National Register of home schooled children outlined in Schools Bill
Ofsted will be given greater powers to crack down on ‘unregistered schools’ operating illegally under measures outlined in the Schools Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech.
The Schools Bill will support schools to raise standards, strengthen attendance and improve safeguarding for children wherever they are educated. It will introduce a register for children being home [...]
Ofsted to regulate independent provision for care leavers from 2023
Settings where children in care and care leavers are supported to live independently will be registered and regulated by Ofsted next year, the inspectorate has announced.
In January, the government announced that there would be national minimum standards and Ofsted-led registration and inspection for providers of unregulated accommodation for looked after children and care [...]
Social Worker in Schools project extended with DfE funding
The Department for Education has announced further funding for the What Works for Children’s Social Care Social Worker in Schools (SWIS) programme until the end of the 2021/2022 academic year.
SWIS places a social worker within a school to enable staff to work more effectively with education colleagues, children and families. The current scale-up sees [...]
Babies ‘don’t respond to facial expressions’ following COVID
Young children are experiencing problems ranging from speech and language development to making friends following the pandemic.
A report by Ofsted has revealed how young children’s communication and language development has been impacted, with many providers noticing delays in speech and language. Others said babies have struggled to respond to basic facial expressions, which may [...]
Children in receipt of free school meals twice as likely to be absent during pandemic
The absence rates of children in receipt of free school meals was more than double that of children who were not eligible in 2020-2021, Department for Education statistics have revealed.
The overall absence rate for pupils eligible for free school meals was 7.8% across the full year, more than double the rate for pupils who [...]
Register to be introduced for children not in school
Children not in attendance at school will be required to sign a register under the government’s plans for levelling up education.
The government has confirmed it will go ahead with the creation of a register for children not in school at the earliest available legislative opportunity.
While much of home schooling is done well, the government [...]
