The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, on 7 October 2025.
Hello everyone. Thanks so much for being here, thanks so much for coming.
And thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to put today together.
It’s great to be here in the south west, with leaders from schools and trusts, to talk about the children of this region.
Their learning, their futures, and their life chances.
And I hope you’ll find today is an opportunity to come together, to take stock and to think carefully about what more we can do for the young people in your classrooms.
I know so many of you already deliver so much, helping them to achieve and thrive.
So I want to say a huge thank you.
You and your staff transform lives. I visit schools and I see it in the children, I hear it from the parents, I feel it on results day.
The difference that all of you here in this room all make.
That’s why you – leaders, teachers – are at the centre of the change this government wants to achieve.
The road to national renewal runs through our schools.
Now, thanks to your hard work, schools have come a long way in this country.
And you deliver a fantastic education for most children.
But we all know that journey of improvement must continue. That’s why you’re all here today, it’s why you work so hard, and for that, I am incredibly grateful.
You understand the importance of what you do, and the need to keep raising standards for all.
And closing the gaps as well.
Because there are still groups of children for whom school just isn’t working. And these aren’t random, we know that the gaps are systemic.
Children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Children from disadvantaged communities.
And white working-class children too.
Just one in five achieves a strong pass in their English and Maths GCSEs.
Statistics like this are important. But anyone who has spent any time in our schools will know this already.
And will want to work with us to put it right.
Through our schools white paper, together we will build a schools system that works for each and every child.
One that sets each and every child up to achieve.
One that breaks the link between background and success, once and for all.
Together we must spread excellence from one school to another.
Because the world-leading practice I want to see in every school is already shining in many of our schools already.
So progress can and must come from within the system.
Improvement of schools, by schools, for our children.
That’s why much of today is being led by you.
Sharing what works for children in your schools.
So that it can work for children in all of our schools.
I have high expectations for every child, as I’m sure you do too, therefore I have high expectations for every school.
But to get this right we need to look at the moments where children fall behind. Like the transition from primary to secondary school.
And so we need a transformative shift in how key stage three is valued and managed. As always, the answers are already there in some schools.
Take Wilsthorpe School in Derbyshire. Because while the midlands might be at the other end of the M5, some solutions, I think, are universal.
Like the use of good data. And Wilsthorpe’s approach is rooted in it.
They look at the patterns of poor attendance in primary – and use that to inform their transition plans for new year 7s.
But the head, Derek Hobbs, like a lot of heads, knows that strong transitions are built on strong partnerships with parents.
Plans are shared with parents early – and they combine face-to-face chats with ways for families to reach out online.
Parents even get a direct line of contact with form teachers in year 7, to smooth what can be quite a difficult move from year 6.
The school has made parents evenings feel like community events.
Members of the scouts and air cadets come along. Representatives of local health services are often there too.
Again, their approach is built on solid data, this time to predict at an early stage which parents may well be hard to reach.
Because it tends to be these families that need the most support if their child is to do well.
And you know what – the hard work is paying off.
Suspensions are low. Exclusions are low.
And attendance is high – especially in year 7.
Attainment 8, strong and improving.
And Progress 8, strong and improving – including for disadvantaged children.
That, as we know, is the prize on offer.
To deliver better life chances for children.
And we will support you to reach those high expectations.
That’s what our new RISE teams are all about.
Drawing on the excellence that exists in some schools, and spreading it to all schools.
Leaders across the country are already tapping into that spirit of collaboration.
Like Lee Kane, the head of Astor School in Dover.
I want to talk about Astor because it’s one of schools on the frontlines of my vision for education.
On average across the country, in a class of 30, 7 children are on free school meals.
At Astor it’s 18.
The school serves the 4th most deprived community in Kent. These are the children who have the most to gain from a great education.
And these are the children that our RISE programme is helping Lee to reach.
Astor is receiving targeted support and has partnered with the high-performing Mulberry Schools Trust.
Drawing on advice from their RISE Advisor, Maria Dawes, and from leaders at Mulberry, Lee can introduce new initiatives and improve existing ones.
Like on attendance. Coming out of covid, just as in so many schools, Astor was struggling with high absence rates.
One young person hadn’t attended school for more than 2 years.
I won’t use her real name, but let’s call her Sarah for today.
