A crackdown on off-rolling pupils, a call for standalone schools to join or form MATs and changes to the admissions code are among major plans unveiled in today’s schools white paper. Bridget Phillipson’s 120-page document “sets out a vision for education for the next decade”. Titled Every child achieving and thriving, the lays out plans to overhaul the education system with a focus on boosting attainment for all children. Here, we’ve pulled together all the key proposals that affect schools and academies. For all the key SEND policies, click here. 1. Fair banding will need to be more transparent Labour will consult on changes to the admissions code to 鈥減romote fairness for all families, particularly the most disadvantaged and children with additional needs鈥 later this year. Among the proposals are requirements for schools to give parents more information about decisions on in-year admissions. It also plans to change how fair access protocols are managed by councils but did not provide specifics. 鈥淔inally, we are making the operation of banding arrangements clearer by requiring schools to set out more details about how their arrangements work in practice and tightening the rules that ensure banding produces representative intakes,鈥 the white paper said. 2. Off-rolling crackdown The government has promised to 鈥渟trengthen scrutiny of all pupil movement鈥. It will do this by launching a new internal dashboard that identifies school-level trends 鈥渢hat could suggest off-rolling or other concerning practices, including off-site direction and managed moves鈥. Officials will then 鈥渇ollow up on a targeted basis with responsible bodies to understand and challenge where there are possible concerns鈥. They will 鈥減ay particular attention to schools where SEND, free school meal or demographic trends appear significantly out of sync with their local context鈥. The department will also try to share more timely pupil movement data with Ofsted to help it identify 鈥渦nacceptable鈥 practice. Where this is unearthed, schools will likely be issued with an 鈥榰rgent improvement鈥 grade. This would normally lead to intervention. 3. Standalone trusts ‘challenged’ to defragment system The government wants all schools to join or form trusts. Councils and local area partnerships will also be given the power to launch their own chains. To help manage potential conflicts of interest, restrictions on local authority involvement in the day-to-day running of their trusts will be introduced. Pointing to the number of single-academy trusts in deficit, the document posed a 鈥渃hallenge to our best standalone schools鈥 to partner with others and make the system less fragmented. Recognising the role local authorities play in 鈥渟afeguarding, supporting and promoting the welfare of all children in their area鈥, ministers will also 鈥渟trengthen and clarify鈥 how they should work with academy chains. 4. More big trusts? The government will prioritise 鈥渜uality over pace鈥 when moving schools into trusts. It will welcome those 鈥渢aking steps to meet the aspirations set out in this white paper, from embedding inclusion to tackling the attainment gap鈥. It noted there will be 鈥渁 degree of flexibility on size鈥 to reflect the different characteristics of local school landscapes鈥. The government has not set a deadline for all schools to be in trusts, nor said whether any high-performing schools will be forced to participate. 5. Trusts judged on community work Trust commissioning guidance will be updated. Among other things, a new 鈥減illar focused on community collaboration鈥 will be added. The Department for Education will encourage trusts to provide updates on 鈥渉ow they have supported stronger outcomes in their community role through annual public benefit reporting鈥. They will be held to account on this through MAT inspections. It will also consult on requiring trusts to have governance structures that 鈥渋nclude all their schools, hold annual parental forums, and ensure boards hear directly from parents and school communities鈥. 6. MAT inspections to cut school visits? Ofsted has previously announced it will introduce trust inspections. The white paper said the checks will focus on 鈥渁ssessing quality, rather than checking for compliance鈥 and prescribing certain approaches. The government hopes the checks will 鈥渞educe the burden of school-level inspection鈥. Schools will be able to be transferred out of underperforming trusts. Ministers will 鈥渁lso explore using existing provisions to require an underperforming trust to strengthen its governance or engage with external support鈥. 7. Pooling transparency The white paper added that the pooling of trusts’ resources 鈥渃an unlock innovation and maximise value for pupils鈥. To support this, DfE will 鈥渋mprove arrangements for transparency where resources are being pooled and illustrate where this is being done effectively鈥. Among other things, this will offer parents and communities greater clarity, the document said. 8. 鈥楨xcessive鈥 CEO pay clampdown On the controversial issue of trust CEO pay, the government said some academy chains have signed off on 鈥渉igh salaries鈥. It vowed to 鈥渢ighten鈥 rules in the academy trust handbook by requiring wage hikes to be 鈥減roportionate and justified鈥. It hopes this will 鈥減revent excessive increases for individuals carrying out broadly similar roles鈥. 