School Improvement Offer

The DfE have provided guidance on what improvement support schools and trusts can get this academic year.

The criteria to get support:

• If the setting had an overall effectiveness grade below ‘good’ before September 2024, is reinspected between September 2024 and the end of February 2025 and receives a requires improvement sub-judgement in either the leadership and management or quality of education areas
• If it is judged to be ‘causing concern’ between September 2024 and February 2025
• If it was previously eligible for intervention under the former 2RI+ policy, but the plans for structural intervention were not well advanced and the DfE have informed schools in the last category that they are taking steps to revoke their academy order or remove the termination warning notice.

A school or trust that qualifies can get up to 10 days of support from a system leader. This will normally be either a chief executive officer (CEO) of a high-quality MAT, supported by their wider team or a national leader of education (NLE)

They will help the leadership team to review the improvement plan for the school and ensure actions are in place to rapidly improve the education and experience of children. Eligible schools that are part of a MAT will usually get support at trust level rather than school level. However, the school will get direct support if it is agreed that would be more effective.

If a school is eligible, the DfE will contact the school within the term it becomes eligible.