2nd April 2025
Dear School Leaders and Staff,
As we approach the holiday break, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to each of you for your unwavering dedication and hard work in creating and supporting enriching learning opportunities for the children, young people, and families in Devon. Your commitment to fostering an inclusive and nurturing educational environment is truly commendable.
I hope you take this well-deserved break to relax and recharge, enjoying the time with your loved ones. The Inclusion and Learning team looks forward to continuing and improving our collaborative efforts in the summer term, working together to achieve even greater success for our communities.
We are also pleased to announce that we are just completing the appointment of our leadership team. We look forward to sharing the details with schools and partners after the Easter break.
Thank you once again for all that you do.
Warm regards,
Jack Newton
We know from recent s175 response's, schools are declining to utilise the current case resolution protocol. We're delighted that the partnership are seeking yours and the views of other agencies so please do take a moment to complete. Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (SCP) would like to seek practitioner views from across our partnership in relation to Conflict, Resolution and Challenge processes. We would appreciate completion of the following survey - https://forms.office.com/e/THmZnK27k7- in order for you to share your experiences and suggestions around questioning, challenging, escalating decision making and dealing with professional differences.
The survey will close at the end of 20th April 2025.
Further to the publication of the School Budget Share Calculator on the 27th of February, the Budget Notification Letter is now available on the website: Budgets - Support for schools and settings (devon.gov.uk)
Following on from the launch of Devon’s Ordinarily Available Inclusive Education Framework last summer, we are pleased to announce that the Targeted Support Framework is now available on the website.
Devon’s Ordinarily Available Targeted Support Framework - Support for schools and settings
The Targeted Support Framework (TSF) is designed to support schools and settings to implement a robust graduated approach for children and young people who need support that is ‘different from or additional to’ ordinarily available inclusive education. It is intended to support all staff, including class teachers, to consider the needs and barriers to learning a child and young person may be experiencing and plan and deliver effective support to meet these needs.
To support schools to better understand and use the Targeted Support framework, we are holding several introductory online training sessions. These will provide an opportunity to look at the framework together and consider how to use it to identify and support need. This training will equip school leaders to disseminate the Targeted Support framework across their school, federation or trust.
An Introduction to Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision - Part 2: Targeted Support Framework | DES
In our increasingly diverse Devon, schools have a vital role in creating inclusive and welcoming environments for every child. One simple yet powerful way to achieve this is by ensuring that we pronounce children’s names correctly, particularly those from ethnically diverse backgrounds.
A child’s name is a core part of their identity. It carries cultural, familial and personal significance. When we get a child’s name right, it shows respect, care, and acceptance. On the other hand, mispronunciation can make a child feel undervalued, excluded, less connected to their cultural identity, potentially affecting their self-esteem and overall engagement with learning.
Simple tips to get it right
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Induction meetings: Use the opportunity to ask parents or children how their name is pronounced. Invite them to share the phonetic spelling to help you get it right from the start.
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Starting conversations with children: Ask children directly about their name and let them know it’s fine to correct you. This sets the tone for mutual respect and understanding.
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Admissions: Before the child’s first day, make a quick phone call to the family to introduce yourself and confirm the pronunciation of their name. This small gesture shows that you value and respect their culture and identity.
Additionally, there are now many online tools to support correct name pronunciation. Google’s name pronunciation feature allows you to hear how names are spoken in different languages.
On 19th March, UK Health Security Agency updated their Tick bite prevention and Lyme disease toolkit information.
Our local toolkit (attached) explains why Ticks/Lyme deserve extra attention in Devon and the South West of England. To make things easier for you we have suggested short and long format messaging, with appropriate links, that can be cut and pasted for your communications/newsletters/social media etc. The local toolkit is offered to guide you but wording can obviously be amended as you see fit. Similar messaging will be shared widely across Devon and also into Cornwall, Isles of Scilly and Somerset, so as we use every chance to act to prevent tick bites and tick borne diseases, including Lyme disease, across the Southwest. Useful links including the UKHSA information is included within our local toolkit.
As the DfE has said that all education settings will have to nominate a sustainability lead and put in place a climate action plan by December 2025, Devon Association of Governance is holding an online (Zoom) seminar on Wednesday April 2nd at 6pm and Nicki Schantz, Climate Ambassador South West Hub Manager, will be joining us to talk about Climate Action Plans and sharing information and resources that will help.
Places can be booked by emailing dagclerk@gmail.com.
We are changing how we do things so that we can improve the outcomes and experiences for children and young people with SEND and their families in Devon.
To make sure we’re making the right changes to what we do and the way we do them, we want to hear about your experiences of our health, care and education services (including schools, colleges and other settings).
We're asking you to consider your experience based on The Four Cornerstones (the questions explain what these are), and share with us any comments or examples of what went well and what needed to be better.
Your feedback is invaluable to us, and because this form is anonymous, you can share your thoughts openly and honestly without reservation.
