21 November 2025 weekly update

Dear Colleagues,

Staff changes

I am really pleased to share with you the arrangements for covering my post while I hold the temporary position of Interim Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education.

David Adams, whose substantive post is Assistant Director Education (South Kent) is now Interim Deputy Director for Education: Sufficiency, Effectiveness and Skills. David is managing the Assistant Directors Education (North Kent) Ian Watts, (West Kent) Nick Abrahams and (East Kent) Rob Veale, the Lead Adviser for School Improvement Michelle Stanley, the Education Services Planning and Resources Manager Ana Rowley and Head of Community Learning and Skills Jude Farrell. David will continue to be ADE (South Kent), with Area Schools Operations Officer Lee Round being the first point of contact for issues related to South Kent and Area Schools Operations Officer Nicola Phillips providing additional support.

A message from David Adams - Many colleagues will know me from my role as Assistant Director Education (South Kent), or previous county-wide interim roles. I am delighted to again have the opportunity to work with education leaders across the County, as together we face the opportunities and challenges in the sector. I appreciate that there is a lot of change in the system currently, and that brings uncertainty, but it is also allows innovation. My teams and I are keen to work with you all to drive and share positive innovation as we all strive to support children and young people achieve their very best. Please do invite me to visit your school or to meet with groups of colleagues.

Craig Chapman, whose substantive post is Assistant Director Fair Access and SEND is now Interim Deputy Director for Education: Access and Inclusion. Craig is managing Assistant Director for SEND Statutory Services Alice Gleave, Assistant Director for SEN Quality Assurance Sophie Dann, Assistant Director for School Inclusion Siobhan Price, the Interim Principal Educational Psychologist Dan Jones and the Head of Kent PRU and Attendance Service Simon Smith. Craig will continue to cover his substantive role and allocate the work to managers within his team.

Message from Craig Chapman - While I have spent most of my career in Education in KCC, my major focus on the last few years has been on supporting the improvement work that has been necessary in SEN and doing so in such a way that it strengthens existing mainstream approaches, hopefully breaking down some of the silo working that had developed centrally. I am looking forward to continuing that work at a greater pace, working with you to refine how we meet our collective duties, while being mindful of the individual challenges our unique responsibilities also bring. Please make contact if you’d like me to come and visit your schools to discuss this further.

School funding consultation extended - important to respond

This week the DfE have started to announce funding arrangements for 2026-27, with the publication of the primary and secondary school national funding formula (NFF), headlines include:

• Most NFF factors in the school budget formula are due to increase by inflation by around 2% (after the rolling in of FYE of CSBG from last year).
• Limited change to Protection factors: MPPFL (minimum per pupil funding level) and MFG (minimum funding guarantee) will be updated to include full year effect of CSBG but there will be no further inflationary increase (with the MFG expected to be set between -0.5% and 0%).

With this in mind we are extending the school budgets consultation for one final week for schools to share your views on the principles for setting the primary and secondary school budgets for 2026-27. There are three questions, one of which asks your views on whether to continue the transfer of 1.2% from the school budgets (£16.5m in 2025-26) to contribute towards supporting SEN and AP services provided to schools through the High Needs Block. In 2025-26 this has paid for nearly half of the SEN and AP support services and payments to schools (total spend was £36m) including:

• Community of Schools budgets
• Devolved AP funding
• SEN Inclusion Advisors and Inclusion support and training
• Specialist Teaching and Learning Service
• Virtual Schools Kent support

This doesn't include mainstream top-up funding for children with an EHCP where a further £30m was budgeted.

Thank you to everybody that has responded to the consultation so far. We have had a lower-than-normal response rate to this consultation, and we are keen to hear from you and your governors. Closing date has been further extended to Friday 28 November, this will be the last opportunity for you to share your views.

Please complete the school funding consultation

Responses will be discussed by the School Funding Forum on Friday 28 November 2025, and the Forum will make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Cllr Beverley Fordham who is responsible for making the decisions about the LFF.

Communities of schools; update following the first formative evaluation point

A huge thank you to all the Chairs who came together last week to evaluate the progress to date of the implementation of the communities of schools. This is a significant development to support the inclusion of children with SEN in mainstream schools and it is tremendously encouraging to have so many school leaders working together to develop a more dynamic and collaborative system; one which will evolve and develop as national policy changes and develops.

A big thank you to the many of you who submitted formal feedback and this was discussed at length. There were many areas to celebrate, such as opportunities for collaboration, school to school support, development of the local offer, implementation of the continuum of need and provision and sharing of expertise. The areas that require further development were also discussed thoroughly and are informing the next steps of the programme. These include, opportunities for moderation of decision making to inform improvement in the operational guidance, improved communication and amendments to the timeline for implementation in the light of national policy changes.

Early years

I have been updating you on the broader early years transformation work we have been undertaking across Kent services. This has included a link worker model for all providers, so that now every registered early years provider in Kent, including those within a mainstream school, has an allocated Early Years Quality Advisor, provided by The Education People’s Early Years and Childcare Service. The Early Years Quality Advisor supports:

• Reflection on current practice and identifying areas for development.
• Access to expert guidance tailored to the setting.
• Exploration of practical strategies for supporting children with SEND and diverse needs.

