Foreword: The Path of Jacob’s Ladder
The final weekend of the school holiday is always a time of transition, often packed with the last-minute preparations for the new academic year. To find a moment of calm before the new term’s demands began, my family and I escaped to Wales, where the sea—which we treat as a family friend—offers a sense of peace and perspective. This is me making a concerted effort to be more ‘Lyme Regis’.
Our journey took us to the Devil’s Bridge, just outside Aberystwyth, where we decided to walk the path known as Jacob’s Ladder. Beyond its spiritual meaning, Jacob’s Ladder is also a real place—a famous flight of slate steps at Devil’s Bridge Falls (Pontarfynach). The steps descend into a deep gorge and then climb back up, visually echoing the biblical ladder connecting Earth and heaven. This challenging walk is a key part of a circular nature trail that offers stunning views of the waterfalls and the famous “Three Bridges”.
In ancient scripture, Jacob’s Ladder is a powerful symbol of a direct path between the earthly and the divine, with angels ascending and descending between realms. It’s also a captivating physics experiment where a shimmering electrical arc climbs and re-forms in a relentless, cyclical ascent. Both of these images—the biblical promise and the cyclical physical climb—are fitting symbols for a school leader’s work. The descent into the gorge can be likened to the complex financial pressures and intricate new compliance regulations that must be meticulously managed. The demanding climb back up represents the work of upholding educational standards, fostering pupil well-being, and leading a school community through significant change.
Ultimately, the significance of the name “Jacob’s Ladder” lies in this duality. It is both a spiritual metaphor for a divine connection and a scientific term for a physical phenomenon that, by a remarkable visual coincidence, embodies that very same upward motion. This briefing is designed to be your guide for this ascent. It synthesises the critical policy shifts and regulatory updates to provide a clear, actionable roadmap, ensuring you’re equipped not only to meet the challenges of the coming months but to lead your school confidently towards a new, more nuanced vision of success.
Critical Need to Knows
The 2025/26 academic year represents a period of profound transformation for the education sector, driven by a series of interconnected policy shifts in funding, accountability, and statutory guidance. For school leaders, the imperative is to move beyond a reactive stance and adopt a proactive, holistic strategy.
The headline figures for funding increases can be misleading, concealing a more complex financial reality shaped by the consolidation of grants. Similarly, the accountability landscape is being fundamentally reshaped with a new Ofsted inspection framework that moves away from a single, high-stakes judgement to a more nuanced, multi-dimensional assessment.
Simultaneously, updates to statutory safeguarding and curriculum guidance signal a heightened government focus on emerging risks, particularly in the online domain and in relation to pupil attendance.
The most critical points for school leaders to address immediately are:
- Funding is Tighter Than it Appears: The headline increase in per-pupil funding largely represents the formalisation of previous pay and pension grants, meaning the net injection of new money is modest.
- Accountability is Being Reshaped: The new Ofsted report card system fundamentally alters how a school’s performance is judged, shifting the focus from a single grade to a multi-faceted evaluation of up to 11 key areas.
- Safeguarding Remains a Strategic Priority: Updates to statutory guidance, particularly Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), signal a heightened government focus on emerging risks, including online harms and the critical link between attendance and safeguarding.
Part I: Financial and Strategic Planning
The National Funding Formula (NFF) 2025/26: A Deeper Dive
Per-Pupil Funding & Grant Consolidation
The Department for Education has allocated an additional £2.3 billion to the core schools’ budget for the 2025/26 financial year. This investment translates to an average per-pupil funding increase of 2.23% for mainstream schools. The total Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) schools block for this period is £48.7 billion, with average per-pupil funding projected at £6,466, a 2.15% increase compared to the previous year.
However, a close examination of the NFF reveals that this headline figure is not a measure of new money but rather a restatement and re-packaging of existing funds. A significant portion of the increase, specifically 1.28%, is allocated to ensure the continuation of funding for the 2024 teachers’ and support staff pay awards. Furthermore, a number of historic grants, including the Teachers’ Pay Additional Grant (TPAG), the Teachers’ Pension Employer Contribution Grant (TPECG), and the Core Schools Budget Grant (CSBG), are being rolled into the NFF.
Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) & Funding Floor
The changes to the Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) and the funding floor create a complex new reality for budget forecasting. For 2025/26, local authorities have the flexibility to set the MFG between minus 0.5% and 0% per pupil. This represents a shift from the previous year’s range of 0% to 0.5% and could allow some schools to experience a modest per-pupil funding reduction, even as the NFF average increases.
A specific change in the regulations for 2025/26 is the exclusion of funding allocated for split-sites premises and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) premises costs from the MFG calculation. This separates these high-cost, historically based factors from core pupil-led funding protection. It means a school’s PFI costs could change without being covered by the MFG, introducing a new line item for financial risk assessment.
High Needs and Early Years Funding
The high needs budget will see a significant increase of almost £1 billion, bringing the total funding to £11.9 billion for 2025/26. This represents a substantial increase of over 9% compared to the 2024/25 baseline and suggests a strategic response to the growing national crisis in special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision.
