Dear Colleagues,
Updates from the Team
Summer Headcount Return PVIS ONLY
The pre-populated forms are now available in the SUM 2025-26 file in your school360 accounts. We have pre-populated the file using data from Spring term along with eligibility checks made.
To locate your file, Go to Drive > use the search in drive bar to type in your provider ref > click on the file with your provider ref & provider name > 2025-2026 > SUM 2025-26
Do not leave it last minute! You can start completing the form at any time.
Please review the guidance tab on the form for instructions on how to complete.
💡Top tip! – Have your code summaries open to check code validity before adding any children to your return.
Submission Deadline – Friday 22nd May 2026
Updates from Partners
Help improve the ‘Check an early years qualification’ online service
The Department for Education (DfE) are reaching out to ask for your support. They are looking for early years professionals to give feedback on the ‘Check an early years qualification’ online service to help make further improvements.
We are aware some practitioners and managers still find the system difficult to use and navigate, so this is your opportunity to help shape a more improved and refined system. Here is the Survey Link. If you have any questions, please contact the research.early-years-quals@education.gov.uk
SEND Reform Consultation – Developing an Experts at Hand Model in Northumberland
All local authorities have been asked to set out their plans for how they could deliver the ‘experts at hand’ model set out in the white paper. The DfE focus on ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ includes funding that will “enable local authorities and integrated care boards to establish an Experts at Hand Offer….This offer will be delivered through partnerships with education and health services and through outreach from specialist settings”. We would like our model to be informed by settings’ understanding of what works best for them and current and previous experiences of external support. The experts at hand model will cover services which have traditionally sat in education (e.g. educational psychology, specialist teachers) and health (e.g. speech and language therapists, occupational therapists). They will support settings to support pupils at the universal, targeted and targeted plus levels set out in the white paper (currently OAP and SEND support).
Please contribute your thoughts via this form: https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.cloud.microsoft%2FPages%2FR…
We are also seeking the views of families. Please share the following information and form with you families:
This is your chance to help shape how schools are supported to help children and young people with special educational needs in Northumberland. We want to learn from your experiences to help us shape the future offer. All local authorities are being asked to design a new “Experts at Hand” model to provide specialist support to schools around special educational needs and removing barriers to accessing education. The model will bring together a new offer of specialist education and health professionals (such as educational psychologists, specialist teachers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and others) so that schools and settings can get the right support at the right time.
We want this model to be shaped by families’ real experiences — what has helped, what has been difficult, and what would make the biggest difference going forward. Your views will help us understand what good support looks like from a family perspective and what needs to change.
Please contribute your thoughts via this form: https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.cloud.microsoft%2Fe%2FDmCRA…
Upcoming Events
ACAS UPDATE
New rules on trade union recognition and workplace access are on the horizon. To prepare, employers will need a clear understanding of what’s changing.
Join one of our free Acas webinars to understand what these changes mean for your organisation.
The webinar will cover:
- An explanation of the April and October 2026 changes to statutory trade union recognition
- Updated rules on a trade union’s right of access to the workplace in October 2026
These are important changes for employers and there are legal implications to getting things wrong. As well as describing the changes that employers will need to consider, we will also talk about the support and advice Acas can provide.
You will have the opportunity to ask questions of a senior Acas conciliator during this event.
Acas advice for employers: trade union recognition and right to access
Wednesday 6 May 10:00 to 11:00
These events will be valuable to anyone involved in trade union relations, HR policy, or business owners in organisations of 21 of more workers.