9. ‘Essential鈥 local partnerships The white paper argued it is 鈥渙nly through collaboration between all the local services that touch on a child鈥檚 life that we can expect to deliver the improvements we want to see鈥. But until now this 鈥渉as been seen as optional rather than essential鈥. The government plans to create a new model of local partnership and shared accountability that binds the likes of councils, schools, integrated care boards and police 鈥渁round the aim of delivering shared outcomes for children鈥. 10. Funded work with early years To support children鈥檚 transition into reception, the government will 鈥渇und partnerships between early years settings and schools鈥. Staff from both settings will be expected to spend time with each other and share knowledge. The government will 鈥減ublish and share best practice鈥 from schools that effectively support children into reception鈥. 11. RISE KS3 alliance The white paper noted the transition from primary into secondary remains difficult for too many children. To improve this, it will launch a key stage 3 alliance. It will help schools to collaborate on issues including the critical transition from primary, teaching and curriculum, attendance, and strengthening data at KS3. This will be overseen by the DfE鈥檚 RISE improvement teams. 12. National blueprints As part of its work to tackle entrenched disadvantage, the government will launch two place-focused schemes, called mission north east and mission coastal. The former will 鈥渇ocus explicitly on radically improving outcomes for white working-class children鈥. The other mission will focus on disadvantaged coastal communities. The programmes will bring together schools facing similar challenges and develop strategies for improvement. The DfE hopes they will provide a 鈥渂lueprint for change nationally鈥. 13. Attendance targets The government has set the sector the target of improving attendance to over 94 per cent. This is 1.3 percentage points over levels seen in 2023-24. Officials estimated this would equate to children attending 20 million more days of school each year from 2028-29. 14. Reintegration after suspensions Guidance on behaviour in schools will also be updated. So-called reintegration support partnerships will be launched, too. They will involve a formal meeting between parents and schools following a suspension 鈥渓eading to an agreed plan and responsibilities鈥. 鈥淪chools that already do this well use these meetings to bring together schools, families, and relevant parties to co-develop strategies focused on collective responsibility for early intervention and behaviour improvement,鈥 the white paper said. The DfE will consult on a proposed model and 鈥減rovide supporting good practice resources and case studies as part of the refreshed statutory suspension and permanent exclusion guidance鈥. 15. Ofsted to assess enrichment from autumn The DfE has already announced plans for new enrichment benchmarks which schools will be judged on by Ofsted. The white paper reveals an enrichment framework will be published this academic year, setting out benchmarks “on what good enrichment looks like”. Ofsted’s inspection toolkits will then be updated in September, to take account of these benchmarks. 16. Reforms to be ‘carefully sequenced’ The reforms set out in the white paper are wide-ranging. Schools will be given a minimum lead-in time to roll out any relevant changes. The DfE will work with the sector to assess what timeframe should be given for various changes. Reforms will also be rolled out in “a sequenced, phased and manageable way”. Implementation will come in three overlapping phases: “aligning to best practice” from 2025-26, preparing for SEND and curriculum reforms from 2026-27, and “full implementation” from 2028-29. 17. New model for measuring disadvantage The white paper confirms the government plans to “develop and test a new model for targeting disadvantage funding”. As revealed by Schools Week, government is specifically looking at using income data, rather than the “binary metric” of free school meals eligibility, to assess which pupils attract extra funding, the white paper said. It added that a “stepped model” could “take into account how low family income is, and for how long this has been the case”. The government is also considering whether to target funding “based on the placea child lives, as well as their individual family economic circumstances”. A consultation will be held this summer. 18. Struggling schools to get help with pupil premium strategies New pupil premium strategy reviews will be held for schools needing extra support with helping disadvantaged pupils. The white paper said the government-funded reviews would be delivered by “sector experts”, giving “tailored advice to help schools plan, implement and evaluate improvements to their pupil premium strategy”. It does not say how schools will be deemed eligible. 19. Pupil engagement framework to be drawn up… A new pupil engagement framework is to be developed, with help from pupils, parents and schools. When published later this year, it will allow all schools to measure “the key factors” that determine pupils’ engagement in eduction, and make improvements. “By 2029, we expect every school to monitor pupils鈥 sense of belonging and engagement”, the white paper said. Currently around 60 per cent of schools report they measure factors around this. 20. …and parental engagement guidance The government also plans to design “minimum expectations on parental engagement”. The principles will “make clear what families can expect from schools, and whatschools will expect of families in return”. It will aim to increase consistency around relationships between schools and parents and create “a strong school culture”. 