14th February 2025
Dear Colleagues,
I am very aware that this newsletter will hit your inbox just before half term, I truly hope that you are able to use the breaks that we have to ‘fill up the reservoir’. I have been inspired during my short time here, I have enjoyed the interactions with colleagues across the Devon education landscape as we refresh the relationships between partners.
The principles of the proposed Inclusion and Learning Strategy have been shared at Devon Education Forum and with elected representatives. The strategic priorities are outlined here:
- Building Inclusive Learning Communities
- Strengthening High-Quality Universal Provision
- Promoting Belonging and Engagement
- Fostering Partnerships with Families and Communities
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Embedding Accountability and Continuous Improvement
The intention is that we use analytical questions to guide and evaluate the implementation of our strategy within our communities:
- Are children safe? Do they feel safe?
- Are children attending? Are the places of education fit for purpose?
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Are children achieving? Are we providing the opportunities and support they need to achieve?
We will be asking partners to sign up to and engage with the strategy, we will share the draft with you after half term. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts. Many of you have commented that this type of communication is long overdue, now it is time to refresh our relationships and work together better to meet the needs of our children.
I am truly optimistic that we can create truly inclusive and aspirational communities together, this collaboration is imperative during these challenging times.
Thank you for all your work, I am looking forward to meeting more of you, visiting your communities and refreshing our relationship with your schools.
Best Wishes,
Jack Newton
Interim Deputy Director, Head of Inclusion and Learning
As you may know, Devon’s OAIP Framework is now available on the website. It describes the inclusive provision and practice that all Devon schools, early years, and post 16 settings should be able to provide for all children and young people, including those with SEND, from within their own resources. This will support all children and young people to attend, engage and thrive in their educational setting.
Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision - Support for schools and settings (devon.gov.uk)
There are now some bitesize training videos available for you to use with your staff teams which explain the framework and how to use it.
OAIP: Video resources for schools and settings - Support for schools and settings
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Net Capacity Assessment Programme – updated “tranche list” document.
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School Business Professionals: Training and Development – this page has been updated to reflect the current offer of training and development support for school business professionals, including information on the bursaries, training workshops, webinars and mentoring opportunities that are available.
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School Resource Management Self-Assessment Checklist – added a link to the online form for academy trusts to submit their checklists. The form is now open.
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Leasing for Maintained Schools – updated page text and “Changes to leasing agreements for maintained schools” to reflect that IFRS 16 is now in effect.
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Leasing for Academy Trusts – added “Leasing guidance for academy trusts” and updated existing text to reflect that the IFRS 16 rules are now in effect.
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Check the Children’s Barred List – updated information on how to check the children’s barred list and the DfE sign-in account.
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School Food Standards: Resources for Schools – added link to “Breakfast Clubs Early Adopted Guidance for Schools and Trusts in England” in “School Food Standards Practical Guide”.
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Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education – updated to highlight the implications of using AI in relation to intellectual property. Also added a link to “Generative AI: Product Safety Expectations”.
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School Improvement Support – updated to include current resources available to help schools improve.
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Access Support from School Hubs – removed science learning partnerships from subject hubs as they stopped operating in August 2024, and updated information about language and computing hubs.
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Education Secretary gives Bett Show 2025 Keynote Address – Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson’s address to the Bett delegation outlining her plans to modernise education through the power of technology.
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Open Academies, Free Schools, Studio Schools and UTCs – the list of open academies, free schools, studio schools, UTCs and academy projects in development has been updated to include January 2025.
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Lifelong Learning Entitlement Modular Acceleration Programme – “The Modular Acceleration Programme (MAP)” has been updated to reflect that the date by which the programme must be completed has been extended to 31 December 2025.
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Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning (ICFP) – added a link to the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. This has a free integrated curriculum and financial planning (ICFP) tool. Added a link to the schools resource management advisor programme. Updated the “ICFP Tools” section – removed out of date resources, and updated the format of the primary and secondary school workbooks and technical guides to make them accessible.
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Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in Schools – replaced the “Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs): a guide for maintained schools and academies” guidance with an updated version. Removed the link to the AED operations team inbox as this has now closed.
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High Needs Funding – a link has been added to the national funding formula tables for 2025 to 2026. The links to the national funding formula tables for 2018 to 2019, through to 2023 to 2024 have been removed.
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School Census 2024 to 2025: Technical Information – updated “School Census 2024 to 2025: Validation Rules”.
