Movers and shakers: DfE, Camden Learning, CCT, Skills Builder UK This week鈥檚 movers and shakers include an American football referee and a collector of rare 1980s vintage fragrances
SEND bailout could ‘reduce incentives to contain costs’ Leaders welcome plan to write off 90% of deficits, but warn there is ‘not currently enough money in the system’
Ofsted requests schools publish QR code with report card content Watchdog wants parents to get links to full reports to avoid ‘cherry picking’ only positive grades
Ofsted reviews data shown in special school report cards New reports currently compare metrics like capacity of special schools to other schools in their phase, not other specialist settings
Government to write off 90% of councils’ SEND deficits Local authorities will get a grant to cover all but 10% of historic deficits accrued by the end of 2025-26
Recruiter: Hire us and get EHCP applications done free Concerns over ‘troubling commodification of statutory SEND processes at a time when schools are already overwhelmed’
Revealed: DfE’s orders to councils as SEND reforms quietly begin Whitehall tells councils not to wait for the white paper or further information on deficits to get started
Councils snub alternative funding to press on with special schools Local authorities were offered the choice of continuing with projects or taking cash to boost places elsewhere
The long, lonely wait for SEND help As schools and families await the white paper, Schools Week speaks to three families who have found specialist provision hard to come by