21. New way of handling parent complaints The government will create “a new digital, accessible solution for handling complaints” to simplify the process, and improve coordination and data collection. It comes as analysis shows there has been a huge recent rise in parental complaints to schools. The DfE will also set out “mutual expectations” for handling complaints, including “clear and consistent timeframes for resolving complaints, to help schools with managing expectations while ensuring that families feel reassured”, the white paper said. 22. National monitoring of abuse of teachers Assaults on school staff 鈥渁re rare but rising, and totally unacceptable鈥, the white paper said, so the government plans to improve the way abuse of school staff is monitored. It will support the sector to collect 鈥渕ore thorough and consistent鈥 reporting of incidents, and 鈥渃onsider the case for national monitoring鈥. 23. 6.5k pledge plan detailed A much-awaited document published alongside the white paper also detailed how progress on the government’s pledge to boost secondary, special school and college teacher numbers by 6,500. It detailed strategies to boost recruitment and retention. Among these is 鈥渆xploring鈥 how the future high potential initial teacher training scheme 鈥撀爎un by Teach First 鈥 could be expanded to FE colleges. Flexible working will be promoted through its RISE programme, especially for returning mothers. The white paper also sets out plans for improved maternity pay for teachers. 24. Plans to boost teacher retention The white paper also said a new teacher retention programme will launch in the autumn. It will see best practice on flexible working shared across the sector, and “provide peer support, coaching and resources” so schools “learn from each other on managing workloads and expanding flexible working”. 25. One-stop shop for school support聽 The white paper laid out plans to 鈥渂uild a new one-stop-shop digital platform for schools鈥. It will signpost 鈥渜uality-assured support to empower smart investment in data-driven, evidence-led self-improvement鈥.聽 It will help diagnose schools鈥 strengths and weaknesses, and allow them to benchmark their performance against similar institutions. It will also help leaders 鈥渘avigate towards high鈥憅uality, trusted support鈥 from high-performing schools and trusts, commercial programmes and RISE hubs. 26. Work with EEF聽 DfE will work with the Education Endowment Foundation 鈥 which is run by Becky Francis, who led the recent curriculum review 鈥 so more schools can access its 鈥渉igh-quality research on what works to improve academic progress and attainment鈥. To help with this, the department will also support networks and organise conferences. 27. Call to action The white paper also issued a 鈥渃all to action for the sector鈥 asking the 鈥渂est鈥 leaders to step forward 鈥渨ith their ideas to innovate across a range of new areas鈥. It is hoped this will amplify the impact of leaders鈥 work and 鈥済ive them the platform from which to lead鈥. Officials have not defined what this support will look like as they want the sector to shape it. But they want it to focus 鈥渂ig system challenges that reflect the core themes of this white paper鈥, like the barriers preventing pupils with SEND or from poorer backgrounds from accessing enrichment opportunities. 28. AI safety and quality standards The DfE is working with the sector to build 鈥渃lear principles鈥 on the use of AI in schools. It will develop 鈥渟overeign education benchmarks to assess the safety and pedagogy of AI in education鈥, by working with 鈥渁 taskforce of educational experts鈥. This will 鈥渇irmly guide technology companies鈥 to create tech that supports children鈥檚 outcomes . 29. Focus on ‘excellence in leadership’ The white paper lays out a targeted package of interventions for 鈥渆xcellence in leadership鈥. As part of this, the government said it will review the Headteachers鈥 Standards to make sure they 鈥渞eflect key expectations鈥, and capture and share examples of best practice. It has also pledged an extra 拢500,000 a year for improved early headship coaching, which the government said will reach around 500 more heads, particularly from disadvantaged areas. Newly appointed headteachers will also be offered retention payments of up to 拢15,000 to work in certain areas under a planned pilot. The pilot will begin next year, and aims to help heads 鈥渟tay in the areas that need them most鈥. 30. In-person training for SBPs A new regional in-person training offer will be rolled out for school business professionals (SBPs), to help equip chief financial officers and school business managers 鈥渨ith the knowledge, skills and tools鈥 to help 鈥渄rive best value鈥. 31. 鈥楧ata spine鈥 to be created The government wants school information to 鈥渇low seamlessly鈥 so insights can go directly to teachers, leaders and parents and not be 鈥渓ocked within individual systems鈥. To deliver this, it will develop a so-called 鈥渄ata spine鈥 that will provide a 鈥渟ecure, privacy-respecting and streamlined way to connect and share information across different systems in education鈥. This will include pupil records, attendance, progress and assessments figures.