We really appreciate you taking the time to do this, thank you.
We would be grateful if you could share you feedback with us using this online form.
Following the discussions with regional colleagues via the School Aged Immunisation Service (SAIS) Working Group, it was clear that one of the main barriers to the delivery of school aged vaccination programmes was data sharing by schools for the purpose of a vaccine offer by SAIS teams. Some schools were reluctant to share the school class list and/or parent/guardian contact details. SAIS teams have encountered numerous challenges and without parent contact details, it has been difficult for the team to follow up directly with parents/guardians who have not returned a completed consent form. This has led to some missed opportunities for eligible children to be vaccinated on the day that the SAIS team visits the school to deliver the vaccination session.
The Children and Young People (CYP) team has engaged with DfE for support to address the data sharing issues and concerns faced by schools in terms of how General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is interpreted. Teach in sessions with DfE were delivered and covered the end-to-end vaccination process in line with the SAIS spec, and identified the pain points which impact on delivery by SAIS teams.
DfE has updated its data protection in schools guidance to make clear that schools will need to provide parent and carer contact details to SAIS teams (Data protection in schools - Sharing personal data - Guidance - GOV.UK). This guidance was updated following the issues raised around inconsistencies across schools in terms of how GDPR guidance is interpreted.
The HAF Programme is now live, lots of activities & food available for our Benefit Related Free School Meal children across Devon for 4 days of the Spring Holiday.
We are no longer using the unique HAF codes, but we have partnered with EEQU and have a centralised booking system which is a lot smoother process for parents to book their places.
We would like to thank school staff for all their work promoting HAF, getting the information to the right parents has been integral to the success of the programme.
Here is a link to the new booking system so you can see how it looks https://eequ.org/devonhaf you will see over 100 providers operating a full range of activities
Parents will now register on the system and their eligibility will be checked automatically
Here is a link to the HAF webpages with further information if you need it Information for parents and carers – Education and Families.
The Educational Psychology service continues to balance the statutory requirements for Education Health and Care needs assessments with the demand for early intervention support. Educational Psychologists play a critical role in both areas, and while statutory assessments remain the highest priority, early intervention work contributes to inclusive school communities, as well as supporting children’s needs before they escalate.
The Educational Psychology Service has some capacity to provide early intervention services to schools for delivery from September 2025. This will be available for purchase on the Devon Education Services shop from 22nd April.
The support includes two offers.
- School Review Consultation:
- Focused on addressing whole-school priorities and challenges regarding SEND and inclusion.
- Includes collaborative discussions with multi-agency representatives, considering evidence-based interventions at various levels.
- Helps to identify the needs of vulnerable groups, create action plans, and outline additional services.
- Provided free of charge as part of the Inclusive Communities core offer.
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Psychology Works Services:
- Offers consultations to address specific concerns from staff or parents linked to individual pupils or cohorts, creating shared goals and intervention plans.
- Provides tailored training on diverse subjects, designed to meet settings' needs.
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Individual or group supervision available to support staff well-being and promote effective decision-making.
- Services are purchasable (primary schools: up to 2 days, secondary/special schools: up to 4 days) at £627 per 6-hour day.
To ensure a smooth and equitable process, we ask that all schools place their orders between 22nd April and 9th May. Requests from schools currently working with us will be prioritised. Requests from prospective schools will then be considered based on availability. Orders will be confirmed by 6th June.
We will not be able to accept any more requests after 9th May.
Demand is likely to outstrip capacity meaning that we cannot guarantee that all requests will be fulfilled.
This support offer is open to all mainstream schools and Local Authority maintained/academy/ Free Special schools. Unfortunately, we cannot support the independent sector currently.
We look forward to working with you.
Devon SCP would like to seek practitioner views from across our partnership in relation to Conflict, Resolution and Challenge processes.
We would appreciate completion of the following survey - https://forms.office.com/e/THmZnK27k7 - in order for you to share your experiences and suggestions around questioning, challenging, escalating decision making and dealing with professional differences.
The survey will close at the end of 20th April 2025.
Many thanks to those of you who have completed the survey already after it was initially circulated last month.
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The Education Secretary’s speech to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) conference – please read the speech plus a helpful Schools Week summary with some additional information.
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Supervised Toothbrushing for Children to Prevent Tooth Decay – programme will reach up to 600,000 children in most deprived areas.
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Sustainability Leadership and Climate Action Plans in Education – updated to include information about developing and storing your climate action plan and the Let’s Go Zero national campaign.
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Holiday Activities and Food Programme – added “Holiday Activities and Food Programme 2025” and “Holiday Activities and Food Programme 2025: S31 Grant Determination Letter”.
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Apply to Become an Academy – updated with the latest version of the “Special School Application to Convert to Academy Status” form.
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Meeting Digital and Technology Standards in Schools and Colleges – wireless network standards for schools and colleges – updated the guidance on how to meet the latest wireless network standards and the associated technical requirements. Added extra information on how to ensure a fully functional signal from a wireless network.
