2 October 2026 weekly update

Dear Colleagues,

At this point in Term 1, schools and colleges are incredibly busy; we have moved into October, children and young people have become accustomed to their new environments, open evenings and baseline assessments are taking place and the academic year is in full swing. At the council, those same principles are being applied. With the publication of the local area Ofsted report and the SEN reforms, there is momentum to move forward with purpose with the validation that, while there is still work to do, the system is moving together in the right direction.

Schools are also thinking about their Inclusion Strategy which needs to be published on school websites by Thursday 31 December 2026. This is a new development from DfE to demonstrate how schools are planning for and delivering inclusive education in their school or setting. KCC is supporting all schools and academies with a webinar on Thursday 8 October. The webinar will be live and recorded to be held on KELSI  so that colleagues can watch later with other colleagues or within your communities. The link to the webinar is here, so please sign up

This is one in a series of Webinars which follows on from the successful programme delivered by Inclusion Champions and KCC officers throughout the last academic year (which are all available on Kelsi as recorded webinars), titled ‘Leading Inclusion Strategically’. A variety of topics is covered, including statutory information, delivered by both school leaders and KCC officers. Registration is available through the Kelsi pages

Building on previous success, we would also like to welcome school leaders to the Kent Inclusion Conference: Leading Inclusion Strategically. This is available to all schools in Kent, with a guaranteed one place per school available (mainstream, special, PRU and AP). We look forward to welcoming school leaders to a day of learning, collaboration, and reflection. Registration is open through The Education People Website. The first session will be led by Dr Claire Gadsby on the Inclusive Classroom, the second session will be delivered by Gary Aubin who will lead reflections on how lived experience of children and young people can be used to shape our inclusion strategy. We are also delighted to announce that our final session will be led by Dr Alison Ekins who is joining us for the day. This final session will support school leaders with some 'takeaways' to include in your Inclusion strategy.

Finally a reminder of Good Levels of Development EYFS Profile support – funded LA formative assessment session. Congratulations to all the children across the county who met or exceeded their targets for GLD. There is a significant amount of support available for schools to support children to meet this important milestone. Please find details of the support sessions which schools can join.

Best wishes for a restful weekend.

Siobhán Price
Assistant Director, School Inclusion