Developments also include the evolution of the 12 specialist nurseries to an outreach model which has increased the number of children with additional needs, families and settings that can be supported without disrupting the children’s educational provision through moving between settings and starting strong - a Kent guidance document on Ordinarily Available Provision which will support settings not just to meet statutory requirements but also to build environments where all children feel valued, supported and able to thrive. Following the publication of starting strong, there are a series of funded workshops for all early years providers in Kent.

Lunchtime leadership lounge: Mark Vickers MBE on Tuesday 25 November from 12:30pm to 1:30pm and a link to Professor Martin P Griffith’s CBE interview

This month I will be interviewing Mark Vickers MBE, Chief Executive of Olive Academy MAT who, as well as being Chair of the National MAT CEO Network for Alternative Provision and SEND, is a member of the DfE’s Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion as well as Ofsted’s External Adviser for Inclusion. Mark will be providing an insight into his career path and the experiences which shaped his leadership of the MAT and his numerous national roles.

You can register to join using this link:

• Register for Tuesday 25 November lunchtime leadership lounge

For those of you who missed the first interview with Professor Martin P Griffiths CBE, Trauma surgeon and Clinical Director Violence Reduction, NHS England, because you had an extended half term, you can now watch our first lunchtime leadership lounge

Headteacher briefings : listen to Dame Christine Lenehan talk about the government’s SEND reform plans

We were really grateful to Dame Christine for attending the North Kent briefing in person and the South Kent briefing on Teams. The Teams presentation was recorded and you can watch it on YouTube

Committees and key meetings

The Children and Young People’s Cabinet Committee took place on Tuesday this week with a very full agenda including:

• Performance monitoring (pages 13 to 76)
• 25/00086 Parkwood Hall expansion (pages 77 to 92)
• 25/00087 Broomhill Bank North expansion (pages 93 to 110)
• Kent Safeguarding Children Multi-Agency Partnership annual report (pages 111 to 158)
• 25/00065 Independent and Non-Maintained Special School (INMSS) procurement (pages 159 to 212)
• 25/00056 KCC Community Learning and Skills (CLS) Adult Education funding reform - apprenticeship programme (pages 213 to 232)
• 25/00099 Kent Commissioning Plan (pages 233 to 418)
• 25/00085 Specialist Resourced Provisions (pages 419 to 450)
• 25/00097 external tuition (pages 451 to 470)
• 25/00092 school and early years funding arrangements for 2026-27 (pages 471 to 488)
• 25/00100 in-house provision of children's residential homes - match funding (pages 489 to 510)
• 25/00093 KCC sufficiency strategy (pages 511 to 524)
• Complaints and representations report (pages 525 - 544).

Please find the comittee report pack

Cabinet took place on Wednesday and included:

• Cabinet Member updates
• 25/00095 - revenue and capital budget forecast outturn report - quarter two (pages 15 to 82)
• 25/00101 - KCC's strategic business case for Local Government Reorganisation in Kent and Medway (pages 83 to 848).

Please find the cabinet report pack and strategic business case

School and setting news

At a recent parliamentary reception hosted by NurtureUK, five Kent schools were recognised for successful completion of their NurtureUK accreditation - a huge well done to the teams at Skinners’ Kent Primary School, Riverhead Infants' School, East Peckham Primary School, Hearne CofE Infant School and The John Wallis Church of England Academy

Congratulations to the team at Grange Park Special School which has been awarded the UNICEF UK Gold Award the highest accolade of the programme.

Grow-19 one of our Specialist post 16 providers was awarded Outstanding Community Group by Tonbridge and Malling Council awards for their contributions to the local community.

Seamus Murphy, Chief Executive of the Turner School Trust is launching his new book of school improvement Why Some Schools Get Stuck and Others Don't next week. The book has had great reviews:

"I would encourage anyone embarking on leadership and moving into a challenging school to add this book to your toolkit, I think you'll find it the gem you didn't know you needed!" - Evelyn Forde MBE.

"This is one of those important books that should be a must read for everyone involved in the world of education, including teachers, senior leaders, governors, trustees and policy makers. Highly recommended!" - Dr Oluwatoyin (Toyin) Okitikpi.

And you can register to attend the launch

And finally…

I am sure you will join me in offering huge congratulations to Graham Razey OBE, former Chief Executive of East Kent College Group who has been appointed as Deputy Further Education Commissioner by the DfE. Graham has been the independent Chair of the SEND Partnership Board since it’s inception following the removal of the Improvement Notice for SEND in August 2024.

Graham has been such a challenging and supportive colleague since my arrival in Kent, but particularly through the SEND improvement journey where his wise words have always been most welcome. Graham has also made a significant contribution to our success in developing a collaborative approach in Kent’s post 16 sector through our Pathways for All transformation programme. I know it’s more a case of au revoir rather than goodbye as Graham is a Kent resident and all I can say is - DfE hold onto your hats!

With best wishes

Christine McInnes
Interim Corporate Director, Children, Young People and Education