Sarah just couldn’t imagine herself coming back to school. But Lee knew the damage not being in school was doing to her life chances, and the life chances of other children not turning up.
So Lee set up a new attendance unit, right there in the school.
Staff visited Sarah at home, encouraged her to come into the school in the summer, when it was calm and quiet.
They worked with Sarah to design the unit – so that she would feel at home.
When the new term started, they eased Sarah back into the swing of attendance.
Slowly, step by step, until she was attending every day. Attendance is the foundation of attainment – and so it proved for this young woman.
Despite all she’d missed, she passed both her English and maths GCSEs.
I think about where Sarah would be now if Astor hadn’t acted. She would probably still be at home every day, without her English and Maths GCSEs, but crucially, her hopes for the future slowly slipping away.
But the school put her on a different path. And now she knows that education can work for her, that success can belong to her.
And I can’t wait to hear about what she goes on to achieve next.
That’s the power of what’s on offer here. The chance to support and scale what works.
To draw on the excellence that already exists. And put it to work in service of the children in all of your schools.
Astor is beginning its improvement journey. And there is so much more still to do to see all pupils in the school achieve and thrive.
But through the RISE team we are providing the support and challenge to drive forward that improvement.
So Lee’s message is to grab the opportunity with both hands. To be brave, to think big. Knowing that we’re here to support you.
That’s how we will raise standards in all our schools. But you’ll all know that the roots of achievement and attainment run deep.
So our actions must match that, especially if we want to reach our most disadvantaged children,
And to break the sad spiral of poor attainment. Because there are communities now who believe that school just isn’t for people like them.
Parents who feel school had nothing to offer them when they were growing up.
And now pass on that deep suspicion to their children.
New findings from the Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes paints a very sorry picture of disengagement.
And shortly, you’ll hear from the inquiry’s secretariat, Public First.
But I should say now that the findings are stark.
White working-class children are less likely to enjoy school.
Less likely to feel successful at school.
Less likely to feel that they belong at school.
And the links between belonging and achievement are profound – and they run both ways.
But let us be absolutely clear: they are not alternative choices. It’s not a question of one or the other.
The only real choice, quite frankly, is both, or neither.
Because children who don’t like school, who don’t believe they belong in the classroom, who suspect the system is against them.
They are not children who are set up to achieve top marks.
And if you’re failing your exams, it’s hard to enjoy school, it’s hard to feel like you belong. And so that cycle continues.
But we must break that cycle and set up these children up for success.
That is why our Schools White Paper will drive a generational reset in the contract between white working class families and our schools, giving every child the opportunities they deserve in life.
For that we must give them an education that is academically challenging.
Strong on standards.
Rich in opportunity.
Rooted in strong relationships.
Filled with purpose and belonging.
That’s the recipe for children who enjoy school, who feel they belong in school, and who succeed at school.
But like any recipe, it can’t be just one of those things, working alone.
It must be all of those things, working together.
And you are the chefs – the expert leaders who can bring it all together.
Using all the tools at your disposal to raise standards – cutting edge data, our new RISE support, our new writing framework.
But the journey starts long before children reach your classrooms.
Through support for families in our new Best Start Family Hubs.
Through our 30 hours a week of government funded childcare for working parents.
And then our Best Start breakfast clubs in primary schools.
Building achievement and belonging right from the early years, so they arrive in your secondary schools raring to go.
And in your classrooms, they will be taught a curriculum that is rich and broad – that delivers the strong foundations of learning, but also opens up the wonders of art, music, and sport.
Enrichment too. Because we know that children with access to enrichment at school, tend to be the children who do well in their exams.
And in the end, the way that children truly connect with their education is through great teachers.
Now, when I think back to my school days, when I think of the happy memories. It was all about the teachers I had along the way.
The ones who helped me succeed are the ones who made me feel like I belonged.
That’s why I am determined to help you recruit and retain more great teachers in your schools.
And to encourage more people to get into the profession, what’s why we have set out today the new initial teacher training incentive.
I want more great teachers in our schools, working their magic.
And it really is magic – what they do, what you do.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.
And I certainly won’t let anyone tell me otherwise.
You have the wonderful power to transform lives.
To give to children the knowledge and skills they need to succeed, not just in work, but in life too.
Thank you.
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