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Identifying and Supporting Young People at Risk of NEET – how to use a risk of NEET indicator (RONI) approach to identify at-risk young people, support participation and post-16 transition, and prevent NEET.
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Get Information About Schools – updated to reflect the purpose of the service and that users need to sign in to make updates.
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Record Keeping and Retention Information for Academies – updated the link to the ESFA enquiries form. Removed links to the Information and Records Management Society’s academies toolkit, as it is now behind a paywall.
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School Funding Statistics: 2024 to 2025 Financial Year – official funding statistics: 2024 to 2025 financial year.
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SEN and Disability Duties: Guidance for School Governing Boards – guidance for school governing boards on the board’s role and responsibilities supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
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In-School Support Units – exploratory research aiming to understand the models and uses of In-School Support Units (ISU) by mainstream secondary schools in England.
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Young Adult Outcomes for Pupils with SEN – analysis of pupils who were age 16 to 17 in 2016 and their outcomes at age 19 to 20 in 2019.
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Teachers’ Pension Scheme Payments: 2024 to 2025 – added “Teacher Pension Scheme Payments: November 2024”.
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Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024: Policy Summary – policy summary notes updated with information on the government amendment tabled on 28 January 2025 regarding the teacher pay measure.
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Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Impact Assessments – impact assessments of the measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
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Claim the Academy Conversion Support Grant – updated to show the academy conversion support grant has now ended.
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Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence – information about the DfE’s new RISE advisers.
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School Accountability Reform – the DfE are seeking views on school accountability principles, school profiles and a stronger approach to school improvement through intervention for state schools across England.
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Government Sets Out Plans to Target “Stuck” Schools – Education Secretary sets out plan for a new era of school standards.
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Monitor your School Attendance: User Guide – on the “Monitor your School Attendance: Technical Issues”, the active and closed issues has been updated.
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Education Secretary Speech on New Era of School Standards – speaking at the Centre for Social Justice, Bridget Phillipson laid out plans for a new era of school standards delivering on the Plan for Change.
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Privacy Information: Education Providers’ Workforce, Including Teachers – updated the sections on “using your data when you make a complaint about education providers, children’s social care or DfE” and “using your data when you make a referral of serious teacher misconduct to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA)”.
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SEN and Disability Duties: Guidance for School Governing Boards – updated the “Further Resources” section, adding a link to “Equality Act 2010 and Disabled Pupils: A Guide for Governors and Trustees”.
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Academy Conversion: Important Dates – added key dates for schools converting to academy status on 1 May, 1 June and 1 July 2025. Removed the dates for schools converting to academy status on 1 November and 1 December 2024, and 1 January and 1 February 2025 as those dates have now passed.
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Alternative Provision – updated guidance to reflect changes in related policies and added sections on unregistered alternative provision and use of in-school units.
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Reading and Writing Boost to Drive High and Rising Standards – thousands of pupils set to benefit from a £2million investment in reading and writing, breaking down the barriers to opportunity.
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Sir Ian Bauckham Named as Permanent Chief Regulator of Ofqual – the Privy Council has confirmed the appointment of Sir Ian Bauckham CBE as Chief Regulator of Ofqual.
I am writing today to bring to your attention a matter that relates to the validity and enforcement of penalty notices issued for unauthorised school absences, mostly for holidays. As you will be aware, such absence of a child causes disruption to his or her education. Absences also contravenes the legal requirements placed on the parent by the Education Act 1996.
When penalty notices are further unpaid and proceedings come to court, it is important that schools provide witness statements to back those cases. Without signed statements, we cannot take the matter further in the legal process, which would leave us with no choice but to withdraw. This not only weakens the enforcement process but also might have a poor precedent established for other parents.
Failure to act in such cases can send an implicit message that the non-authorised absence combined with non-payment of the penalty notice does not have a serious consequence. Such thinking could compromise the concerrted efforts school make in building attendance standards and enforcement of the law.
However, we understand what pressures you are under, and we appreciate all your work in continuous support of attendance at in school. The much-required witness statement for unpaid penalty notices put forth by you is an important point in this whole process. We understand that you have built relationships with your students and their parents but this shouldn’t be the reason for refusing to sign statement of witnesses.
I encourage you to make it a priority to sign witness statements in your future cases. Together, we can ensure that unauthorised absence from education is treated seriously enough and that the law is upheld consistently. Should you have any concerns or need more clarification, please feel free to reach me directly.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and for your continued dedication in the push in making education a priority in our county.
