Welcome back! I hope that you had a restorative summer break and looking forward to the year ahead.  Once again, we are starting in a position of strengthen with the Borough’s academic results reflecting the ongoing hard work of our schools and settings who continue to work to meet the needs of all our young people. A quick review of the data demonstrates that the Borough’s GLD has risen again to 77 per cent (national 72 per cent and London 74 per cent); KS1 phonics have risen to 84 per cent (national 81.8 per cent and London 83.5 per cent) and Ks4 and 5 results are showing strong improvements with Provisional GCSE results also show continuing improvement. More young people are getting higher grades, particularly in Maths and English, and the number of students who received Grade 6 or above stands at 39 per cent, above the national average of 36 per cent and reflective of all the hard work across our education system. The range of opportunities at Key Stage 5 demonstrates the breadth of the post-16 offer and the Borough celebrated successes at T Levels, A Levels and across a broad range of vocational qualifications. 

Over the summer we have been finalising our SEND Reform plans and supporting the last stages of our Education Service restructure. New appointments within the Education Service including appointment of our new AD SEND Kate Howell, who will already be a familiar face, having led on our SEND Reform plan and previously worked in Borough as a senior public health consultant; and our SEND Reform Lead, Matthew Fisk, who will join us later in the year. Matthew is currently SEND improvement lead for Haringey Council. Details of the increased offer to schools to support children with SEND will be shared via Head’s Briefings later in the term. The reform programme has led to significant investment in our Educational Psychology Services, and I am delighted to announce that from September each school will have an allocated Education Psychologist who will share the details of the Local Authority’s new core (i.e. non-traded) Education Psychology offer, with introductory meetings taking place over the next half-term. The ‘Flourish’ Advisory teaching offer for neuro-diverse children has also moved ‘in house’ and will be part of the Council’s core support to schools to support with inclusion of neuro-diverse children. Finally, you will be aware that the ISOS review of Secondary Alternative Provision is now complete and the new ‘Inclusion Panels’ will start from September for Secondary age pupils; dates have been circulated to all Secondary Heads. The Primary Review continues at pace, and we look forward to finalising this work over the next term.

We are delighted that our new SEND provisions are opening this term including the Maple Green provision, (new Lime Academy Special satellite site), and new Resource Provisions at Thorpe Hall, Willowfield and Mayville Academy.

We are currently in the process of writing an Education Strategy for Waltham Forest and would love your views on our ​early draft​. 

 This process has been very inclusive and has involved contributions from school, early years and FE leaders as well as stakeholders and - most importantly - the children and young people themselves. Thank you to those who completed our earlier survey and attended open meetings. Your views have helped to shape this version. 

 We would love to seek your views on this as we develop the final version that we will be bringing to the Schools Conference in October. Please read it and then complete this survey by Sunday 13 September 2026. If you have not booked onto the Education Conference the link is here. We are excited to welcome Margaret Mulholland and Evelyn Forde MBE as keynote speakers, bringing a wealth of expertise and consideration of the leadership challenges within the Education System.

The Stronger Schools programme continues at pace, with the review from Carter Jonas highlighting both the risks and opportunities for us to redesign our Education Offer in Borough and further announcements regarding changing the configuration of buildings in Borough s will take place over the Autumn.