper, some of it new, some of it already announced. The new bits include:
- An Enrichment Framework will be published this academic year, setting out benchmarks on what a “good enrichment offer looks like” which will be referenced in updated Ofsted inspection toolkits (P32).
- The DfE will develop a new model for targeting disadvantage funding so that the poorest children receive more support. (P44-45). ASCL has long advocated for more funding for the most disadvantaged pupils, but we have cautioned that this needs to be done through increased spending rather than redistributing existing funding with the risk of creating winners and losers. See our comment.
- Two new “place-focused missions” will be launched – Mission North East and Mission Coastal. Partnership boards will be established drawing on expertise from teachers, local leaders and the wider public. (P46-47)
- A new Pupil Engagement Framework will be published later this year “to enable all schools to measure the key factors that determine their children’s engagement in education and make improvements.” (P62)
- The DfE will work with schools and families to establish minimum expectations that support the creation of “meaningful home-to-school partnerships.” These principles “will make clear what families can expect from schools, and what schools will expect of families in return.” (P63)
- There is a plan to pilot a new Headteacher Retention Incentive “to attract and support new headteachers to stay in the areas that need them most” with an annual retention payment of up to £15,000. (P83)
- The DfE has also published a long-awaited delivery plan for Labour’s manifesto pledge to recruit 6,500 additional teachers.
All schools in trusts
The white paper also sets out plans to put “collaboration at the heart of the system by moving to all schools joining or forming high-quality school trusts.” LAs will be able to establish trusts as part of these plans. The DfE says it is “prioritising quality over pace” in making this transition. (P86)
ASCL supports the principle of schools working together in groups, sharing resources and providing mutual support, as happens across the education system already in various forms. Moving to an all-trust system is controversial, and there will be different views, but the white paper at least gives us clarity about the direction of travel.
We note that neither compulsion nor a timeline have been proposed and agree with the government’s approach of working with the sector to evolve this school landscape.