Join Devon County Council's online support sessions for young people transitioning to adulthood!
Are you or someone you know navigating the exciting yet challenging journey into adulthood? Throughout the year, Devon County Council are hosting a series of online support sessions designed to provide valuable advice and support for young people, and those that support them.
The sessions will take place throughout the year, led by expert speakers, and cover topics such as:
- The differences between adult’s and children’s services, and the support they provide
- Training and employment opportunities
- Independent living and housing options
- Mental capacity and decision making
- Money management
- Good mental health and resilience
- Support for parents and carers
Kickstarting the series, the first session takes place on the 11 February and focuses on understanding the differences between Children's and Adult's Services, the support they give, and how this will impact you or your young person during the transition period.
For a full list of session topics, or to book your place, please visit: https://devon.cc/transitions-support-sessions
A poster for the sessions can be found here which you may want to print and display.
The Department for Education (DFE) have sent secondary schools an invitation to a free, in person conference on Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity: Transforming Attendance.
We are encouraging school leaders or senior attendance champions in secondary schools to sign up. This is intended to make a real difference to school-level practice, drawing on the latest insight, including the sector-led attendance toolkit and the principles in the Working Together guidance.
By way of background, this conference is part of the first series of planned events on school level practice. The first regional conferences are targeted at school leaders or senior attendance champions in secondary schools only - reflecting that that is where the challenge is currently greatest. The DFE completely recognise the importance of ensuring all benefit from the same messages around attendance and will be in touch about plans for LAs and/or primaries at a later date.
In the meantime, DfE’s attendance youtube channel includes links to our library of LA-focused and school best practice events.
To find out more about the South West event and secure your free place, please use the link below:
Breaking down the barriers to opportunity: South-west Tickets, Fri, Mar 14, 2025 at 9:30 AM | Eventbrite
The Devon, Plymouth and Torbay Education Alliance aims to help tackle the considerable challenges the sector is currently facing through new initiatives, improved partnership working, and collaboration amongst the region’s education providers. We recognise that by working in a more strategic, collaborative way, we will be better equipped to tackle wicked problems such as falling attendance and rising exclusion rates, which are themselves being exacerbated by worsening child poverty and associated trends such as growing neurodiversity diagnoses. Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) has been identified by the Alliance members as a key priority, and a working group has been established comprising experts from educational settings across the region. The SEMH Working Group agreed the first step should be to map support tools and strategies currently being used in schools and colleges across the region which help teachers and staff support students with SEMH needs. This information will help us understand current practice and develop guidance that can be shared with schools and colleges across the region.
We are asking schools and colleges to help us capture this information by completing a short survey. You will be asked questions about SEMH provision in your school or college. We therefore suggest that a member of staff familiar with this provision complete this survey (e.g. Head/Deputy Head Teacher, Senior Leadership Team member, SENCO). They might wish to consult with others. Please feel free to pass this survey onto a colleague in your own, or another school or college if you think they can help with our data gathering. The survey should take up to 15 minutes to complete (depending on the number of tools and level of detail you share).
The survey is here - Devon, Plymouth and Torbay Education Alliance
Thank you to those schools who attempted, some unsuccessfully due to some technical issues, to join sessions earlier in the term to understand more about this vital Police initiative. We have now shared each schools’ @admin or similar address with the UIH so that they can contact each school to create an account and you can begin the process of uploading your uniform images. Please can, over the next few weeks, schools keep an eye out for this contact, especially being mindful that, it may be sent to your junk or spam section of your email inbox. For further information, please read the attached letter.
Devon SACRE* has recently expressed significant concerns about the fall in the number of students following an examination course in Religious Studies (RS) in Devon schools. Since 2018 we have seen a big drop in numbers, with GCSE entries falling from 57.6% of Year 11 cohorts in 2018 to 25.7% in 2024. A similar decrease in entries has been seen at A level. In 2018, 12 schools offered RS A level, with 107 students entered for the exam. In 2024 only 9 schools were teaching RS at A level and the number of entrants had dropped to 56. This raises serious questions about equality issues and about the pipeline for future teachers of RE. Many schools and colleges seem to be denying students the opportunity to study a subject for which they may be specifically academically and emotionally suited to follow. Ed Pawson (Adviser to Devon SACRE)
*Standing Advisory Council for RE
To all maintained schools,
Please note that, as of 1st January 2025, our Engineering inspection Contract moved from Zurich Municipal to BES Ltd. Going forward, your Thorough Examinations will be undertaken by BES and you will be contacted by them directly, by email, to arrange your next inspection. If you have already been contacted by BES but not yet responded to their request for an appointment, I would ask that you so as soon as you are able.
