iewees termed the ‘broken social contract’ between schools, families and communities. Many schools do invaluable and tireless work at the heart of local communities and early help partnerships, providing food, washing facilities and all manner of other means to protect and support the children they work with daily. But since the pandemic, and as recognised by the previous HM Chief Inspector of Ofsted, the social contract between some parents and schools has been fractured. This is reflected in higher rates of school absence and in disruptive behaviours in the classroom and was linked by SP9 respondents to a school system which has favoured an attainment-focused curriculum over inclusivity and as 80 a result is failing too many pupils. The inspection regime and the perverse incentives it generates need addressing if schools are to better meet the needs of all children. The move away from inclusion has compounded problems in the SEND system. The increased numbers of children with EHCPs, combined with a lack of capacity in maintained special schools and an inability to open new schools in response to this growing need combine to place local authorities under further financial pressures. Welcome early policy announcements from the government include consultations on the curriculum and assessment methods, measures to address gaps in accountability and governance in the schools system, a new register for children missing from school plus Autumn Budget funding commitments to capital spending on schools. A great deal more needs to be reinvested in our education system and the government commitment on this is clearly stated. Longer-term reforms are welcome, and needed, but the transformation of education, SEND and social care systems, not to mention changes to health and policin