Safeguarding Bulletin - 10 December 2025

Ofsted annual report 2024/25 published. What does it tell us?

From the outset, Sir Martyn Oliver sets out the main challenge: the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers which "starts early and widens through education phases." He considers that this is compounded by the fact that disadvantaged pupils "too often miss school and are unable to recover lost learning." Severe absence (defined as missing more than half of schooling) now affects around 166,000 pupils — three times the pre-pandemic figure, alongside a rising number of children receiving only part-time provision or being educated outside mainstream systems without adequate oversight...

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Free CPD for secondary reading

The Department for Education has partnered with FFT to create a new CPD programme, Unlocking Reading. Launching in January 2026, the programme is designed to help state-funded secondary schools build their knowledge, confidence and skills in supporting struggling readers, as well as embedding a whole-school approach to improving reading and attainment.

Register your interest

Teenage violence and vulnerability

The Youth Endowment Fund’s report Children, Violence and Vulnerability 2025 shines a stark light on teenage relationships, something many adults underestimate. Abuse in teenage romantic relationships is far more common than previously thought. The national survey of 13–17-year-olds offers powerful insight into what young people are experiencing and what we need to do to keep them safe as teenagers navigate their first relationships. This is a time when identity, confidence and peer pressure feel overwhelming and abuse at this age shapes future patterns and unhealthy dynamics, linking to domestic abuse in later life.

The report and findings of the survey can be found here

Child poverty

The government has pledged to stop children growing up in B&Bs and to make childcare more accessible for families on Universal Credit as part of its child poverty strategy. It says the wide-ranging measures will lift around 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030, marking "the biggest reduction in a single Parliament since records began".

Visit our free and member resources on homelessness - including how to spot the signs of homelessness and what to do next, a free downloadable poster for your setting, guidance on how to build partnerships with parents and carers, plus links to other useful information sources.

Read our thoughts and access some free resources on the impact of poverty.

How do mainstream schools organise their workforce to support pupils with SEND?

What Works in SEND are running a short survey to understand how mainstream schools organise their workforce to support pupils with SEND. Your response will help inform schools and DfE to improve support for pupils with SEND. The survey should be completed by a SENCO or senior leader, and only ONE response per school is needed.

Please click to participate

Pupil experiences in English schools

The Department for Education has published the Pupil experiences in school: academic year 2024 to 2025 Report. The data has been collected from pupils in secondary schools and parents of pupils in primary, secondary and special schools. The report covers: experiences of school including feeling of belonging, safety and enjoyment, relationships with school staff and motivation to learn.

Read the report