I know the start of a new year, and the return to work after the Christmas break, can elicit all sorts of feelings - from the drive to get going with new ideas to the nagging dread of leaving behind time with loved ones. Politicians are no different.
It’s a time when we all take stock of our priorities for the year to come. And the next few months in particular are going to be hugely important in education.
We will publish our schools White Paper - our plan to provide a stretching and rewarding school experience for all children - including how we will rebuild services, working alongside schools, to support all our children to achieve.
This will include plans for vital reform to the special educational needs and disabilities system, as part of a wider schools White Paper that will set out how we will build on the progress made in recent years and transform outcomes for children - especially those who are currently being let down.
The importance of trusts
Part of that progress, and part of how we take it further, is the role of school groups - in particular, trusts. We will build on the expertise that already exists in the system and the original purpose of strong groups of schools - driving innovation and improvement in the most disadvantaged areas.
Schools should be at the centre of the communities they serve. I know so many schools are anchors of stability,  pride and possibility. When schools are strong, communities are stronger, too. That’s about schools collaborating with wider services but also with one another.
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The best trusts share their expertise, taking what’s great about our schools and spreading it, making it easier to solve problems together. I know how valuable teachers find it, having access to a group of schools with similar challenges, discovering ways to meet them together.
The best trusts are also more than leaders for their schools - they are leaders for their communities. I want to see every trust serving not only the young people who rely on them day in, day out, but wider communities, too.
Collaboration in public services
This isn’t just about education. It’s about how we renew public services. Too often, reform has focused solely on structures rather than relationships and collaboration. I want public services that are truly civic and rooted in their communities, that bring together health and local authorities and are open to new ways of working.
Groups of schools coming together is the most sustainable way to secure better outcomes. But if collaboration is to work, accountability must keep pace.  
Many of the decisions that shape schools  - from curriculum to staffing  - are taken at trust level, yet inspection does not yet fully reflect that reality.   
It’s also true that while trusts have been at the forefront of much of the improvement in our school system, taking on schools that were struggling and required intervention, variation in quality remains.
That is why we are moving forward with legislation, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to introduce inspection of multi-academy trusts.
There is broad agreement within the sector - and across parties - that inspection should reflect the leading role trusts now play. That consensus allows us to focus on designing a system that genuinely supports improvement.
Quality and improvement
Trust inspection will, first and foremost, be about understanding quality and supporting trusts to improve. It will give trusts - and government - a clear, independent view of what they are doing well and where they need to strengthen.
It will also recognise and celebrate trusts where quality is high, including those that take a wider system role, support improvement beyond their own schools and play an active role in their community.
And when standards are not being met, we will step in. Because children, especially those with the greatest needs, cannot afford a system that looks the other way.
Leaders have been clear that inspection needs to be proportionate, focused on what matters and grounded in the realities of the classroom.  
That is why Ofsted will pilot and test new approaches, working closely with the profession, and we will continue to work with the sector as the detail is developed. We expect trust inspections would not start before the 2027-28 academic year.
Strong collaboration between schools, led by high-quality trusts, will play a pivotal role in delivering our vision in the forthcoming schools White Paper:  raising standards, tackling entrenched disadvantage and ensuring that children’s needs or where they grow up do not  determine how far they can go.   
As we start a critical year in education, I hope that sense of collaboration is one we can continue building, as we work together to renew our public services, reform our SEND system and enable every child to achieve and thrive.
Bridget Phillipson is the education secretary
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