Newsletters
Our Regional Improvement Plan can be found here
Our Impact Report published in March 2023 can be found here
If you would like to apply to be a SESLIP consultant, please follow this link to Kent Business Portal – KentBusinessPortal and after registering on the portal, search for Ref – SC240046 – SESLIP – DPS
Updates
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
On 17 December the government published the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
On 18 December DfE published Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Policy Summary Notes
On 3 January the House of Commons Library published a Research Briefing on the bill
On 7 January LGA published a briefing
On 7 January Barnardo’s published a briefing
A Bill to make provision about:
- the safeguarding and welfare of children;
- support for children in care or leaving care;
- regulation of care workers;
- regulation of establishments and agencies under Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000;
- employment of children;
- breakfast club provision and school uniform;
- attendance of children at school;
- regulation of independent educational institutions;
- inspections of schools and colleges;
- teacher misconduct;
- Academies and teachers at Academies; repealing section 128 of the Education Act 2002;
- school places and admissions;
- establishing new schools; and for connected purposes.
Spending on special
educational needs in
England: something
has to change
On 10 December the IFS published Spending on special educational needs inEngland: somethinghas to change
Key findings
- The number of school pupils with EHCPs has risen by 180,000 or 71% between 2018 and 2024.
- Central government funding for high needs currently totals nearly £11 billion and has increased substantially
- High needs spending has been consistently higher than funding by £200–800 million per year between 2018 and 2022
- There are large variations in identified need, funding and deficits across local authorities.
- Nearly two-thirds of the increase in spending has been driven by increased spending on pupils in special schools
- There are financial incentives for schools to seek EHCPs
- The government’s own forecasts suggest annual spending on high needs will rise by at least £2–3 billion between 2024–25 and 2027–28
- Meaningful reform will be complex and costly
Raising the bar: Improving quality, stability and opportunity for care experienced young people
On Tuesday 11 February 2025 at 10 Union St, London SE1 1SZ, NCB is organising the ‘Raising the Bar’ conference, where we will focus on enhancing the quality, stability, and opportunities for care-experienced young people.
Details
- NCB’s vision is for all children to thrive. For care-experienced young people there remain barriers to realising this vision and we are committed to working with partners across the social care sector to improve quality, stability and opportunity and to uphold young people’s rights to high quality education, employment, care and support.
- Join us in London or Manchester for NCB’s ‘Raising the Bar’ conference, where we will focus on enhancing the quality, stability, and opportunities for care-experienced young people.
- Designed for local authority commissioners, placement teams and social workers, this conference aims to foster collaboration and share best practice. This event will feature a range of expert keynote speakers, including Ofsted on the learning from the initial inspections of supported accommodation, workshops on trauma-informed practice, and the opportunity to hear from care-experienced young people themselves.
Too skint for school
On December 12 the Centre for Young Lives published Too Skint for School
Anne Longfield, Executive Director of the Centre for Young Lives, said:
- “Most children growing up in poverty regularly attend school. However, DfE data shows persistent and severe absence are much higher amongst pupils eligible for FSM. The new government’s ‘Opportunity Mission’ will be harder to deliver for as long as a significant number of children, some of them from the most deprived families, are missing school.
- “I am very encouraged that school absence is now seen by the DfE as one of the big structural problems it faces – and that reducing school absence is recognised as an important factor in the government’s mission to reduce child poverty.
- “The recommendations in this report have the potential to improve school attendance among children in poverty. That includes putting more money in the pockets of families and bringing down the cost of school. We also want to see stronger support for families, strategies from schools that recognise poverty, and better use of the DfE’s world-leading attendance data.
- “A lack of money should never stop a child from attending school. We hope the government will heed our recommendations with urgency.”
Reminders From Previous Weeks
The Staff College Festival 2025 – NOW BOOKING
The Staff College Festival 2025 runs from Monday 3 – Friday 14 February 2025.
This is an opportunity to grow your network, hear from industry experts and develop your skills, all for free – it’s The Staff College’s gift to you!
Testimonials from previous years:
“It was great to meet so many people in other areas of work. I really enjoyed attending.”
“Really insightful and made me think about how little we have moved forward and has given me more reasons to take this back to my SLM.”
“The breadth of events on offer are very relevant to my own context – refreshing! Good to hear from experienced speakers with high quality information and insight.”
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to join the 2025 festival. Click here to book.
Tools & Templates
We have produced a Regional Improvement Plan (June 2024)
On 7 January LGA published a briefing on CWSBill
On 7 January Barnardo’s published a briefing
On 3 January the House of Commons Library published a Research Briefing on the bill
On 18 December DfE published Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Policy Summary Notes
On 17 December the government published the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
On 12 December the Centre for Young Lives published Too Skint for School
On 18 November DfE published Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive – breaking down barriers to opportunity
On 14 November DfE published Children looked after in England including adoptions 2023-2024
On 7 November Ofsted published Fostering in England 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
On 31 October DfE published Resources to support new agency social worker guidance and employer standards
On 31 October DfE published Children in need: 2023 to 2024
On 24 October NAO published Support for children and young people with special educational needs
On 23 October IFS published The effect of Sure Start on youth misbehaviour, crime and contacts with children’s social care
On 9 October the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse launched its Data Insights Hub
On 8 October the Law Commission published a consultation on Disabled Children’s Social Care. The consultation is open until 20 January 2025
On 7 October Coram Voice published Disability, disparity and demand
On 4 October LGA published its school attendance support survey 2024
On 2 October, LGA published Listening and engaging with care experienced individuals: A good practice guide. Includes case studies from: Medway and West Sussex
On 18 September The Fostering Network published Out of Pocket: Fairer Fees for Foster Carers
On 16 September Ofsted published revised school inspection handbooks
On 12 September, Ofsted (and other inspection agencies) published Joint targeted area inspection of the multi-agency response to children who are victims of domestic abuse – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
On 12 September MoJ published a consultation on possible changes to the Health Education and Social Care Chamber Rules
On 10 September The Children’s Commissioner published Children Missing Education: The Unrolled Story
On 10 September DfE published Key stage 2 attainment for academic year 2023/24
On 4 September The Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium published a briefing on age disputes
On 3 September Ofsted published a detailed response to its ‘Big Listen’ consultation,
On 3 September Children at the Table published Struggling against the tide: children’s services spending 2022-2023
On 23 August Become published Still Too Far – Children in Care being moved miles from the people and places that matter to them
On 23 August Kinship published Forgotten, a report on support for kinship children’s education and mental health.
On 21 August Action for Children published Four things you need to know about the UK care system