26 September 2025 weekly update

Dear Colleagues,

Apologies again for the late distribution of last week's e-bulletin which was caused by technical difficulties which we hope have been successfully resolved.

Every day counts - celebrating Kent schools' improvements in attendance 

When I arrived in Kent in 2021, improving KCC's support and challenge to schools on attendance was a top concern raised by headteachers with me. Kent had some of the lowest school attendance in the country and it was really important that we worked together to tackle that. Since then we have developed a strong partnership between the KCC KPAS service led by Simon Smith and the school sector and attendance is on a rapid trajectory of improvement. There is some great effective and creative practice with just three school case studies included in this article and a very big thank you to colleagues from Astor Secondary School, The Marsh and Dover Christ Church Academy for sharing their work and the impact.

Attendance can be more challenging for children with SEND, but regular school attendance is one of the most important factors in helping children with additional needs to reach their full potential. This article is aimed at parents and can be shared through your parent newsletter

Please find KPAS resources on the Kelsi website.

Some recently published qualitative research undertaken with 60 year 10 students exploring attendance and their experiences of school. It includes interesting findings about pupils' seeking schools to value and offer the social and friendship components of a school community as well as the academic study, and these can be enhanced by enrichment activities.

KCC Public Health guidance 

We have included updated autumn guidance packs for managing outbreaks of:

• Gastroenteritis (PDF, 568.6 KB)
• Scarlet Fever (PDF, 165.3 KB)
• Respiratory infections including Covid-19 (PDF, 509.8 KB).

The changes to the packs are the contact details of action card 4 in the GI packs and some outdated epi removed from the scarlet fever pack, so please replace previous guidance.

Committees and key meetings 

The independently chaired SEND Partnership Board met on Tuesday 23 September. This Board reviews the Kent SEND system progress against the outstanding actions on the Accelerated Progress Plan as well as the wider improvement of the system. A decision was made to the Board's papers in future alongside the Safety Valve reports to the DfE which are already available on the KCC website

Governance and audit committee met on Wednesday 24 September to consider the Annual Report which included:

• B1. CR04-2025 - Review of SEND Assurances Rated Green, page 16 in the report

We are really pleased at this outcome from this very rigorous audit - a big thank you to all the officers involved in the improvement work to get this result as well as those contributing to the audit.

Recent national guidance 

There has been a lot of guidance published recently so this bulletin includes links to all the recent guidance.

Ofsted publications:

• Ofsted published its new inspection framework for schools which comes into force from Monday 10 November 2025. Ofsted states “When inspections of state-funded schools begin in November, Ofsted has agreed to prioritise schools that volunteer for inspection. Routine inspections will be introduced on or after 1 December, depending on the number of schools that volunteer. There will be no routine inspections during the week before Christmas, to allow for inspector training.” There are a range of supporting documents, including:
  • a schools inspection toolkit and operating guide for inspectors and a guide for schools
  • Ofsted’s response to the consultation about the new framework and school report cards
  • an independent evaluation of the wellbeing impacts of inspections and recommendations to address this (including recommendations for government - such as reducing the high stakes of school inspections) as well as Ofsted.
  • link to films about the report cards and new inspection frameworks and toolkits, plus links to those for early years, FE and skills and independent schools.

DfE publications:

• DfE’s response to the school accountability consultation. Commitments set out include:
  • online school profiles will going ahead and will be closely integrated with Ofsted school report cards
  • post-Ofsted the “default” position will be for schools in ‘special measures’ to face structural intervention but RISE teams will have flexibility to develop a comprehensive improvement plan as an option whilst for those requiring significant improvement RISE will be the default
  • the DfE’s definition of ‘stuck’ will include those rated ‘needs attention’ for leadership and governance, under the new report card framework, and previously graded below ‘good’.
• Children missing education (CME), with updates around admissions, information sharing and school attendance orders and a summary of LA, parental and school responsibilities
• RISE guidance for intervention and targeted support for schools that are in a category of concern or are seen as ‘stuck’. There is more detail about the role of the LA with maintained schools than with academies and governance guidance sets out the role of the LAs for maintained schools and the role of Regions Group of the DfE in regard to governance oversight of academies, with an undertaking to engage with the sector in developing its approach to trust-level intervention, including the process to be followed by Regions Group. Plus the DfE’s response to its consultation about accountability reforms across the school sector
• RISE universal support by region (here is the South-east page) and across themes of reception, improving attendance, improving attainment and inclusive mainstream; and for universal leadership, governance and teacher development; and for procurement. Much of this is reorganising existing materials, hubs and initiatives under the RISE banner.

Headteacher briefings

You will be aware that the next round of headteacher briefings are coming up. Ofsted colleagues will be joining all the meetings to lead a session on the new inspection framework and we are also hoping that Dame Christine Lenehan will be able to join to give her view on the government's SEND reforms.

New - Lunchtime Leadership Lounge Monday 27 October 1:05pm to 1:55pm

These are new, informal sessions that provide an opportunity to hear from leaders mainly outside of education to inspire, promote discussion and reflection in the sector. I am delighted to let you know our first guest is consultant trauma surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust, the NHS’s first Clinical Director for Violence Reduction in London and now the NHS National Clinical Director for Violence Reduction Martin P Griffiths CBE.

Register for the Lunchtime Leadership Lounge on Monday 27 October 2025

More information will follow nearer the date.

And finally ...

On Wednesday 1 October we are looking forward to welcoming DfE and NHSE colleagues who are undertaking their biannual assessment of progress and impact of SEND improvement. A significant pack of evidence has already been submitted and on the day the panel will be taking verbal evidence from professionals as well as education providers and parents and carers. Thank you to those of you who will be attending on the day.

Best wishes

Christine McInnes
Director of Education and SEN