Tag: Press Release

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 19 December 2023.

Funding for mainstream schools and high needs is increasing to the highest ever in real terms per pupil.

Schools in England are set to benefit from a cash injection as education funding reaches almost £60 billion in 2024/25 – its highest ever level in real terms.

This includes additional funding for both disadvantaged pupils and children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with pupil premium and high needs budgets both going up alongside mainstream investment.

An extra £440 million investment to support pupils with SEND is being allocated to local authorities and used to fund special schools and provide mainstream schools with additional resources to meet the needs of pupils with complex SEND.

Funding for those with complex needs is also rising to £10.5 billion in 2024-25 – an increase of more than 60% in just five years.

Pupil premium funding rates will increase to £1,480 for primary pupils and £1,050 for secondary pupils in 2024-25, an increase of 10% since 2021-22 bringing total funding to more than £2.9 billion overall, supporting schools in disadvantaged areas to raise educational outcomes for the pupils who need it most.

The increases builds on the brilliant work going on in schools up and down the country, with standards continuing to rise. Currently, 89% of schools rated good or outstanding, up from 68% in 2010.

Thanks to the Government’s widespread reforms, England continues to rise up the global rankings in maths, reading and science. Just this month, England was ranked 11th in the world for maths, up from 27th in 2009, and in May, England was named ‘best in the west’ for primary reading.

Overall, school funding for mainstream schools and high needs is increasing by more than £1.8 billion in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24, taking the total funding to over £59.6 billion – the highest level in history, in real terms.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said:

Our schools and our teachers are better than ever – and it’s so important that as standards continue to rise, so does our support for schools.

That’s why boosting school funding was the first thing I did as Education Secretary, and why I will continue to make sure our brilliant schools and teachers have the tools they need to make sure every child receives a world class education.

I know costs for schools continue to be high, but ensuring schools are funded at their highest level in history in real terms will give parents and schools the confidence that education continues to be the top for this Government.

Today’s funding allocations include an additional £2 billion for 24/25, announced at the Autumn Statement last year, to recognise the higher costs faced by schools. That also builds on the significant extra investment provided to schools as part of this year’s teacher pay offer.

The vast majority of this funding is allocated through the Dedicated Schools Grant, which is calculated using the National Funding Formula (NFF).  The majority of the schools NFF is allocated on a per-pupil basis, and disadvantaged pupils attract additional funding to their school. The allocations also factor in differences in wage costs between areas.

The recently announced funding for teachers’ pay is on top of this, which will total £900 million in 2024-25.

Schools will also receive further funding to support with increases to employer contribution rates to the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme from April. This is over and above the funding they will receive via the NFF from within today’s DSG allocations.

The Department will announce further details on this funding for pensions, including funding rates and allocations, in due course.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 19 December 2023.

Schools and colleges told that parents should be involved in decisions affecting their children.

Today (19 December) the Department for Education has published comprehensive guidance for teachers on how best to support pupils questioning their gender in schools.

This includes requests from pupils for ‘social transition’ which can include requests to change pronouns, names, and uniform.

In response to the complex phenomenon of the increasing number of children questioning their gender, the government has taken the time to carefully and robustly address the challenges and issues involved.

The guidance will assist teachers in ensuring that they are acting in the best interests of children.

Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan said:

This guidance puts the best interests of all children first, removing any confusion about the protections that must be in place for biological sex and single-sex spaces, and making clear that safety and safeguarding for all children must always be schools’ primary concern.

Parents’ views must also be at the heart of all decisions made about their children – and nowhere is that more important than with decisions that can have significant effects on a child’s life for years to come.

Minister for Women and Equalities, Kemi Badenoch said:

This guidance is intended to give teachers and school leaders greater confidence when dealing with an issue that has been hijacked by activists misrepresenting the law.

It makes clear that schools do not have to accept a child’s request to socially transition, and that teachers or pupils should not be pressured into using different pronouns.

We are also clear how vital it is that parents are informed and involved in the decisions that impact their children’s lives.

Ofsted Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman

I have long called for clear guidance for schools who face difficult choices around how to help pupils who are gender-questioning.

This guidance is therefore welcome and will help schools do their best both for gender-questioning pupils and for all other pupils in their schools.

