{"id":18010,"date":"2026-02-23T14:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/?p=18010"},"modified":"2026-02-23T14:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:40:14","slug":"schools-white-paper-builds-on-success-of-school-trusts-and-offers-new-vision-for-send-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/schools-white-paper-builds-on-success-of-school-trusts-and-offers-new-vision-for-send-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Schools white paper builds on success of school trusts and offers new vision for children with SEND"},"content":{"rendered":"
Published on 23 February, the Government\u2019s schools white paper Every child achieving and thriving<\/a> builds on the proven success of high-quality school trusts, and offers a new, more positive, vision of support for children with special needs.<\/div>\n
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With more than 60% of children in English schools already attending academies, CST welcomes the government\u2019s announcement that all schools will become part of an academy trust. Accompanied by a trust-inspection system developed in consultation with schools and trusts, the decision marks a landmark in the evolution of England\u2019s schools from good to great.<\/div>\n
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CST also welcomes the intention to reform support for children with special educational needs and disabilities. The current \u2018deficit model\u2019 approach too often focuses on what children can\u2019t do. Encouraging inclusive support within mainstream schools while recognising the crucial work of the specialist sector offers a more positive approach, with quicker and more local support to help all children succeed.<\/div>\n
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School trusts employ more than 600,000 staff across teaching, leadership, and operational roles. We want schools and trusts to be attractive places to work and welcome the government\u2019s investment in training, especially to support special educational needs. Trusts frequently operate in competitive local employment markets, and CST looks forward to working with the DfE and employee organisations in developing effective and flexible approaches to retention and recruitment of staff.<\/div>\n
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CST Chief Executive Leora Cruddas CBE said: \u201cSchool trusts offer the only approach where everyone in the organisation is dedicated to one thing: making our schools better. With well over half of children at trust schools, it makes sense to consolidate on the progress already made in raising standards.<\/div>\n
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\u201cMany school trusts operate both mainstream and specialist schools, and we have seen the value of encouraging an inclusive approach across the system. Done right, it can mean children get quicker, more local support. Change will take time and we need to ensure children and their families are reassured their needs will be protected. It also needs to be properly funded, with schools supported with upfront and ongoing costs to give all children the care they deserve.<\/div>\n
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\u201cTrusts have been at the forefront of innovation in schools, introducing flexible working, offering improved pay and conditions, and using new technology to be more efficient. As we implement the positive reforms in the White Paper, we need to ensure trusts\u2019 role as employers is recognised and that they retain the flexibility needed to continue to support high quality, inclusive education.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published on 23 February, the Government\u2019s schools white paper Every child achieving and thriving builds on the proven success of high-quality school trusts, and offers a new, more positive, vision of support for children with special needs. With more than 60% of children in English schools already attending academies, CST welcomes the government\u2019s announcement that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18010"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18014,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18010\/revisions\/18014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}