For Post-16 education, the national funding rate for students aged 16 and 17 has been increased to £5,105, with other funding bands increased proportionately. A key policy shift is the removal of the “under-delivery tolerance” for T Levels from the 2025/26 academic year. This means that any under-delivery in student recruitment is now subject to financial recovery as part of the T Level reconciliation process. This signals a maturation of the program and moves to hold providers more financially accountable for their recruitment, requiring leaders to improve their enrolment forecasting and management.
The DfE Energy Purchase Scheme
The Department for Education is introducing a new energy purchase scheme under which maintained schools will be able to access the Department’s own energy contract. This scheme helps schools transition to a more stable energy contract sourced via Crown Commercial Service (CCS) and is designed to protect them from market volatility and reduce procurement risks.
A new regulation (Regulation 23) has been introduced that creates a direct, punitive mechanism for financial compliance. It provides local authorities with the power to deduct money from a school’s budget share where an undisputed energy invoice has not been paid. School leaders must therefore implement robust internal financial controls and invoice management systems to avoid this deduction, as it could bypass normal budget allocation processes and impact their ability to spend on other priorities.
Compliance, Curriculum, and Safeguarding
New Statutory Guidance: The Pillars of Safeguarding
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2025
The new Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2025 guidance was published in an “information-only” version in July 2025, with the final statutory version set to come into force on September 1, 2025. A fundamental change is that the Department for Education’s
Working together to improve school attendance guidance is now statutory. This elevates attendance from a key performance metric to a core safeguarding responsibility. The guidance explicitly states that being absent, as well as missing, from education can be a warning sign of a range of safeguarding concerns, including sexual or criminal exploitation.
The guidance also updates the list of online safety risks, adding disinformation, misinformation, and conspiracy theories as emerging threats that require a more sophisticated approach to curriculum and staff training.
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Statutory Framework
A new version of the EYFS statutory framework will also come into force on September 1, 2025. Non-compliance with the new regulations is classified as a criminal offence, which can result in a fine. This criminal penalty elevates the importance of these changes beyond typical policy updates, signalling a no-tolerance approach to safeguarding failures in early years settings.
Curriculum & Policy Updates
Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) Guidance
New statutory guidance for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), and Health Education was published in July 2025 but will not formally come into force until September 1, 2026. This one-year implementation window presents a strategic opportunity for proactive leaders to prepare for the changes. The new guidance is designed to address growing online risks, including misogynistic attitudes and harmful views about relationships.
Broader Policy and Workforce Changes
The education landscape is also set to be influenced by broader policy shifts. New guidance states that all new teachers will be required to hold, or be working towards, Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). This policy creates a tension with the ongoing teacher recruitment crisis by potentially restricting a school’s ability to hire unqualified subject experts, like artists or musicians, and limiting a school’s capacity to innovate or fill staffing gaps. Additionally, the government’s plan to change the mandatory conversion of ‘Inadequate’ maintained schools into academies to a “discretionary power” is expected to take effect over the next 12 months.
The New Era of Accountability
Ofsted’s Framework Transformation
From Single Grades to Detailed Report Cards
From November 2025, a significant shift in the accountability framework will come into force. The single-word judgments of “Outstanding,” “Good,” “Requires Improvement,” and “Inadequate” will be replaced by a new, more detailed “report card” system. My views on their late summer term announcements, my belief in their quest for the educational Golden Ratio can be found via that link.
This change is intended to provide a more nuanced understanding of school performance, moving beyond the high-stakes, simplistic model that created immense pressure on leaders and staff.
The new report card will assess schools across up to 11 distinct areas of evaluation. The new framework places a critical emphasis on safeguarding, which will be judged on a binary “Met” or “Not Met” scale—a clear signal that it is a non-negotiable standard. The new system also aims to incorporate contextual data, acknowledging the unique challenges faced by schools in areas with higher socio-economic complexities.
The New Inspection Experience
The inspection process itself is also changing to alleviate pressure on school leaders and staff. Schools will now be notified of an inspection at 9:30 AM on a Monday, with the inspection commencing the following day. A key procedural change relates to how inspectors will conduct their work. For graded (Section 5) inspections, “deep dives” will continue to be used to gather evidence of the curriculum, but for ungraded inspections, they will be replaced by “areas of focus”. This strategic shift from a prescriptive process to a collaboratively agreed upon agenda presents a major opportunity for leaders to shape the inspection narrative.
Strategic Recommendations and Action Plan
Based on the forthcoming changes, a tiered, prioritised action plan is recommended for school leaders to ensure compliance and effective forward-planning.
Immediate Actions (for September 2025)
- Financial Review: Re-evaluate budget baselines and projections, accounting for the consolidation of grants into the NFF and the new MFG parameters. For maintained schools, assess the viability of the DfE energy purchase scheme and implement robust internal controls to manage potential financial risks from non-compliance.
