Dates and deadlines

Posted on August 8th, 2024

As usual there are a number of changes for schools, which come into effect by or on 1 September 2024.

There are also some known recurring dates and deadlines for the spring and summer terms 2025.

From 1 September 2024

Updated attendance guidance

The DfE guidance document ’Working together to improve school attendance’ became statutory from 19 August 2024. New requirements include:

• Registers to be kept electronically.
• Schools must share school daily register data with the government.
• Some new attendance codes and some changes to existing coding apply as from 1 September 2024.
• There is a new national threshold for issuing penalty notices to parents.
• Schools may not grant leave of absence to pupils to take part in a protest activity during school hours.
• Long term pupil sickness (ie pupils who will miss 15 consecutive or cumulative days) will have to be flagged with the local authorities.
• Schools should be particularly mindful of pupils absent from school due to mental ill health or because of their SEND.

Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE)

As it does every year, the government has revised KCSIE and this comes into force on 1 September 2024. The changes are minimal and are designed to bring the guidance in closer alignment with ‘Working together to safeguard children’:

• An updated definition of safeguarding and clarification of safeguarding responsibilities in AP.
• References to the DfE’s data protection guide.
• An updated list of early help indicators.
• Updated wording on elective home education.
• New wording concerning LGBTQ+ children. Note: this section is under review and could be changed during the school year.

Length of school week

All mainstream state schools are expected to deliver a minimum length week of 32.5 hours from 1 September 2024.

SENCOs

The current NASENCO qualification is replaced by a new NPQ for SENCOs from 1 September 2024.

Expansion to early years childcare entitlement

15 hours funded childcare is extended to eligible parents of children under two years of age from September 2024.

Ofsted

Ofsted will no longer use a deep dives approach for ungraded inspections of schools with a good or outstanding rating. An extended ‘learning walks’ approach will be used instead.

Music development programme

Schools should have published a summary of their music development programme by September 2024.

Other deadlines and dates in the course of the academic year 2024/25

Admissions timeline

• 31 January 2025 is the deadline for the completion of any consultation on proposed admission arrangements.
• 28 February 2025 is the national closing date for academies and maintained schools to determine their admissions arrangements for September 2026.
• 28 February 2025 is the national closing date for academies and maintained schools to publish their appeals timetable for 2025 on their websites.

Secondary school places

• Closing date for applications to secondary school for September 2025 is 31 October 2024.
• Offers of school places will be sent on 1 March 2025. The offer must be accepted by the deadline given in the offer letter.

Primary school places

• The deadline for applying for a primary school place for September 2025 is 15 January 2025.
• Offers of school places will be sent on 16 April 2025. The offer must be accepted by the deadline given in the offer letter.

Primary statutory tests timetable

• Reception baseline assessment – Schools must complete the reception baseline assessment for each child in the first six weeks after they enter reception.
• Phonics screening (year 1) – The screening test will take place in the week beginning Monday 9 June 2025.
• Optional key stage 1 tests – It is recommended that these be taken during May 2025.
• Multiplication check (year 4) – This check must be administered to all eligible year 4 pupils within the two-week period from Monday 2 June 2025.
• Key stage 2 SATs – These are timetabled from Monday 12 May to Thursday 15 May 2025.

School census dates

• Autumn term 2024 – Census date: 3 October 2024. Return date: 6 November 2024.
• Spring term 2025 – Census date: 16 January 2025. Return date: 12 February 2025.
• Summer term 2025 – Census date: 15 May 2025. Return date: 11 June 2025.

Current consultations

The following have just been concluded or are still underway – resultant legislation or changes may follow during the course of the academic year 2024/25.

• Ofsted’s Big Listen consultation closed on 31 May 2024. There will probably be changes to Ofsted‘s procedures as a result.
• The last government issued draft non-statutory guidance on ‘Gender Questioning Children’ that went out to consultation in December 2023 and closed on 12 March 2024. No outcomes were reported. It is not yet known how the incoming government will proceed.
• A draft update to the statutory RSHE education guidance was launched for consultation in May 2024. This consultation had not closed before the general election took place. It is not known whether the incoming government will complete the consultation and the update.

Policy reviews

Schools are reminded to review the following statutory policies. Some require annual review, others less frequently.

Annually

• Admission arrangements.
• Teachers’ pay.
• Child protection policy and procedures.
• SEND.
• Health and safety policy.

Every three years

• Accessibility policy.

Every four years

• Public sector equality duty.

Other times

All other statutory policies are either live documents that have to be kept up-to-date at all times, or they are documents that the DfE recommend are, but do not require to be, visited annually.

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