If you have any queries regarding this, please contact Emily Wilkins using the details below:
Emily Wilkins
Head of Insurance
Devon County Council
Email: emily.wilkins@devon.gov.uk or insurance@devon.gov.uk
Schools were consulted at the end of last year on the transfer of 0.5% between blocks for 2025-26. This approach will protect the commitment made to the Department for Education (DfE) as part of the safety valve agreement.
The proposal supported the vision and commitments articulated in the Local Area SEND Strategy so children and young people have the opportunity to thrive with access to the right support in the right place at the right time. Devon wishes to invest further in a support offer for schools that generates the equivalent system savings rather than applying the block transfer directly to the deficit.
The 0.5% block transfer will specifically be allocated to delivering the Local Area’s strategic commitment to ‘build inclusive communities’ and safety valve condition to ‘focus on improving early intervention through strengthened universal and targeted support’. This includes investment in a collection of functions to have the greatest impact, which includes:
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direct support teams for children and young people (such as Education Keyworkers, Specialist Support Assistants)
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early years transition support for children entering reception
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training and development to implement Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision (OAIP)
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test of change approach to area SEND provision (developing local provision with schools)
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continued training and support with emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA)
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capacity to support SEND Consultations
The proposal to transfer 0.5% takes into account the dependencies of the Devon safety valve agreement. Part of the on-going transformation and change programme necessitates fresh approaches to all elements of our financial management and control including those that impact schools. Our broader ambitions relating to Early Help, closer working and increased accountability of our partner agencies also extends to our education settings which means that we are resetting our relationships and our overall strategy.
164 schools (82%) disagreed with the transfer between blocks.
Number of Schools Impacted.
101 out of 351 schools will see no impact on their budgets of a 0.5% transfer between Schools Block and High Needs Block. This is based on provisional calculations completed on 13th January 2025.
Schools Finance Group and Schools Forum
Schools Finance Group (SFG) acknowledged the depth of feeling expressed during the consultation regarding the proposal to transfer 0.5% between blocks for 2025-26. While not endorsing the proposal, SFG recognises its role in securing the Safety Valve agreement and supporting efforts to manage high needs funding sustainably, ensuring the needs of children and young people are met earlier and in the right place.
The decision remain to reject a transfer the Council will pursue the request with the DfE via a disapplication to obtain a transfer up to 0.5%, based on safety valve intervention programme and our strategy to sustainably manage our high needs funding into the future. – Against.
The Schools Forum rejected the transfer as they wished to act as a body representative of schools and leadership and additionally, as identified by SFG, “school leaders had not felt that previous investment of the block transfer had impacted on their school directly.”
There was also concern raised that the proposals would mean that some schools were being punished for the actions of others, with 0.5% representing a significant degree of funding to be taken away from schools, many of which have good practices regarding inclusion and SEND. It was felt that taking away that funding would be to the detriment of schools’ abilities to make a difference on the ground.
As highlighted with Schools Forum should the 0.5% transfer be rejected the Authoirty would pursue a disapplication request to overturn the decision as the transfer was specified currently in Devon’s Safety Valve Agreement.
On the 22nd January the Authority submitted their disapplication to the Secretary of State and the DfE along with the information shared with Schools Forum and the outcomes of the discussions held.
On the 5th February the DfE made their decision. Thank you for your request to transfer 0.5% from your schools block to your high needs block in the financial year 2025-26. After careful consideration of your application and supporting evidence, and of representations received from other local interests the minister has approved this request for the 2025 to 2026 financial year.
The Authority is now required to resubmit their Authority Proforma Tool (APT) to the DfE confirming the impact to schools funding with the 0.5% transfer.
Finance colleagues will send out an update to school’s finance staff via the Finance blog to advise on the change in funding linked to the 0.5% transfer along with ensuring the information is put on the website for school finance staff to understand the funding allocation within each school to enable them to set their 2025-26 budget.
We extend our thanks to all the schools that participated in the Hyett Education Eko STEM workshops this academic year. Your support and enthusiasm have been truly inspiring.
We are pleased to share the attached summary of the schools who participated and some of the activities they have undertaken from the workshops, which we believe you'll find valuable. We have been given indications that there will soon be more funding available for other schools to participate and will inform you through this newsletter when 25/26 applications are open.
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