Welcome to the January issue of 'Heads Up', our newsletter for schools. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break and I look forward to working with you this Spring term.

This month we have a special feature on 'Vulnerable learners' with important information about changes to the requirements for schools to report Children Missing Education,  details of a more robust system for ensuring the safety of pupils being home educated and news from the Virtual School. 

In 'National news' there is an update on the second stage of the national funding formula consultation and the early years funding formula's impact on school funding.

We also have details of a consultation on admission arrangements for 2018 and a reminder of the deadline for the statutory spring school census. As well as details of FREE CSE Awareness training and helpful links to resources for promoting online safety and Safer Internet Day on 7th February.

Don't forget to also check the 'Essential reading' section for important notices that may affect you and your school.