On Thursday 25th June, I attended the Department for Education’s (DFE) Faith Schools Providers Group (FSPG) meeting. The discussion covered broad, critical updates impacting various areas of the education sector.
Below is a comprehensive summary of the policy changes, consultations, and timelines tabled during the meeting
1. Admissions
- Children’s Wellbeing Act passed – changes to admissions:
- New duty for schools and local authorities to cooperate.
- Local authorities can now directly place pupils in academies.
- Stronger powers over published admission numbers.
- Admissions Code update planned:
- Consultation: later in 2026
- Implementation: September 2027
- Focus on improving access for vulnerable children.
- Fair Access Protocols to be strengthened and standardised (review every 3 years).
- Greater transparency required for in-year admissions decisions.
- National Curriculum Review
- Key priorities:
- Digital, financial and media literacy.
- Climate and sustainability.
- Stronger cross-subject coherence.
- Introduction of a digital, interactive curriculum platform.
- Timeline:
- Consultation: Planning for autumn
- Final curriculum: April 2027
- First teaching: September 2028
The digital national curriculum is intended to be a digitised version of the national curriculum, making it easier and more user-friendly for teachers, school leaders and the edtech sector to access and navigate. It will support teachers in planning and sequencing lessons by helping them identify links within and across subjects and key stages. It is not intended to be used as a daily reference point during classroom teaching, but teachers may use it to revisit national curriculum content and refresh their understanding of within and cross-subject links.
- School Uniform Policy
- New statutory guidance being finalised:
- Limit on branded items.
- Stronger expectations to reduce overall and individual item costs.
- Schools must ensure uniforms are affordable and not a barrier to access.
- Publication: by end of current term
- Applies from: September 2026
- SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities)
- Consultation closed (May 2026):
- ~10,000 responses and extensive engagement.
- Early key themes:
- System capacity and workforce capability.
- Inclusion across mainstream settings.
- Accountability and consistency.
- Stronger involvement of families.
- Funding:
- Increased overall funding (multi-billion investment).
- Shift towards flexible, school-led support, not just individual allocations.
- More guidance and government response to follow.
- New School Openings
- New guidance (effective September 2026):
- Removal of presumption that all new schools must be academies.
- Local authorities can invite proposals for any type of school (not just academies/free schools).
- Faith schools:
- All faith groups can propose new schools (not limited to specific denominations).
- The separate route for proposers to propose a new Voluntary Aided faith schools.
Krishna Bhan
Education Director HCUK
[Hindu Council UK – a national umbrella body representing one million British Hindus of all denominations through their temples and cultural organisations, estd. 1994.]