Schools news: £60m a year for PE in the Budget, new school food menus and SEND travel rules (31 October 2026)
Half-term week was quiet for statistics but busy for policy. The Budget on 28 October put £60 million a year towards new PE and sport partnerships, and the Department for Education published example menus for the 2027 school food standards, new guidance on school and college travel, the first evaluation of teacher training reforms and fresh survey data on mobile phone rules.
Budget 2026 adds £60 million a year for PE and sport partnerships starting in 2027
The Budget document published on 28 October says funding to the Department for Education will increase by £60 million per year to contribute to the cost of new PE and Sport partnerships, due to be rolled out in England in 2027. The same document gives up to £5 million a year for three years from 2027-28 for organisations such as the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and BookTrust to get more books to pre-school children, tied to the ambition that at least 75% of children reach a good level of development by 2028.
The Budget also credits DfE's AI lesson-planning tool with saving teachers an average of around three hours a week.
The existing primary PE and sport premium carries on separately. DfE published the October 2026 allocations on 29 October: schools with 17 or more pupils in years 1 to 6 get £6,240 plus £10 per pupil, smaller schools get £390 per pupil. Local authorities were due to be paid on 30 October and academies on 9 November. Schools must publish how they spent the premium by 31 July 2027 and cannot carry funds past that date.
Sources: HM Treasury, Budget 2026 document, 28 October 2026, DfE, PE and sport premium: conditions of grant 2026 to 2027, updated 29 October 2026.
Example menus published for the new school food standards, due in September 2027
DfE published illustrative three-week lunch menus for primary and secondary schools on 29 October, with a nutrient analysis showing how they meet the updated standards. The new school food standards are expected to come into force in September 2027, subject to parliamentary approval. The menus were developed by the Department of Health and Social Care for caterers, headteachers and governors.
A feasibility pilot report published the same day explains why the standards changed before consultation. Eleven schools (eight primary, one middle, two secondary) trialled the draft rules in autumn 2025. None fully implemented every standard, and most caterers said they would need about 12 months' lead-in. Fibre in grab-and-go options doubled and sugar and fat fell, but secondary schools struggled: some saw lunch uptake fall as pupils switched to packed lunches or food bought off site, driven by limited grab-and-go options, pulse-only days and the loss of some cheese-based dishes.
Sources: DfE, School food standards 2027: example menus and nutrient analysis, 29 October 2026, DfE and DHSC, School food standards feasibility pilot findings, 29 October 2026.
New DfE travel guidance says single-occupancy taxis should be the exception for school transport
Guidance for councils published on 30 October says most children and young people will be able to share a vehicle, and single-occupancy vehicles will only be necessary if a child's needs mean they cannot travel with others, nobody else travels a similar route, or sharing would make the journey unreasonably long. It encourages walking to pick-up points, public transport and independent travel training where suitable.
For pupils with SEND, it tells councils to take the cost of travel into account when deciding whether naming a parent's preferred school in an EHC plan is an efficient use of resources. If the extra cost is significant and outweighs the benefit to the child, a council can name a different school, or name the preferred school on condition that the parent arranges or pays for the travel. Once a school is named unconditionally, it counts as the nearest suitable school for transport eligibility. The guidance is non-statutory; the statutory duties in the Education Act 1996 are unchanged.
Source: DfE, Delivering effective travel assistance to schools and colleges, 30 October 2026.
81% of trainee teachers felt ready to teach under the reformed training courses, first evaluation finds
The first interim report of a three-year evaluation by Alma Economics, published on 29 October, covers ITT courses run under the new Quality Requirements from 2024/25. 81% of trainees felt ready to teach at the end of training, 71% were satisfied overall and 74% said they were likely to stay in teaching for at least five years. School placements scored best: 86% said practice in school helped their readiness to teach.
A lack of mentor support was the most frequently cited reason for trainees withdrawing, and 19% were dissatisfied with mentoring. Providers said the combined burden of mentoring, intensive training and practice (ITAP) and partnership rules had reduced the number of school placements in some areas. DfE dropped the requirement for 20 hours of general mentor training part-way through the year.
Source: DfE, Evaluation of ITT reforms: wave 1 interim report, 29 October 2026.
Only 21% of secondary leaders say pupils hand in their phones for the school day
DfE's school and college voice survey for June 2026, published on 29 October, asked leaders which rule best described pupils' phone use. In secondary schools, 70% let pupils bring phones but keep them out of sight and unused, 21% make pupils hand them in or lock them away, and 4% do not allow phones on site. In primary schools, 78% require phones to be handed in or locked away and 16% ban them from school grounds; in special schools the hand-in figure was 63%.
The survey ran from 30 June to 13 July 2026 and drew 2,584 responses from leaders and teachers. The primary hand-in figure was broadly unchanged from May 2025.
Source: DfE, School and college voice: June 2026, 29 October 2026.
What this means for parents
If your child is in primary school, check the school website by the end of July for its PE and sport premium report; the new PE partnerships are not due until 2027. School lunches will not change under the new food standards until September 2027 at the earliest. If your child has an EHC plan and you are asking for a school further away, expect the council to weigh up the cost of transport, and ask in writing how it reached its decision. Secondary school applications close today, 31 October; primary applications close on 15 January 2027.