24th October 2025
As part of our ongoing commitment to share with you details of the Inclusion and Learning Redesign. We can now confirm Phase two of the restructure has been completed. Our extended leadership team is in place, and we have appointed our Inclusion Partners and Inclusion Support Workers. We will share the structure with you shortly.
Education Quality & Inclusion Teams
Each Education Quality & Inclusion Team is led by a Head of Service, supported by Services Leads and Teams Leads. We have shared the Extended Leadership Team structure chart below. Working in our three localities of Exeter & East, North & Mid and South & West. Each school will have a named Inclusion Partner; we are finalising the allocation of these partners in the next few weeks and will share this structure as soon as possible after half-term.
Education Quality & Inclusion Locality Teams will deliver a place-based approach to supporting the vision in the new Inclusion & Learning Strategy and the Local Area SEND Strategy to build inclusive learning communities. The functions in the locality teams include early years and childcare, school effectiveness, attendance, inclusion (section 19 duty), Elective Home Education (EHE), Children Missing Education (CME) and support and advice on special educational needs & disabilities (SEND).
We have been establishing models of working together, clarity on new roles and responsibilities within education and across services. It’s important for us all to recognise that we will need to continually develop this role together and for individual colleagues this is a new way of working. Working closely with our settings, we can develop a service that can build inclusive learning communities across Devon.
Our work will focus on ensuring every child and young person can access learning and participate fully in educational settings, breaking down barriers relating to SEND, attendance and exclusion. We will be using shared datasets to support collaboration between settings and with our locality teams.
Thank you for your ongoing support and cooperation. Have a well earned rest during half term, you have definitely earned it.
Jack Newton (Deputy Director, Head of Inclusion and Learning) and Kellie Knott (Deputy and SEND Strategic Director)
As we continue the re-design of our Inclusion and Learning service, we understand that this may raise questions about the availability of the Traded Services your school has purchased.
Please be assured that we are committed to fulfilling our current service agreements wherever possible. We recognise the importance of these services to your school and will keep you informed throughout the term as we navigate this transition.
In instances where we are unable to fully deliver a service as agreed, we will notify affected schools promptly. Any unused portion of the service will be refunded once delivery has concluded. Further details about the refund process will be shared in the new year.
We would also like to reassure you that the following service areas are not affected by the re-design:
- Schools Library Service
- Outdoor Education
- Dartmoor Centres
- Music
- Governance
- Schools Finance
- GDPR/Data Protection
- HR One
- Health & Safety
- Payments and Revenue
- Recruitment advertising
- Safer recruitment services
- Payroll
- Media and PR
- Mediation
- Legal
- Trade Waste
- Devon Assurance Partnership
We appreciate your understanding and continued support during this period of change. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
I am pleased to share the outcomes of the recent Free School Meal (FSM) Auto Enrolment Process. This successful collaboration is another example of what we can do when we work together to improve outcomes for our children and young people.
Through this targeted initiative, we have:
- Identified 1,079 pupils who were entitled to FSM but not previously receiving it.
- Achieved a 99% retention rate, with 1,064 pupils successfully registered for the October School Census.
- Secured just under £1.5 million in additional pupil premium funding for schools and families.
- Delivered the process within a tight timeframe, thanks to the strong support and responsiveness of schools.
This work has helped ensure that eligible children receive the support they deserve, while also maximising funding opportunities for schools.
We will be running the FSM Auto Enrolment Process again in preparation for the October 2026 School Census. In addition, we are moving towards implementing this process on an ongoing basis, allowing us to identify and support eligible pupils throughout the year.
Further guidance and timelines will be shared in due course to help schools prepare and participate effectively.
Thank you once again for your continued cooperation and commitment to supporting children and families in your communities. If you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
From the 25/26 academic year, we will no longer post vision-screening letters to parents/guardians of children in Reception.
Instead, we ask schools to email or upload a supplied information letter and leaflet to parents/guardians, along with the date of our visit.
The opt-out process for parents remains the same. Any questions please email
plh-tr.schoolvisionscreening@nhs.net. Thank you for your continued support.
Following concerns around increasing use of Ketamine in our communities, a task and finish group from the Drugs and Alcohol Strategic partnership identified that the sector would benefit from raising awareness about Ketamine to support a harm reduction approach.
This resource was compiled by the education safeguarding team as part of their One Minute Guide series primarily aimed at school staff. Please do send this onto your staff for use: No.70 Ketamine - Support for schools and settings
Following the DfE announcement opening the second round of school-based nursery funding; as previously advised, schools are required to complete a School Based Nurseries Proposal - LA Consultation Form and return it to SBN@devon.gov.uk by the 6th of November.
If your proposal requires:
- for Maintained Schools; a non statutory consultative process or;
- for Academies: a Significant Change consultative process
then it would be helpful if you are able to complete and submit the LA consultation Form (via the link above) by the earlier date of Friday 24 October. This is to allow sufficient time for the Early Years and School Place Planning Teams to review the proposal in order that schools and trusts can complete the required minimum three week consultation with key stakeholders in time to meet the DfE deadline for applications which is by 5pm on 11 December.
The DfE have stated that, where applicable, applications will not be accepted unless a consultation has been completed prior to the application closing date. Please email SBN@devon.gov.uk if you would like any support with the consultation process, documentation and circulation.
Devon County Council (Public Health), in partnership with Togetherness, offers families, adults, and children, free access to online learning courses, to better understand and manage emotional health and relationships in daily life.
As a proud sponsor of the Solihull Approach online learning pathways since 2020, we invite you to visit the new website from Tuesday 14th October 2025: https://togetherness.co.uk/mul/cornwall-and-devon/.
As a first-timer or a return user, there are a wealth of resources, to access at your own pace. All you require is a Devon or Cornwall postcode and the access code TAMAR.
Please share this throughout your professional networks, service users, and with anyone else that you think may be interested!
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