Here, we’ve pulled together all the key proposals that affect schools and academies. For all the key SEND policies, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Labour will consult on changes to the admissions code to \u201cpromote fairness for all families, particularly the most disadvantaged and children with additional needs\u201d later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFinally, 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,\u201d the white paper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has promised to \u201cstrengthen scrutiny of all pupil movement\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will do this by launching a new internal dashboard that identifies school-level trends \u201cthat could suggest off-rolling or other concerning practices, including off-site direction and managed moves\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials will then \u201cfollow up on a targeted basis with responsible bodies to understand and challenge where there are possible concerns\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They will \u201cpay particular attention to schools where SEND, free school meal or demographic trends appear significantly out of sync with their local context\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The department will also try to share more timely pupil movement data with Ofsted to help it identify \u201cunacceptable\u201d practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where this is unearthed, schools will likely be issued with an \u2018urgent improvement\u2019 grade. This would normally lead to intervention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To help manage potential conflicts of interest, restrictions on local authority involvement in the day-to-day running of their trusts will be introduced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pointing to the number of single-academy trusts in deficit, the document posed a \u201cchallenge to our best standalone schools\u201d to partner with others and make the system less fragmented. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Recognising the role local authorities play in \u201csafeguarding, supporting and promoting the welfare of all children in their area\u201d, ministers will also \u201cstrengthen and clarify\u201d how they should work with academy chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government will prioritise \u201cquality over pace\u201d when moving schools into trusts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It will welcome those \u201ctaking steps to meet the aspirations set out in this white paper, from embedding inclusion to tackling the attainment gap\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It noted there will be \u201ca degree of flexibility on size\u2026 to reflect the different characteristics of local school landscapes\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trust commissioning guidance will be updated. Among other things, a new \u201cpillar focused on community collaboration\u201d will be added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department for Education will encourage trusts to provide updates on \u201chow they have supported stronger outcomes in their community role through annual public benefit reporting\u201d. They will be held to account on this through MAT inspections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will also consult on requiring trusts to have governance structures that \u201cinclude all their schools, hold annual parental forums, and ensure boards hear directly from parents and school communities\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ofsted has previously announced<\/a> it will introduce trust inspections. The white paper said the checks will focus on \u201cassessing quality, rather than checking for compliance\u201d and prescribing certain approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government hopes the checks will \u201creduce the burden of school-level inspection\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schools will be able to be transferred out of underperforming trusts. Ministers will \u201calso explore using existing provisions to require an underperforming trust to strengthen its governance or engage with external support\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The white paper added that the pooling of trusts’ resources \u201ccan unlock innovation and maximise value for pupils\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To support this, DfE will \u201cimprove arrangements for transparency where resources are being pooled and illustrate where this is being done effectively\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Among other things, this will offer parents and communities greater clarity, the document said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the controversial issue of trust CEO pay, the government said some academy chains have signed off on \u201chigh salaries\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It vowed to \u201ctighten\u201d rules in the academy trust handbook by requiring wage hikes to be \u201cproportionate and justified\u201d. It hopes this will \u201cprevent excessive increases for individuals carrying out broadly similar roles\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The white paper argued it is \u201conly through collaboration between all the local services that touch on a child\u2019s life that we can expect to deliver the improvements we want to see\u201d. But until now this \u201chas been seen as optional rather than essential\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 \u201caround the aim of delivering shared outcomes for children\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To support children\u2019s transition into reception, the government will \u201cfund partnerships between early years settings and schools\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Staff from both settings will be expected to spend time with each other and share knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government will \u201cpublish and share best practice\u2026 from schools that effectively support children into reception\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will help schools to collaborate on issues including the critical transition from primary, teaching and curriculum, attendance, and strengthening data at KS3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This will be overseen by the DfE\u2019s RISE improvement teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of its work to tackle entrenched disadvantage, the government will launch two place-focused schemes, called mission north east and mission coastal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The former will \u201cfocus explicitly on radically improving outcomes for white working-class children\u201d. The other mission will focus on disadvantaged coastal communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The programmes will bring together schools facing similar challenges and develop strategies for improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DfE hopes they will provide a \u201cblueprint for change nationally\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials estimated this would equate to children attending 20 million more days of school each year from 2028-29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guidance on behaviour in schools will also be updated. So-called reintegration support partnerships will be launched, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They will involve a formal meeting between parents and schools following a suspension \u201cleading to an agreed plan and responsibilities\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSchools 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,\u201d the white paper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DfE will consult on a proposed model and \u201cprovide supporting good practice resources and case studies as part of the refreshed statutory suspension and permanent exclusion guidance\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DfE has already announced plans for new enrichment benchmarks <\/a>which schools will be judged on by Ofsted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reforms set out in the white paper are wide-ranging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reforms will also be rolled out in “a sequenced, phased and manageable way”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The white paper confirms the government plans to “develop and test a new model for targeting disadvantage funding”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As revealed by Schools Week, government is specifically looking at using income data<\/a>, rather than the “binary metric” of free school meals eligibility, to assess which pupils attract extra funding, the white paper said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It added that a “stepped model” could “take into account how low family income is, and for how long this has been the case”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government is also considering whether to target funding “based on the place A consultation will be held this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New pupil premium strategy reviews will be held for schools needing extra support with helping disadvantaged pupils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It does not say how schools will be deemed eligible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A new pupil engagement <\/a>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “By 2029, we expect every school to monitor pupils\u2019 sense of belonging and engagement”, the white paper said. Currently around 60 per cent of schools report they measure factors around this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government also plans to design “minimum expectations on parental engagement”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The principles will “make clear what families can expect from schools, and what The government will create “a new digital, accessible solution for handling complaints” to simplify the process, and improve coordination and data collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It comes as analysis shows there has been a huge recent rise<\/a> in parental complaints to schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assaults on school staff \u201care rare but rising, and totally unacceptable\u201d, the white paper said, so the government plans to improve the way abuse of school staff is monitored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will support the sector to collect \u201cmore thorough and consistent\u201d reporting of incidents, and \u201cconsider the case for national monitoring\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It detailed strategies to boost recruitment and retention. Among these is \u201cexploring\u201d how the future high potential initial teacher training scheme \u2013\u00a0run by Teach First \u2013 could be expanded to FE colleges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n1. Fair banding will need to be more transparent<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Off-rolling crackdown<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Standalone trusts ‘challenged’ to defragment system<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. More big trusts?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. Trusts judged on community work<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
6. MAT inspections to cut school visits?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
7. Pooling transparency<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
8. \u2018Excessive\u2019 CEO pay<\/strong> clampdown<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
9. ‘Essential\u2019 local partnerships<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
10. Funded work with early years<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
11. RISE KS3 alliance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
12. National blueprints<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
13. Attendance targets<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
14. Reintegration after suspensions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
15. Ofsted to assess enrichment from autumn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
16. Reforms to be ‘carefully sequenced’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-23-at-130718-970x537.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n17. New model for measuring disadvantage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
a child lives, as well as their individual family economic circumstances”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n18. Struggling schools to get help with pupil premium strategies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
19. Pupil engagement framework to be drawn up…<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
20. …and parental engagement guidance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
schools will expect of families in return”. It will aim to increase consistency around relationships between schools and parents and create “a strong school culture”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n21. New way of handling parent complaints<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
22. National monitoring of abuse of teachers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
23. 6.5k pledge plan detailed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n