Updates, News & Resources
Thank you – End of the 2025/26 Year
Dear Governor / Trustee
As today marks the end of another academic year, Governance Services would like to extend our thanks and appreciation for your dedication, commitment and invaluable contribution to the schools and trusts you serve.
This year has been a busy one and there have been many challenges, but also many opportunities for celebration. Your continued strategic leadership, support and constructive challenge makes a significant difference to our schools and enables our children and young people to thrive.
On behalf of the team at Governance Services, thank you for your continued support and the dedication, time and expertise to your roles. We hope you enjoy a well deserved rest over the summer and look forward to working with you again in the new academic year and continuing to support you.
Most of the team will be enjoying a well deserved break after today, however, if you do need any advice or support, please do reach out to governance.services@bolton.gov.uk or rachael.worthington@bolton.gov.uk
Updated DfE careers guidance
The DfE has released its annually updated careers guidance. The guidance does not include any changes to legislation or statutory duties, though does strengthen expectations in key areas.
Key changes reflected in the update are around:
- reform to work experience,
- reforms to qualification and skills,
- new national data on provider access, and
- updated inspection framework for Ofsted.
The guidance can be downloaded directly from the www.gov.uk website using the following link.
Should boards wish to obtain a further copy of the role descriptor to support the Careers Information, Advice and Guidance linked governor, they should contact their clerk directly.
DfE guidance to support SEND reform
There has been new guidance released by the DfE to help schools and trusts understand expectations across key areas of SEND reform. The proposed changes set out by the government in February are wide ranging and further guidance has been released in several areas, including:
The guidance and resources can be downloaded directly from the www.gov.uk website using the links above.
Our training programme will be updated to reflect the changes and more detailed updates will be shared directly with boards in due course, including through our Autumn term partnership forum which can be booked here.
DfE Enrichment Framework
The DfE has published a non-statutory enrichment framework to support schools to plan, review and strengthen their enrichment offer.
The framework sets out 5 categories of activity and 8 benchmarks to evaluate the offering in place. There are also resources such as case studies and practical tools to support schools.
Enrichment opportunities and provision will continue to be considered by Ofsted within the personal development judgement. It has been confirmed that schools do not need to meet the framework to achieve an expected grade or above.
The guidance can be downloaded directly from the www.gov.uk website using the following link.
Ofsted inspection updates
Ofsted have published their annual updates to the education inspection materials under the renewed framework. These updates will apply to inspections from September 2026.
Some of the key changes include:
- the creation of a statistical model that groups similar schools together. This will be used to provide additional information to help inspectors compare achievement to schools with a similar context and to look at data over time.
- the introduction of the term ‘leaders who have an inclusion role’. This reflects that inclusion goes beyond SEND and therefore leadership for inclusion goes beyond the SENCo.
- further information regarding the renewed methodology and learning walks.
We will continue to provide updates to ensure boards are aware of the changes.
PE and Sports Premium in Primary Schools
It has been announced that the government will be investing over £1 billion in school sport over the next three years.
This investment will include funding a new Partnerships Network, which is anticipated to be up and running from Spring 2027. The Partnership Network will replace the existing PE and Sport Premium and what is described as the current ‘one size fits all’ model.
There has also been commitment of almost £200 million to be used towards improving school sports facilities and support for primary schools.
Further information around the plans can be found in the press release here.
New DfE Guidance on suspensions and exclusions
There has been updated guidance released by the DfE regarding suspensions and permanent exclusions in schools. The guidance will come into effect from 26 July 2026 and replaces the current guidance.
Key changes in the guidance are around:
- Removals for safeguarding reasons,
- off-site directions and managed moves, including consistent rules across maintained schools, academies and PRUs,
- enhanced data monitoring expectations for governing boards,
- a crackdown on off-rolling, and
- further clarity around holding of meetings of the pupil discipline committee.
The guidance can be downloaded directly from the www.gov.uk website using the following link.
Our training will be updated to reflect the changes and more detailed updates will be shared directly with boards in due course.
NGA’s Annual School and Trust Governance Survey 2026 is now open
The NGA has launched its 16th Annual Governance Survey. This is the largest survey of its kind and provides a unique insight into the experiences, challenges and priorities of governors, trustees and, for the first time, governance professionals across the country.
The survey takes around 15 minutes to complete and closes on Tuesday 30 June.
New requirement to have a process in place for handling data protection complaints
From 19 June 2026, all organisations in the UK are required to have a process in place for handling data protection complaints.
