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Children’s wellbeing and schools bill explained for families in gloucestershire
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill marks a significant shift in how education, mental health, and child safeguarding are approached in England.
Destiny Keville Solicitor of WSP Family Law Department explain what the Bill means for schools, families, and local authorities – particularly in areas like Stroud, Gloucester, and the wider Gloucestershire region.
Understanding the Children’s Wellbeing and School Bill
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced by the UK Labour government, aims to improve child welfare, safeguarding, and educational standards across England. Overall, the Bill seeks to provide a more cohesive approach to education and social care, aiming to protect vulnerable children and support families effectively.
The key changes established by the Bill include provisions relating to enhanced mental health support, stronger teacher standards, and greater local authority involvement in school management.
How the Children’s Wellbeing and School Bill Supports Student Mental Health
The Bill includes several obligations for schools supporting students’ mental health, reflecting a broader commitment to safeguarding their overall wellbeing. All schools must take proactive steps in promoting mental health and wellbeing among students, including teachers and staff having enhanced mental health training. There is also an encouragement for schools to work closely with mental health professionals with an intention of creating smoother access to counsellors, psychologists, and other mental health services within school settings, offering students more direct support. There will be a focus on providing early intervention for students who may be showing early signs of mental health issues, so that they can be identified and addressed quickly, meaning that students can receive the necessary support before issues escalate.
In addition to making the practicality of accessing mental health services simpler, the Bill also seeks to limit the financial burden of accessing such support as it allocates an additional £500 million for family support services in 2025. This is predominantly to target issues such as substance abuse and domestic violence for not just the children, but their parents too.
What This Means for Parents and Schools
The Bill restores powers to local authorities to open new schools and manage school admissions, including the ability to direct academies to admit certain students. This helps ensure that schools in areas with specific local needs can better serve the community, improving access to quality education. The quality of teaching will be consistent as all teachers will be required to hold or work towards Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). The Bill also requires adherence to statutory teacher pay and conditions, including the induction period for Early Career Teachers to ensure that these matters are standardised for all teachers.
A higher level of oversight regarding children not attending school will be introduced, ensuring that they receive the necessary support. Parents who choose to home school their children will be required to register them with the relevant local authority; however, if a child is under a protection investigation or a child protection plan, parents may lose the automatic right to home school. Consequently, local authorities will have more power to require school attendance in such cases to ensure the child’s safety and welfare. Schools will be required to share data with the local authorities regarding attendance, academic progress, and any concerns related to mental health or welfare of the students to assist in ensuring that vulnerable students are not overlooked.
Finally, in an attempt to reduce the financial burden on families, the Bill will introduce a cap on the number of branded uniform items required. For primary schools, the limit is three branded items, and for secondary schools, it’s four, including a tie.
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