Independent UK education editorial Evidence · leadership · action
See the change. Examine the evidence.
Understand what it means for schools.
Independent editorial, examinable evidence and live national intelligence brought into one clear view for school and trust leaders.
What’s happening now
Inclusion × Standards × Workforce
Estates × Funding × Inclusion
Digital × Safeguarding × Governance
Editorial intelligence coverage
These figures describe the current School Connection publication structure. They are not school membership numbers and do not expose private Observatory data, commercial intelligence or internal editorial candidates.
Schools Intelligence Observatory
Overall and persistent absence fell in 2024/25. Severe absence rose. Behind that split is a harder leadership question: can the system understand what is keeping a pupil away, coordinate the right help and remain involved long enough to know whether it worked?
Examine the evidencelinked primary and authoritative sources
pupil enrolments severely absent in 2024/25
Connected Systems examined together
published once and monitored continuously
Enrolments are not unique pupils. Scope and limitations are set out in the analysis.
Read the full methodWhat is moving
Curriculum, assessment, inspection, attainment, trust performance, school improvement and enrichment.
SEND, disadvantage, attendance, behaviour, wellbeing, safeguarding, family support and access to education.
Recruitment, retention, pay, support staff, professional development, workload, leadership and organisational capability.
School funding, high needs, grants, trust governance, audit, reserves, public value, frameworks and buying obligations.
Condition, compliance, maintenance, rebuilding, accessibility, energy, decarbonisation, catering, security and operational continuity.
Connectivity, infrastructure, MIS, cloud, AI, data governance, cybersecurity, filtering, monitoring and assistive technology.
The publication in motion
Results matter, but the strongest response to them is not a quicker judgement. It is a more disciplined question: what is this evidence showing us, what can it not show us, and what should we learn next?
Read the editorialInclusion becomes real when a pupil does not have to retell the same story to every part of the system. The direction is simple to describe and difficult to deliver: one child, one coherent line of responsibility.
Read the editorialA two year pay settlement does not remove the workforce problem, but it changes the quality of decision leaders can make. The opportunity is to move from annual absorption towards a clearer plan for capacity, workload and retention.
Read the editorialSchool Connection analysis
Standards, Curriculum & Accountability
Inclusion, Attendance & Safeguarding
Workforce, Leadership & Capacity
Funding, Governance & Procurement
Behind the publication
The private Observatory monitors national evidence. Only human-approved, sanitised publication records enter School Connection. Internal candidates, scores, commercial intelligence and private source data never become public merely because an algorithm ranked them.
Read our methodology and evidence boundariesThe approved public intelligence feed is available. School Connection never substitutes internal candidates or unapproved intelligence. The intelligence engine nominates. Editors publish.