18 July
Our CEO Mark Costello comments on the King’s Speech
I was pleased to see that in the King’s Speech and Children’s Wellbeing Bill there appears to be a renewed focus on Children and Education from the new Labour Government, this is very different from the King’s Speech of the previous Conservative Government that did not have a single piece of proposed legislation coming from the Department of Education. The Opportunities Mission and subsequent Children’s Wellbeing Bill and Skills England Bill certainly seem to signify that Children and Education are a serious priority for Labour, this can only be a positive for the younger generations, their families and the people working tirelessly in the sector.
However, there is a somewhat mix of plans that may signify a slight missed opportunity for Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and instead focus more on maintained schools and academies. There can be no real doubt that the headline measures of free breakfast clubs, a review of the National Curriculum, a register of children not in school, a reduced financial burden on parents through limiting branded school uniform and the inspection of multi-academy trusts are positive moves for children and their families; there is little of substance for children (and indeed adults) with SEND.
Hopefully as the legislative programme develops over the coming weeks and months Labour ministers will see fit to remove the barriers placed in the way of parents to accessing the right school place for their child quickly, without huge costs, administration, and lengthy court battles. The plans set out in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to give local authorities greater powers and control over school admissions and SEND inclusion is a step in the right direction, but maintained schools are not a ‘one-size fits all’ solution for all children with SEND and many such children require the very specialist services that are only provided by Independent Special Schools so the barriers to accessing these services should be removed.
The final area that has been omitted from the King’s Speech and the proposed Bills is any reform of Ofsted which has been an area of much discussion and debate in recent months and is seen as crucial to all working in Education. This reform is much needed to reduce the huge stresses caused to everyone working in education especially leaders in education settings. We must therefore hope that Ofsted has indeed been listening carefully through their ‘Ofsted Big Listen’ and this will be the catalyst for much needed change.
