- Bill will help spread opportunity,
level up the country and boost our economy
- Paves way for all schools to join a
strong multi-academy trust and strengthens safeguarding
- Includes new powers for Ofsted to
act against schools operating illegally
The Schools Bill is set to deliver on the government’s mission to
raise standards across the country, increasing attendance and
improve safeguarding for children wherever they are
educated.
Education remains at the forefront of the government’s agenda
because by ensuring every child receives an excellent standard of
teaching in a high-performing setting, they will be given the
opportunity to fulfil their future potential and secure the jobs
needed to support our economy.
The bill, published today (Thursday 12 May), will pave the way
for all schools to join a strong multi-academy trust. It provides
the framework for a new, legally enforceable set of standards for
academy trusts, replacing disparate standards agreed with each
trust at the point it was created - so that parents will know
what they can expect for their children. It introduces a new
legal tool for local authorities to request some or all of their
schools join a strong academy trust, in addition to the existing
powers that individual school governing boards hold.
It includes new powers for Ofsted to gather evidence and act
against schools operating illegally, and removes loopholes that
allowed some settings not to register as a school despite having
children attend during most or all of the school week.
Subject to the passage of the bill, inspectors will gain a new
power to ‘search’ for evidence of suspected criminal activity in
relation to the rare cases of illegally operating schools,
removing another loophole where evidence could be hidden in
locked cabinets or password protected computers, out of
inspectors’ legal reach.
This bill follows the plans set out in the Schools White Paper,
including a pledge to parents that if their child falls behind in
English or maths they will receive tailored support to get back
on track, and the ambition for 90% of children to leave primary
school at the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by
2030. This will mean that every child no matter where they live
are given the same opportunities to succeed.
Education Secretary said:
“My mission is clear; I want to make sure every single child
across our country has access to an excellent education,
supporting them to reach the full height of their potential.
“Between the strengthened safeguarding measures and greater
accountability in our new Schools Bill, and our Schools White
Paper ambitions to embed evidence, tutoring and excellent teacher
training in the school system, I am confident we will achieve
these ambitions for every child.”
Other stronger safeguards the bill sets out in relation to
suspected independent school criminal activity include making it
an offence for individuals to not provide information or
assistance to Ofsted inspectors, in effect making sure Ofsted can
gather witness statements to use in evidence.
Alongside this, reforms to expand the remit of the Teaching
Regulation Agency will make sure unsuitable teachers are
prohibited from the profession, regardless of whether they were
currently teaching at the time of their misconduct.
Other safeguarding powers in the bill include a new legal
requirement for local authorities to maintain registers of
children not in school, helping make sure no child gets lost from
the education system, as well as new requirements for schools,
trusts and councils to work together to drive the highest
possible levels of attendance in every corner of the country.
As all schools join multi-academy trusts, the new statutory
academy standards will help make sure trusts themselves all
remain strong, effective and able to command public confidence.
In the rare cases failures occur in trusts, there will a clear
and consistent approach to dealing with them, as is currently the
case for schools themselves.
The bill also encodes protections for grammar schools to retain
their current status when joining multi-academy trusts, and for
faith schools to similarly retain their existing freedoms.
This Bill also delivers on the government’s commitment to move to
a direct National Funding Formula, increasing fairness by making
sure every school receives funding on the same basis, wherever it
is in the country.
This is all backed by huge government investment – core school
funding will rise by £4 billion in 2022/23 compared with 2021/22,
which represents a 7% increase per pupil. On top of this, £5
billion has been invested in the Government’s ambitious education
recovery programme, including in the National Tutoring Programme,
offering high-quality catch-up tutoring for students who fell
behind during the pandemic.
By giving every child a good education, it gives them the
opportunity to thrive and secure the jobs needed to support our
economy - and this is absolutely vital to the government’s
levelling up mission.
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