A SET of brand-new school rules have come into force across the UK impacting multiple areas including uniform, free meals and sex education.
With the new school year having kicked off, a new set of guidelines for school pupils have been brought in across the nation.
There are six new guidelines and laws that all parents should know about, including a rule on branded uniform, restrictions on mobile phones and changes to free school meal policies.
The UK-wide changes have been brought in with an aim of protecting pupils, bettering their educational experience and reducing the financial cost schooling has on parents.
Schools across the nation will likely be making changes to their curriculum and policies in order to reflect the updated guidelines.
UK schools are now restricted on the number of branded uniform items it can make compulsory for students.
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Primary schools can only mandate three pieces of branded uniform, while secondary schools can make four compulsory, if one item is a tie.
Six major school rule changes
School rule changes coming into force this year:
- Restrictions on branded school uniform – Primary schools can require no more than three branded items while secondary schools can require four.
- Mobile phone restrictions – Under new government rules, schools are now required to ensure that schools are phone-free zones and pupils should not be allowed access to devices during the school day.
- More protection for children with allergies – UK schools are now required to update allergy policies to include staff training requirements and life-saving EpiPens must be stocked.
- Ofsted changes – Changes to the way Ofsted inspections are carried out are being made from September.
- More free meals and breakfast clubs – The start of this school year has seen millions more children become eligible for free school meals and thousands more breakfast clubs are set to be introduced.
- Changes to Relationships, Sex and Health Education – The RSHE curriculum taught in schools must now cover certain topics such as online safety, AI literacy, misogyny and incel culture, water, rail and road safety and knife crime.
Schools must also make uniform policies available to prospective parents and ensure it is clear and easy to understand.
New government rules on mobile phones in schools are coming into force this year.
The “no ifs, no buts” ban requires schools to ensure that they are a phone-free environment and that pupils have no access to their devices throughout the entirety of the school day, including break times.
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The Section 36 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 legislation was made official in June and schools must now follow the guidelines.
Education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: “We have been clear that mobile phones have no place in our schools but now we’re going further through tougher guidance and stronger enforcement. Mobile phones have no place in schools. No ifs, no buts.
“Our Attendance and Behaviour Hubs will support schools that are struggling to effectively implement phone bans so all our children can learn in phone-free environments.”
An update to free school meal rules will also mean that millions more children will now eat at school for free.
As of the start of this term, all children from families receiving Universal Credit are eligible for free school meals – meanwhile 1,700 new breakfast clubs are being introduced.
Updates are also being made to the way Ofsted inspections take place from September.
The school inspection body has worked with the Department for Education to create a new statistical inspection model that will better compare how schools in similar contexts are performing.
Changes to the Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum are also set to be brought in this year, in order to teach children more about topics impacting them in the modern world.
Primary schools will teach pupils more about the proper names for body parts, focus on online safety and drill down on rail, road and water safety.
For secondary school pupils, a focus will be placed on tackling violence against women, incel culture and misogyny as well as knife crime and the impact of pornography.
Teens will also be taught AI literacy skills as well as more on female reproductive health.
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The new school year also marks a new requirement for schools to do more to ensure that allergy safety is up to scratch.
The government’s new Benedict’s Law means that schools must now stock life-saving injections for anaphylaxsis and give staff mandatory allergy training, while improving policies and communication surrounding allergies.