02 July 2026
Dear Parent/Carers,
Invitation to a Parent Forum | Thursday 09 July 2026 at 5:00pm
You may be aware that a major piece of legislation affecting all children’s services in England and Wales was passed by Parliament in April 2026. Called the ‘Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act”, it will have a significant impact on the education and social care sectors over the coming months and even years.
The government website has published a blog specifically for parents, summarising the new legislation and the anticipated impact on families: educationhub.blog.gov.uk
An ‘easy read’ version was published when the legislation was still in passage through parliament, and is linked here: easy read
This new legislation causes the Department for Education to issue schools, including academies like MWA, with new statutory guidance. Some of this has already come into effect, much will take effect in September 2026. In particular, the new DFE guidance will have an impact on:
· Cost of living relief: changes to our uniform policy and free school meals eligibility
· School attendance: changes to our ‘elective home education’ policy
· Mobile phones and safety: changes to our mobile phone policy
In addition to this, the 2026 update to the existing statutory guidance on ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ contains some significant changes which will impact our safeguarding policy in respect of child-on-child abuse and anti-bullying.
We know that changes to our MWA policies, especially those like school uniform which have fairly recently been reviewed already, may cause confusion for our parents and children. We would therefore like to invite you to a parent forum, where we can explain the changes and the legislative basis for them, on Thursday 09 July 2026, at 5:00pm in our school library. For parents unable to attend, we will follow the forum with information in writing, before the end of this academic year.
With thanks, as ever, for your continuing support.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs H. Jones
Principal
