Schools to be ‘beating heart’ of ‘village around every child’, says Education Secretary

In a speech at the Association of School and College Leaders’ (ASCL) annual conference, Bridget Phillipson is expected to promise “an end to policy in parts” and say a “new era of childhood” calls for a “new era of education”.

The speech comes after the reforms announced in the Schools White Paper and will also point to other action from the Labour Government to lift the child benefit cap and expand funded early years education.

Ms Phillipson will tell school leaders: “Colleagues, the changes you have seen in your classrooms over the past decade — the poverty, the additional need, the technology — this is a new era of childhood and it calls for a new era of education.

“An end to policy in parts. Instead, a village around the child. Every child. With schools as the beating heart of that support."

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“And, yes, it’s about every child, but it’s also about the next chapter in our country’s story.

“Because if we have every young person leaving education ready to contribute to the economy, to society, to the world that awaits them, it’s the whole country that reaps the rewards. This is, in the purest sense, in our national interest.

“So, our reforms begin today, but they take us into the 2030s and beyond — our schools at the centre of a strong and confident nation, and a modern Britain, with opportunity for all.”

A Government source said too many schools are “forced to act as the social A&E for families, dealing with the problems children bring to school with them”.

“If we want children to achieve and thrive in school, then we must support them outside the classroom as well as within it,” they added.

Ministers set out plans to reform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system last month which will include £4 billion in funding for schools to become more inclusive for pupils with additional needs.

The Government will also invest in a service providing a bank of specialists in the local area that schools can draw from, such as speech and language therapists and SEND teachers.

Many of the reforms have been cautiously welcomed but some concerns have been raised about the pressure schools will face under the new system and the changes to legal protections for children with SEND.