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Teachers’ Pension Scheme Regulations: 2024 Proposed Amendments – added “Teachers’ Pension Schemes (Amendment) Regulations 2025: Consultation Response” and “Teachers’ Pension Schemes (Amendment) Regulations 2025: Statutory Instrument”.
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Managing Asbestos in Your School or College – replaced AMAP team contact details with a link to the DfE contact page in the “Overview” section.
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Access Support from School Hubs – removed the document “Teaching School Hubs and has been replaced with an updated version.
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The Impact of School Absence on Lifetime Earnings & The Link Between Attendance and Attainment - The Department has published two reports on school attendance this week, the first report looks at the impact of school absences of over lifetime earnings and the second examines the link between attendance at schools and pupil attainment.
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Academies Chart of Accounts and Automating the Accounts Return – updated to reflect that academies Accounts Return (AR) 2023 to 2024 submission deadline has now passed. Also updated “Academies Chart of Accounts: Account Code Guidance 2024 to 2025”.
- Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Policy Summary Notes and Impact Assessments – The Policy Summary Notes have been updated to reflect the Bill as amended in the House of Commons and the Impact Assessments of the measures included in the Bill
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Phonics Screening Data Collection: Technical Specification – the technical specification has been updated. Full details of the changes can be found in the version history.
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Academies Accounts Return – updated to show the deadline to submit the accounts return for 2023 to 2024 has now passed.
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Pupil Premium – updated “Pupil Premium: Overview” attachment to include the per pupil rates and payment dates information for the 2025 to 2026 financial year and updated “Using Pupil Premium: Guidance for School Leaders”.
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Curriculum and Assessment Review: Interim Report – an independent review of the curriculum and assessment system in England, with statistical analysis. Becky Francis and review team publish their initial findings and set out the next phase of work which will focus on four key areas.
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Schools’ Costs: Technical Note – added “Schools’ Costs: 2024 to 2026”.
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Young People to Benefit from Creative Education Boost – new package announced to support young people to access high-quality arts education and enrichment activities as well as AI and tech opportunities.
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Privacy Information: Children, Young People and Care Leavers – added “Section 13 – using your data when you make a referral of serious teacher misconduct to the TRA” to “Privacy Information: Children and Young People who are aged under 18 and not in mainstream education, and care leavers aged up to 25”. Also updated the formatting to make the document easier to read. The same information as been added to Key Stage 4 and 5 and Adult Education.
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Your Information Rights when DfE Collects Your Personal Data – your information rights under UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) when the DfE collects your personal data.
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Monitor Your School Attendance: User Guide – added the “Attendance Summary Reports” section to the “Monitor Your School Attendance: User Guide”.
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Families First Partnership Programme – guidance for safeguarding partners on implementing family help, multi-agency child protection and family group decision-making reforms.
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Pupil Absence in Schools in England: 2023 to 2024 – statistics on the levels of overall, authorised and unauthorised absence in state-funded schools.
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Data Protection in Schools – record keeping and management – guidance has been added to help create a data retention schedule.
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Narrowing the digital divide in education - Consultation launched on plans to make digital standards a requirement for all schools, alongside £45 million investment to improve connectivity
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Great British Energy to cut bills for hospitals and schools - Great British Energy’s first project will put rooftop solar panels on 200 schools and 200 hospitals – cutting energy bills.
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Make a Claim Through the Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) – replaced “Local Authority Maintained Community Schools: RPA Membership Rules”, “Voluntary Aided, Foundation and Foundation Special Schools: RPA Membership Rules” and “Voluntary Controlled Schools: RPA Membership Rules” with updated version for the financial year 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.
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Political Impartiality in Schools – the political impartiality in schools guidance has been updated to remove a foreword from The Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi.
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Connect the Classroom – updated with information on funding for the 2025 to 2026 financial year.
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Pupil Premium and Recovery Premium Evaluation – an evaluation of pupil premium and recovery premium.
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RISE Teams – an update on the targeted and universal RISE team offer, and list of RISE advisers
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School Capacity in England: Academic Year 2023 to 2024 – statistics on state-funded school places in England, as collected in the 2024 school capacity survey.
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Academy Transfers: Information for Academy Trusts – added “Commercial Transfer Agreement Model: Outgoing Academy Trust Ceases to Operate” and “Commercial Transfer Agreement Model: Outgoing Academy Trusts Continues to Operate” for use in academy transfer cases.
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£740 million Allocated for 10,000 New Places for Pupils with SEND – new SEND places to create more inclusive classrooms in mainstream schools, delivering on Plan for Change to break down barriers to opportunity.
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School Capital Funding – added “School Capital Funding Allocations for 2025 to 2026” and “Condition Funding Methodology and Spend Guidance 2025 to 2026”. Updated “Condition Funding Grant Determination”. Page text updated to reflect this.
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