Schools must:
- Give people a clear way of raising data protection complaints
- Acknowledge a complaint within 30 days of receieving it
- Take appropriate steps to respond without undue delay, including making relevant enquiries and keeping complainants updated on progress
- Provide an outcome to complainants without undue delay.
The Information Commissioners Office expects organisations to keep records and the board may wish to monitor the number of complaints received, together with any recurring patterns.
The Information Commissioners Office has published guidance that can be accessed here.
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 came into force from 29 April 2026.
This introduces significant changes for schools and the aim is to strengthen safeguarding, reduce the cost of living pressure for families and increased accountability throughout the education system to ensure that no child is invisible to services.
Some key changes are:
- Clear statutory role for schools within multi-agency child protection teams,
- Single unique identifier for children to be introduced to improve consistency of records across agencies,
- A strengthened oversight of home education and unregistered settings through a statutory Child Not in School Register
- All state funded primary schools must deliver a free breakfast club for at least 30 minutes before the school day, which is not means-tested
- Schools may require no more than 3 branded uniform items to ensure uniform affordability
- Introduction of multi-academy trust inspections to strengthen accountability at system-level
The Act can be reviewed directly on the www.gov.uk website using the following link.
Request for Independent Panel Members
Those of you who are regular attendees at out termly briefings will know that in recent years there have been a significant increase in the number of statutory committees, such as complaints, pupil discipline committees and HR led panel meetings. Through our wider network of governance services, we know that this is not just an issue locally, though also nationally.
The stark increase in these statutory committees, together with the complexity of some of the issues, has meant that there has been an increased need for independent governors or trustees to sit as independent panel members. If you are interested in putting yourself forward to support with this, please email governance.services@bolton.gov.uk to express your interest. Please be assured that advice and support will be on hand throughout any of these meetings.
New DfE Guidance on restrictive interventions in schools
There has been updated guidance released by the DfE regarding the use of restrictive interventions in schools. The guidance comes into effect in April 2026 and replaces the current “use of reasonable force” guidance.
The aim is to provide guidance to help schools minimise the use of restrictive interventions through early support, whilst also helping staff to feel more confident in knowing how to use them should the need arise. This is through:
- clearer expectations around reporting and the use of force. All significant incidents involving reasonable force or seclusion must be recorded and reported to parents. This will become a legal requirement, rather than just best practice.
- clarity around using reasonable force safely and appropriately
- advice around the use of seclusion
- support for those working with pupils with SEND
The guidance can be downloaded directly from the www.gov.uk website using the following link.
Updated DfE guidance on mobile phones in schools
There has been updated non-statutory guidance released by the DfE regarding the use of mobile phones. The guidance was updated on 19 February 2026.
The aim is to provide guidance on how to implement a policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones throughout the school day and ensures that schools remain a phone-free environment. The guidance also sets out the role of parents in supporting the school’s implementation of policies prohibiting the use of mobile phones.
The guidance can be downloaded directly from the www.gov.uk website using the following link.
Schools White Paper released
The Government has now released the schools white paper on 23 February 2026. The white paper, titled “Every child achieving and thriving” sets out the long-term plan for wide-ranging reform to the education system in response to current challenges faced and can be read here.
The Government has set out targets to ensure that every child is encouraged to achieve their potential. These targets include increasing academic standards; halving the gap between disadvantaged children and their non-disadvantaged peers; recovering 20 million more school days annually through improved attendance and increasing pupils’ sense of belonging in school. It is recognised that the targets are ambitious and achieving them will require retention and recruitment challenges to be addressed.
The white paper also sets out proposed reform of the SEND system, including better support in mainstream settings and close collaboration with specialist provision. Changes also include additional core SEND funding, multi-agency support overseen by local authorities, earlier intervention and the need for all schools to publish an inclusion strategy. Significant changes are also proposed to the EHCPs, with it being stated that there will be individual support plans for all children with additional needs and EHCPs only for the most complex cases. The changes are proposed to take effect from 2029, with legislation to bring about the changes and also consultation around an updated SEND code of practice.
Other proposed changes include:
- Reforms to funding available to support disadvantaged pupils,
- More structured collaboration to promote resource sharing and best practice,
- The creation of a set of Trust standards that will be used by Ofsted to inspect MATs,
- Creating a system where families are recognised and treated as partners in a child’s education,
- A new complaints system that works better for parents and schools,
- An increase in scrutiny and oversight around suspensions to ensure sanctions mitigate lost learning time.
