Every Child Achieving and Thriving

The Department for Education has now published its White Paper titled Every Child Achieving and Thriving, to set out the government’s long term ambitions to improve outcomes for all children. Many changes and targets will roll out in stages following consultation with the sector.

Headlines include:

• Changes to national targets to ensure every child is encouraged to achieve their potential
• Reforms to boost teacher recruitment and retention, including improving maternity pay
• Support for disadvantaged pupils, consultation on new model to target funding
• The pupil premium strategy statement will be redesigned to provide more accessible information for boards
• Expectation that all schools will join or form a high-quality multi academy trust (MAT), with local authorities also able to establish trusts
• New set of trust standards to be developed
• Parental collaboration and engagement promoted
• Consultation on requiring academy trusts to have local governance structures that include all their schools
• New digital solution to be developed for handling complaints along with new guidance
• High expectations for behaviour, but ensuring sanctions do not result in pupils losing learning time or being removed from settings without appropriate oversight
• All schools to monitor pupil belonging by 2029
• Monitoring of patterns in pupil movement that might suggest off rolling or other practices, including unlawful uses of off-site directions and managed moves.