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Behind every great school, there is an outstanding workforce.

Whether that’s the teachers or teaching assistants, the school business managers or catering staff - collectively, you all contribute to making sure every child has access to a brilliant school experience.

Regardless of your role, every staff member deserves to feel respected, valued and, most importantly, safe. 

Sadly, I know that is not always the case. While most school staff do work in safe and supportive environments, I know this isn’t everyone’s experience.

New anti-bullying guidance

Where bullying and harassment do occur, it can have a real and lasting impact on a person’s wellbeing - so addressing this matters deeply to me.

We all need to step up and challenge this sort of behaviour, which is why we have worked closely with teaching and leadership unions and sector partners, including the NAHT school leaders’ union and the Confederation of School Trusts, to develop new guidance.

This will give schools practical advice and resources to prevent and tackle bullying and harassment, whether by pupils, parents and carers, colleagues or others, either online or offline.

I know every school is different, and headteachers and leaders are best placed to decide what works for their setting and their staff - underpinned by strong and practical policies that this guidance will help them create. 

But feeling valued also means fair pay and fair conditions.

Boosting pay for all school staff

Last week I announced a 6.5 per cent multi-year pay deal for teachers, backed by an additional £1.8 billion, which includes money to ensure our hardworking, brilliant support staff also get a pay rise.

This is important because, unlike teachers, over 750,000 school support staff continue to work without any universal framework for setting minimum pay and conditions.

This means pay varies dramatically depending on where someone works, which type of school employs them and which employer they happen to have.

I think about the teaching assistant supporting children with complex needs, giving everything they have every single day, and not receiving the same pay packet as someone doing the exact same in another part of the country.

That is reflective of a system that has been allowed to drift with no care or attention from those who should have had your backs.

Negotiating body for support staff

The School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) will put an end to this, for the first time, setting minimum pay and conditions for school support staff across England.

Today we are taking another step towards establishing the SSSNB and have published our response to the consultation.

The scale of support we received was striking. More than 2,500 people and organisations responded - showing just how much this body is needed and how much school support staff want it to ensure they’re represented.

Once established, the SSSNB’s priority is to negotiate the next annual pay award for school support staff.

The first wider issue that the SSSNB will look at is maternity pay, given the last national improvement on this for school support staff was 25 years ago.

In a workforce that is overwhelmingly female, that is not an oversight. It is a failure - and one this government is determined to put right.

Helping all children succeed

I want to be clear that the SSSNB is not about imposing a one-size-fits-all solution.

It is about establishing a floor - a set of minimum standards below which no school support worker should fall - while preserving the flexibility that schools and trusts need to respond to local circumstances.

There’s no doubt in my mind: our school workforce will be better off. I will continue to ensure that this profession is respected, valued and represented, whether you are a teacher or a member of support staff.

Today is a step towards that - towards schools where every member of staff can work in an environment where the only concern is ensuring that every child gets every opportunity and the best possible education.

Bridget Phillipson is the education secretary