Guiding principles

This guidance has been developed with the expert clinical view and interim conclusions from the Cass Review in mind. That review set out that social transition is not a neutral act, and that better information is needed about the outcomes for children who undertake degrees of social transition. It also set out that it could have significant psychological effects on a young person.

In recognition of this, proper use of this guidance means social transition, in practice, should be extremely rare when the appropriate safeguards are put in place and the child’s best interest taken into account.

Importantly, the guidance places beyond doubt the fundamental principle that parents should be involved in decisions about their children’s lives, and that significant decisions affecting a child’s future should not be taken without parents being involved.

In regard to single-sex spaces and sports, the government sets out the principle that biological sex is fundamentally important when it comes to protecting safety and ensuring fairness in competitive sports.

Requests for social transition

The draft guidance clarifies that schools and colleges do not have to, and should not, accept all requests for social transition. Where a school considers a request, they should take a very cautious approach, including watchful waiting periods, and ensuring parents are fully consulted before any decision is taken.

From the outset, schools and colleges should also consider the context and seriousness of the request including whether social influence is involved.

In exceptional cases where a request to social transition is agreed, children, teachers or staff at a school should not be required to adopt the use of preferred pronouns and there must be no sanction, verbal or otherwise. Where a teacher or child does not adopt the new pronouns, they should use the child’s preferred name. Schools should ensure that bullying is never tolerated.

Single-sex spaces, admissions and sports

Where safety is a consideration – for example in physical sport or single-sex spaces – the guidance is categoric that it must never be compromised by allowing a child of the opposite sex to participate in those activities or use those facilities. Schools should also make sure competitive sport is fair, which will almost always mean separate sports for boys and girls especially in older cohorts.

The guidance also reaffirms that single-sex schools can refuse to admit pupils of the opposite sex, regardless of whether they are questioning their gender.

Engagement

Parents, teachers, and school leaders are encouraged to respond to the 12-week consultation.

Notes to editors

The guidance provides clarity on how to approach a range of issues when it comes to supporting gender questioning children and responding to requests for changes known as ‘social transition’.

This includes:

• Registration of name and sex – every school must record the name and biological sex of every pupil in the admissions register. It is not accurate to record a male child as female or a female child as male, or to record a male child as a girl or a female child as a boy.
• Safeguarding – in all cases – apart from where the law says schools must do something, for example providing single-sex toilet facilities for children 8 years and older – schools and colleges must consider whether there is a safeguarding or welfare reason to make an exception to the approach outlined for individual issues below.
• Changing names – pupils may be allowed to informally change their names if it is in the best interests of the child and parents have been fully consulted. The new name should be communicated to relevant members of the school.
• Changing pronouns – schools can decline a request to change a child’s pronouns and primary school aged children should not have different pronouns to their sex-based pronouns. Schools and colleges should not compel teachers or pupils to use new pronouns, except where necessary to safeguard and all other options have been exhausted, such as addressing the child by their first name.
• Single-sex spaces – schools must provide sex-separated toilets for pupils aged 8 or over, and suitable changing accommodation and showers for pupils who are aged 11 years or over at the start of the school year. If a child does not want to use the toilet, changing room or showers designated for their biological sex, schools and colleges may wish to consider alternative toilet, changing room or shower facilities for the child, however schools and colleges cannot allow a child to use a space solely designated for use by the opposite sex.
• Boarding and residential accommodation – sleeping arrangements like dormitories, tents and shared rooms should be sex separated. In the event that a child questioning their gender requests alternative arrangements, these should be considered but should not compromise the safety, comfort, privacy or dignity of the child, or other pupils.
• Uniforms and clothing – in general, a gender questioning child should be held to the same uniform standard as other children of their sex. When making a decision relating to a child’s request to change a uniform, schools may agree changes or exceptions to the standard school uniform for most items, but not for swimwear. Many schools already operate a uniform with some flexibility.
• Physical education and sport – schools and colleges should prioritise the safety and wellbeing of all children when implementing policies. This means for sports, allowing a gender questioning child to participate in sport with the opposite sex will not be appropriate if it risks safety or fairness.
• Single-sex schools – under the Equality Act, single sex schools can refuse to admit pupils of the other biological sex, regardless of whether the child is questioning their gender. A school cannot, however, refuse to admit a child of the same biological sex on the basis that they are questioning their gender.