- Compliance & Policy Update: Immediately review and update all safeguarding policies to align with the new statutory guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2025 and the updated Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. Given that non-compliance with the EYFS framework is a criminal offence, this review must be meticulous.
- Staff Training: Mandate a briefing for all staff on the new statutory status of attendance guidance and the expanded online risks (disinformation, misinformation, conspiracy theories) outlined in KCSIE.
- Accountability Preparation: Conduct a full internal self-evaluation against the new Ofsted report card criteria. Leaders should prepare documentation and data that provides rich context for each of the graded areas.
- I would also highly recommend leaders evaluate their GSCE results against this review of the statements and statistics on said results via this link: subtleties of a ‘stable’ system
Mid-Term Priorities (for the 2026 Academic Year)
- Curriculum Planning: Begin strategic planning for the implementation of the new RSHE guidance. Initiate the parental consultation process early and consider piloting the new curriculum content, particularly on online harms and suicide prevention, to prepare for the statutory deadline.
- Recruitment Strategy: Reassess recruitment strategies in light of the new QTS requirement for all new teachers.
- Policy Monitoring: Closely monitor the legislative progress of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and other forthcoming white papers to anticipate further changes to the education landscape.
Table 1: The National Funding Formula 2025/26 – Deconstructing the Uplift
This table is based on provisional data from a local authority and is intended to illustrate the financial impact of grant consolidation, not as a definitive national calculation.
| Factor | Sub-level | 2024-25 (£) | 2025-26 (£) | Variance Excl. Grant Transfer (£) | Variance Excl. Grant Transfer (%) |
| Basic Entitlement | Primary | 3,562 | 3,847 | 264 | 0.6% |
| Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) | Key Stage 3 | 5,022 | 5,422 | 371 | 0.6% |
| Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) | Key Stage 4 | 5,661 | 6,113 | 419 | 0.6% |
| Deprivation | Primary FSM | 490 | 495 | 0 | 0% |
Table 2: The New Ofsted Report Card Judgements
The new grading scales are still being finalised, but the areas of assessment are established.
| Area of Evaluation | Description | Grading Scale |
| Curriculum | Design and implementation of the school’s curriculum. | Five-point scale (details to follow) |
| Developing Teaching | Quality and effectiveness of teaching practices. | Five-point scale (details to follow) |
| Leadership and Governance | Effectiveness of leadership and management structures. | Five-point scale (details to follow) |
| Behaviour and Attitudes | Pupil conduct and the school’s approach to fostering positive behaviour. | Five-point scale (details to follow) |
| Attendance | Pupil attendance rates and the effectiveness of attendance policies. | Five-point scale (details to follow) |
| Personal Development and Well-being | How the school supports pupils’ personal growth and mental health. | Five-point scale (details to follow) |
| Achievement | Pupil progress and academic outcomes. | Five-point scale (details to follow) |
| Inclusion | Support for vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils, including SEND. | Five-point scale (details to follow) |
| Safeguarding | Meeting required standards for pupil safeguarding and welfare. | Binary scale: “Met” or “Not Met” |
| Early Years (if applicable) | Evaluation of the early years setting. | Five-point scale (details to follow) |
| Sixth Form (if applicable) | Evaluation of the sixth form setting. | Five-point scale (details to follow) |
The Interconnectedness of Change
The changes anticipated for the 2025/26 academic year are not isolated policy adjustments but are part of a deeply interconnected, strategic re-shaping of the education landscape. The new Ofsted framework, with its heightened focus on safeguarding, curriculum, and attendance, holds leaders accountable for the very policies and procedures that have been updated.
To successfully navigate this period, school leaders must abandon a siloed approach to planning. Just as the waterfalls at Devil’s Bridge are a continuous, powerful force, a leader’s work is a relentless cycle of vigilance and renewal. Financial decisions must be made with a full understanding of their implications for compliance and curriculum delivery. Similarly, safeguarding protocols must be viewed not only as a duty but as a central part of a school’s overall effectiveness, as it will now be a binary determinant of inspection outcomes. By adopting a holistic, proactive, and data-driven approach, school leaders can ensure their institutions are well-equipped to meet the challenges and opportunities of the coming year.
Have a superb start to the term.
Useful links:
DfE Statutory Guidance and Resources
- Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2025: Find the official statutory guidance that outlines the legal requirements for schools and colleges to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
- Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework: Access the statutory framework that sets the standards for learning, development, and care for children from birth to five.
- Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE): Read the guidance on what schools must teach and how they should approach these subjects.
- School Funding and National Funding Formula (NFF): Get details on the NFF, the high needs budget, and the specific grants that have been rolled into the core budget.
- Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) Routes: Explore the official information on how to obtain QTS for new teachers, including for those trained outside the UK.
Ofsted Guidance and Reports
- Ofsted News on the New Report Card System: Read the official announcement on the planned move away from a single-word judgment to a more detailed report card system.
A simple, Smart Summary of the article is available here: https://theauthenticleader.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/jacobs-ladder-smart-summary.pptx
The Authentic Leader 