KS3 Alliance: have your say on the future of Years 7–9
"What should an excellent KS3 offer every young person?" that is the question that the KS3 Alliance is inviting the education community and young people themselves to help answer through a national call for evidence of effective practice and approaches that have not worked, a pupil survey to look at pupil experience of early secondary and regional roadshows.
The KS3 Alliance is a sector-led initiative that was formally launched in September 2026 at the House of Lords. It is being led by two prominent CEO's, Dame Lesley Powell (North East Learning Trust) and Becks Boomer-Clark (Lift Schools) and is part of the DfE's RISE (Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence), their universal school improvement offer. It aims to unlock the potential of the 'forgotten middle' and bring together expertise to strengthen education, engagement and outcomes in early secondary to establish a national framework for what an excellent KS3 should offer all young people.
The KS3 Alliance has four national priorities:
Engagement and Belonging
Foundational Literacy and Numeracy
Assessment and data coherence
Pathways to Adult life.
Recognising the purpose and potential of KS3.
The principle underpinning the Alliance is that for too long KS3 has been seen just as a bridge between primary school and GCSE. Its central argument therefore is that KS3 deserves to be seen as " a distinctive, purposeful phase of education in its own right."
This aligns perfectly with Mary Myatt's excellent book "The Ambitious Years - Why Years 7-9 matter more than we think?" which was published back in June. Mary argues that KS3 should be the intellectual powerhouse of the secondary and that that the KS3 curriculum should be a rich and ambitious one providing the opportunity for pupils to build curiosity and confidence through encountering rich subject, knowledge and disciplinary understanding.
I have been thinking about this alot in my own work and recently explored some of thes ideas in my recent Substack article, KS3: Keeping ambition at the heart of curriculum change. For me, recognising KS3’s distinctive purpose also means thinking carefully about how it builds on primary education and prepares pupils for the choices and learning that follow.
The call for evidence: an opportunity to contribute:
The Alliance is currently seeing quantitative and qualitiative evidence, research, professional experience and examples of practice. It is setting out to understand the challenges, identify those approaches that are successful and do work and learn from those that have not worked.
Their survey page says that they welcome contributions from young people, teachers, school and trust leaders, researchers, professional associations, charities, community organisations and others with relevant evidence or experience.
The deadline is 5pm on Monday 9th November 2026.
Hearing directly from pupils.
As well as the wider call for evidence, a national pupil survey seeks to understand how young people experience Years 7, 8 and 9.
This is very welcome as pupil experience must be central to this conversation if we are going to make a different. Whilst of course curriculum plans and intentions matter, so does understanding how pupils experience their learning, relationships and sense of belonging throughout these years. Pupils can complete this by accessing the survey and selecting the student-facing option.
Regional Roadshows: Joining the conversation locally.
The Alliance is supported by 17 regional chairs across nine regions, bringing schools adn trusts together to share practice and contribute local insights to its work. Regional roadshows are taken place now, having started in late September and through October.
I am looking forward to attending the East of ENgland event on Tuesday 6th Ocobter to hear different perspectives and contribute to the distucction.
The DfE’s events page lists dates, locations and registration links or contact details for each regional event: Find your regional KS3 Alliance event and details of how to attend.
Have your say!
If you have experience, evidence or reflections to share, I would really encourage you to contribute. This is an opportunity to help shape a clearer shared understanding of what these years should offer every young person and how we make that ambition a reality.
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