With a general election looming we are beginning to get a sense of the ambitions of the main political parties. With a somewhat bruised education system there is a sense of trepidation about what future changes might be. Certainly, with the revolving door of education secretaries during the recent years, Gillian Keegan, Secretary of State for Education seems a veteran after 15 months in office. In her New Year message to schools last week she highlighted school attendance, and a new national attendance campaign alongside consultations around minimum service levels, gender questioning guidance and changes to Post 16 education. This week also saw the DfE accepting the initial recommendations from the Workload Reduction Taskforce. In a speech to the Centre for Social Justice last week, Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Education Secretary, set out her concerns in relation to school attendance, linking this to the need for increased provision for checks on home schooling, and annual checks of absenteeism and safeguarding with promises of greater resources for early language interventions, teacher recruitment, mental health and breakfast clubs, citing the importance of partnership working in raising standards.

We have not yet seen the election machine fully start, so we can anticipate more to be shared from all the political parties in the coming months. Alongside the NHS, schools are likely to be a hot topic, and in the midst of this, school leaders will continue to point their moral compass and ingenuity towards meeting the needs of their pupils and communities with the limited resources available. The professionalism and dedication that school staff show often feels taken for granted and in the worst of times ignored. Let’s hope that in the middle of the debate comes an appreciation of the professionals who are making things happen day after day, and without whose expertise there would be no functioning education system at all.

We have a number of events in the next two weeks to take as opportunities to share and learn from each other, I look forward to seeing you at our Headteacher meetings; Primary Heads on the 25th January, a breakfast meeting at Kentish Town Primary School on Friday 26th, Secondary Heads on the 31st January, also our Camden Learning AGM on 30th January with guest lecture from Dr Mary Bousted. Make sure you take a break at the weekend, you deserve it.

Stephen Hall

Chief Executive Officer, Camden Learning