We will continue to monitor the progress around the changes proposed by the White Paper Bill and share further updates in due course.
Children in Care Governors Guide
A new handbook has been created by Become and 9000 Lives to provide governors with all the information they need to know about children in care. The guide aims to explain the basics clearly and concisely so that Governors and Trustees understand the system in a way that supports them in asking insightful, impactful questions, examples of which are included within the guide.
The guide can be accessed here.
Bolton Governance Services have provided a role descriptor for the nominated governance lead for Looked After Children through the Clerking and Support Service. This is available via your Clerk or Governance Professional.
National School Governors’ Awareness Day 2026
The National School Governors’ Awareness Day (NSGAD) is an opportunity to recognise the impact, celebrate the commitment, and highlight the vital role that governors and trustees play in shaping education.
This year, the National School Governors’ Awareness Day will be held on 12th February 2026 and will be a day of thought-provoking free webinars planned to support professional development. The sessions are as follows:
- 8am – Welcome & Hot Topics in 2026
- 10am – Raising the Bar: expectations of effective governance in 2026
- 11.am – Safeguarding that makes a difference: what great governance looks like
- 12pm – When good governance has impact
- 1pm – Becoming a governor
- 2.30pm – Becoming an academy trustee
- 4pm –Recruiting a Chair: the importance of strong leadership
- 6pm – Wellbeing of governors and trustees
Further information and registration can be found using the following link .
Across our schools we have an extensive network of Governors and Trustees who volunteer their time and expertise to support our settings and their leaders. Your commitment cannot be underestimated and we truly appreciate all you do.
Parent Governor Representatives Election on Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee
There are currently two positions available, one primary (including nursery and special schools) and one secondary (including special schools), for maintained school parent governors to sit as co-opted members of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee. I am therefore inviting all interested parent governors to nominate themselves for election to act as a Parent Governor Representative. These positions are only open to parent governors of maintained schools in Bolton. Foundation Parent Governors, employees of the Local Authority and elected members are not eligible to stand for nomination.
The governors elected to the positions would serve for a two-year term of office, attending meetings of the Committee approximately every six weeks, and would have voting rights on education issues.
If you are interested in standing, please complete the nomination form enclosed and return this to to the Governance Services Team by no later than Friday 28 November 2025 at 4.00 pm. Nominations received after this time will not be accepted.
If there are more nominations than places available, an election will take place. In the event that an election is necessary, a ballot will take place where all Parent Governors in the borough will be eligible to vote. If you are interested in nominating yourself for the position and require further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me using the details below.
New Statutory Guidance on Uniforms
The DfE have published new statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms on 23 October 2025.
The guidance highlights draft guidance to limit the number of branded items within a uniform policy. These changes are featured within the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, that the government has indicated will be made into law from September 2026.
The guidance can be downloaded directly from the www.gov.uk website using the following link.
We will continue to monitor the progress of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and share further updates in due course.
Help the DfE improve complaint panels
There has been a significant increase in the number of complaints schools are dealing with nationally. As such, this is a focus for the DfE and NGA who are undertaking work to consider how this can be improved. As part of this work, the DfE is looking for governors and trustees with experience of complaints panels to improve school and parent experiences of complaints.
If you have sat on complaints panels, and would be willing to discuss your experiences, please email michael.barton@nga.org.uk
School Forum Representatives needed
The Schools Forum acts as a consultative body for school funding issues, for some of the issues the Forum is a decision making body.
The forum acts in a consultative role for:
- changes to the local funding formula (the local authority makes the final decision)
- proposed changes to the operation of the minimum funding guarantee
- changes to or new contracts affecting schools (eg school meals)
- arrangements for pupils with special educational needs, in pupil referral units and in early years provision
The forum decides:
- how much funding may be retained by the local authority within the dedicated schools grant (e.g. providing additional funding for growing schools)
- any proposed carry forward of deficits on central spend from one year to the next
- proposals to de-delegate funding from maintained primary and secondary schools (e.g. for staff supply cover, insurance, behaviour support)
- changes to the Scheme for Financing Schools
New representatives are needed for the forum. Meetings take place remotely and are usually 6 times a year.
If you are interested in becoming a representative, please do one of the following:
- for governors at a maintained school, please contact Rachael Worthington at rachael.worthington@bolton.gov.uk
- for those with governance roles in academies, please express an interest to your headteacher.
