Summer round up: what changed for schools over the summer?

Over the summer 2024 a number of changes to guidance and requirements were introduced, impacting schools. We have set out below a round up of some of these changes, and what they mean for your school.

KCSIE 2024

As expected Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024 was published on 2 September 2024. Schools need to be aware of the updates and resulting changes to be made to school policies.

One of the biggest changes to KCSIE 2024 is to the ‘Children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or gender questioning’ section which has been updated in line with the draft gender questioning children guidance. The school approach to children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or gender questioning should be cautious as there remain many unknowns about the impact of social transition, and children may have wider vulnerabilities. Families making decisions for gender questioning children should be encouraged to seek clinical advice, and schools should work in partnership with parents when supporting a gender questioning child. Schools must keep in mind that these changes remain under review pending publication of the final gender questioning guidance.

A number of changes have also been made to align KCSIE 2024 with the Working Together to Safeguard Children (December 2023) guidance. For example, the definition of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and the list of early help indicators, have been amended. Schools should be conscious that there may be a need for early help for any child who has experienced multiple suspensions, is at risk of being permanently excluded, has a parent in custody, or is affected by parental offending, and/or is frequently missing/goes missing from education, home or care.

It has also been made clear that where a pupil is placed in alternative provision the school continues to be responsible for safeguarding. Schools should therefore satisfy themselves that alternative provision placements meet safeguarding requirements and pupil needs.

Schools should be conscious that the consultation for KCSIE 2025 is already open with the call for evidence due to close on 20 June 2024. We anticipate extensive changes to be brought in next year.

Ofsted

Schools will all be aware of the great deal of changes which have been brought in by Ofsted over the last year or so. In September 2024, Ofsted published its updated school inspection handbooks as well as its deferral, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy.

The school inspection handbook is reflective of the recent announcement that schools will no longer receive a single overall grade , instead continuing to receive separate grades across “quality of education”, “behaviour and attitudes”, “personal development”, and “leadership and management”.

Academy Trust Handbook

Finally, the Department for Education has published the Academy Trust Handbook 2024. We have set out a brief overview of the changes below and trust leaders must ensure that they are familiar with the Handbook as compliance is a requirement of the funding agreement:

• the Department for Education’s digital and technology standards have been explicitly signposted in the handbook, indicating the expectation for trusts to be increasingly aware of the standards
• trusts need to meet the Department’s cyber-security standards, which are also signposted in the handbook
• the handbook emphasises that trusts must have a clear plan for managing reserves, including for trust growth and development, educational resources, estates improvements, school improvement and IT security
• for trusts with annual revenue income over £50m there is a requirement for a professional internal audit service from either an in-house internal auditor, or a bought-in internal audit service; whilst this is currently a ‘should’, trust leaders should be aware that this will become an absolute requirement from September 2025
• where a trust uses either trustees or peer reviewers, they should have qualifications in finance, accounting or audit and appropriate internal audit experience
• trusts can enter into finance leases where the lease category appears on the DfE-approved list
• the list of examples where a Notice to Improve may be issued now includes management of the school estate

If you require any support with ensuring compliance with the updated Academy Trust Handbook, including conducting an external governance review, we would be pleased to provide support.